The Sunday Five: Cemeteries

The Freedman's Cemetery is across street from the Catholic Cemetery and just up the hill from the large city cemetery in Alexandria, Virginia. Even the cemeteries were segregated in the old south. Do you really care who is decomposing next to you? 

1: Is your final plan, burial, entombment, cremation or other? 

2: Do you have a final resting place? 

3: How will you haut those who live on behind? 

4: When was the last time you visited family graves sites? 

5: What should your gravestone read? 

My answers: 

1: Is your final plan, burial, entombment, cremation or other?  Cremation, dumping me in the forest to feed the critters is frowned on in this country. 

2: Do you have a final resting place? No. I inherited a cemetery lot in the last place I would want to spend eternity, and gave it to my sister - my brother-in-law filled that space. I need to decide where to dump the ashes or I will end up in my nephew's basement. 

3: How will you haut those who live on behind? I will probably keep sending annoying emails. 

4: When was the last time you visited family graves sites? Last fall there was a family funeral for sweet bear's family, for my family three years ago when my sisters husband died. 

5: What should your gravestone read? Origin is Not Destiny

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post - 50 States in 52 Weeks - Tennessee

Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville 

The Original Grand Ole Opry stage 

My moment in the spotlight

I have been to or through Tennesee many, many times. It is one of those long flat states - south of Kentucky, north of Georgia and Alabama. About 400 miles from east to west, and about 200 miles from north to south. Politically, it is stuck in the old south, at times unpleasantly backwards in it's politics. 

In the far east, in the Blue Ridge of the Appalachian Mountains you will find Pigeon Forge and Dollywood. Very much redneck resort land. In the far west, Memphis - on the Mississippi River.  The photos above are from a board meeting in Nashville. 

Nashville fancies itself as the Athens of the South, and built a full size replica of the Parthenon in Athens, complete with a statue of Athena gilded in gold. 

Tennessee is a pretty state, the politics lead me to keep my distance.   

Funday Friday: Happy Anniversary

33 year ago, we became a family, ten years ago today we were married at Jones Point Park, here in Alexandria.  Being together has enhanced our lives, given us stability, opportunity, and adventure. 

We understand one another, we respect one another, we are kind to one another, and we make one-another laugh, we deeply love one another. The sum of the parts is greater than the individuals alone. 

Happy Anniversary my Sweet Bear! 

The Thursday Ramble: Free Your Mind To Be Creative

Doc Spo commented the other day, on Facebook, at how useless Facebook has become for seeing what family and friends are doing. Facebook has devolved into reposts of memes and advertising. I read recently that the shine is off of "social media" that less and less real content is being posted. And yet many are addicted, and spend hours doom scrolling through hours of influencers and advertising. 

Free your mind. Delete Facebook off of your phone. 

I am not saying give it up, it is still on my bookmarks bar on my computer, but it is not my constant companion in my pocket, begging to fill my mind with clutter in every spare moment. Four years ago, I bought a new phone. When the guy in the phone store went to transfer the content from my old phone to my new phone, there was not enough memory space to download the app to do so. He asked if he could delete Facebook and Instagram, assuring me that when I installed them on my new phone all of my content would come back.  I said fine, then I never installed those on that phone, or on the new phone that replaced it this past spring.  When I have a spare moment, my mind is not cluttered by the constant stream of FB or Insta. I also deleted the "games" off of my phone, another time suck begging for my attention. 

The algorithm of social media is tweaked based on input from  psychologists to draw you in, fill your brain, make you want more, to addict you.  The profit in social media is driven by keeping you staring at the screen. And while we stare at the screen the world around us fades into darkness. 

Look up, look around. 

I walk 6-10 hours a week, every week. When the weather is so that I can, I walk outside, or inside - yes I have become one of those old guys who walks laps in the shopping mall on a cold or rainy day. I don't listen to my phone, I listen to what is around me. The birds in the trees, the rustle of the leaves, the flow of the water, the buzz of the bees, the conversations around me. And even more important for creativity I listen to my internal dialog. Left to its own, my brain gets creative to fill the void.  If I fill my brain with input other peoples voices, my brain is busy processing that input, if I walk in silence, my brain creates content to fill that void. But that only happens if I allow my brain time without content to process. 

Delete Facebook, leave your earbuds at home. Free you mind to be creative.     

My World of Wonders - The Wednesday Ws - Middle of October Already

Where have I been this week? The week started off in Williamsburg and Jamestown, Virginia, we drove home from there stopping at the massively oversized Wegmans in Lorton, then Mt. Vernon, and the Farmers Market. Shopping run and walk. The pool, the gym. Out to lunch at Noodles, and then a nice wander and shopping. The gym, the pool several times. Mt Vernon for a long walk. 

What have I been up to in the Kitchen this week?  Lamb tenderloin and roast butternut squash, pizza, leek and potato soup, braised beef short ribs with roast potatoes and haricot verts. I made my holiday fruitcake, a double batch this year and set them to mellow with good booze. 

What languages have I heard this week? English and Spanish of course, and when I was out at Mt Vernon French and Italian.  French I understand about 20% of. Italian is so wonderfully rhythmic and musical. 

Who have I talked with this week? My Sweet Bear, Erica, Nancy, Eric, TJ, and the nice lady driving the golf cart up the hill at Mt. Vernon. 

What have I been reading?  "In My Remaining Years" a biography of a youngish artist - about 20% I found interesting. 

What have I been listening to?  Streaming music, classical, jazz, and hits of the 70s and 80s. When I walk outdoors, the birds, the wind, the leaves. 

Who deserves a big THANK YOU this week? The Nobel Prize Committee. 

What made me smile this week? Sweet Bear, aka Wicked Hamster, got a reply to a comment from Angus in St. Andrews! 

    8:04 PM

WickedHamster

I enjoyed the videos from StAU. By coincidence, we were just down in Williamsburg VA the past couple of days, where I got a good taste of the College of William & Mary. I was struck by the similarities to StA: W&M has a an enrollment on 10,000 in a town of a population of 15,000; one is the 3rd oldest English speaking univ while W&M is ninth; their locations are both in fairly remote towns (StA much more so, but W&M is really in the middle of a forest); the other attraction of both towns is, one the one hand, an historic golf course, and on the other Colonial Williamsburg, the former capital of the Virginia Colony-the Governor's Palace and the House of Burgesses still intact, among others. Apparently I'm not the only one who's noticed similarities. Further research via the modern-day miracle of the internet revealed StA and W&M have a joint degree program: 2 years at one, 2 years at the other, and you end up with degrees from both institutions. Highly selective and limited to certain specific fields. What a deal!

October 12, 2025 at 11:04 PM

Angus

Employers seem to love the 2 years in VA, 2 years in Scotland degree course. It presumably signals to corporate recruiters self-reliance and maturity and has an exceptionally high post graduation job offer rate.

 
 

Travel Tuesday: Williamsburg Virginia

 

Moody Monday: Reminders of the Past

The street to the Colonial Governors House in Williamsburg Viginia

The trees lining the street on the right hand side are Catalpa Trees, causing an emotional flashback to my childhood.  My grandparent lived around the corner from us just down the hill on Gravel Creek Road. The road was lined with Catalpa trees down the hill to their driveway, and their driveway was lined with the Catalpa trees.  The trees have a large heart shaped leaf, bloom in the spring, and develop a seed pod about as big around as garden snake and about a foot long. The leafs have a mildly fizzy back side, and are leathery on the top side. They purchased the farm during World War II, and the trees had been planted by the previous farmer.  I remember a tree being struck by lightning one night in a massive thunderstorm, it was split all the way to the ground, and caught fire, that the thunderstorm put out.  

The trees remind me of riding my bike around the corner and up their driveway. Fond memories. I occasionally see a single tree here in northern Virginia, this was the first time I had seen a street or drive lined with them. 

My mood on seeing this was nostalgia, fond memories of the past. A sense of calm, and the constants that endure the passage of time.  Much of the world we live in, the things that dominate our attention are temporary, the trees will outlive and outlast most of what distracts us from enjoying today.  Be like the trees.