Memorial Day

Sorry, I'm running a few days behind the times here...but I've been too busy outdoors to fiddle with pics.  Yesterday was a tad damp, so I got caught-up on the Home Front.  Cookies were baked for the ol' coot.  Pictures were downloaded and Photoshopped.   Laundry was laundered.

As I may or may not have mentioned previously, Grandma Newman took Memorial Day quite seriously.  In fact, she told mom that failure to put flowers on her grave on Memorial Day would result in a haunting.  Don't think there's been a flower failure in thirty-five years or so...

So, Linda, nephew Lance, and I trouped-up to Evergreen Cemetery on Sunday morning.  Potted plants for grandma and grandpa Newman, cousin Janis (Emilie's daughter), Linda's late husband, Russ, Eli Lindstrom, and Aunt Ingaborg.  All present and accounted for...

  Shouldn't be any haunting in 2010

The Evergreen Cemetery is quite lovely - particularly this time of year

The cemetery holds many fond memories for me.  When I was a wee sprat we lived only a couple of blocks away and the local kiddos treated the cemetery as a combination park and playground.  In the summer we flew balsa gliders, played baseball, and otherwise recreated in the company of the recently and long-since deceased.  In the winter we sledded.  Indeed, one of my closer calls as a youngster was a crash of the sled-headstone variety.  Sledding was particularly fun at night...

Well, it's quite nice again this morning.  Off to the elders for coffee and then up to auntie's to mow the lawn.  Then back to the folks' to do their lawn.  Should be nice enough this afternoon to get the ol' coot outside and there is the promise of mom's halibut for supper.

Finally, for my Portland pals, a link to a story in last week's LA Times titled "Achieving Beervana in Portland, OR."  According to the story Portland - with about forty breweries -  has now surpassed Munich, Germany as the brewing capital of the world.

Beervana in Portland

Later gang.