My grandmother used to work for the local florist and spent many hours in the basement of the shop making these wonderful arrangements, and I spend many happy hours helping her.
Then we would all go the graveyard, place our floral arrangements on the graves, light candles in coloured little pots like these -
and although it was a time for quiet contemplation, remembering our loved ones, very peaceful and quite serene in a way, it was also quite a social occasion, as one would of course meet many other family members. Even as a small child, I was not scared of going to the graveyard, it was somehow like going to church, with all those people and candles around, and it was quite beautiful really.
( All the above photos are courtesy of Google Images )When I was thinking about what to post on Halloween, not having any halloweeny/pumpkin pics of my own, I remembered some photographs I had taken earlier this year at a craft fair. It was held in the gardens of a beautiful mansion
In order to get to the gardens to set up though, we had to go the back way, past the church you can see in the background and through the graveyard, and I was fascinated by the beautiful old gravestones.
I spent a few minutes after the fair taking some pictures, and today seems like a good opportunity to share them with you. They are not ghoulish in any way, I just love the beautiful designs on them, and the way the years, moss and lichen have softened them and created patterns of their own -
These two angels were facing each other on the gravestone. Weatherworn and timeworn, it was very hard to make them out, but I thought they were quite wonderful -
I only had few minutes, so unfortunately I didn't get a chance to go all round the church, or have a look inside. But this wonky little side door did catch my eye -
Enjoy whichever way you are going to spend this weekend! xx
