I made three trips to St. Michael’s Cemetery in Ridge yesterday and one visit the day before. It leads me to conclude that four cemetery visits in 2 consecutive days may be a little too much even for a Ridge boy. That said however, I may re-visit there again today just to notch the Tombstone Trifecta.
OK, why so many trips to the quiet side of town? Well, one of my visits was part of attending the funeral yesterday for Mrs. Ruth Drury. Turns out that she was buried only a few feet from where most of my ancestors are interred. In fact, I had to pass by, i.e. walk over, Grandfather Harry Raley and his sister Alice (Sissy) resting places to get to Mrs. Drury’s final rites.
My other three St. Mike’s Cemetery visits involved putting the Christmas floral arrangements on Mom and Dad’s tombstone. My sister Donna Jean always handles the flowers on the tombstones. However, because I have a friend Emma who does a nice job on Christmas floral arrangements, I try and take care of that one.
I had met Emma early Tuesday morning to pick up the arrangements and then swung by the Cemetery on my way down the road. However, once at the grave sites, I saw that there were already some nice flowers there that looked to be in good shape. Thus, I wasn’t sure if I should replace those or not. Plus, it was raining a downpour so I punted, got in the car and rolled on knowing I’d be back for Mrs. Drury’s services. (I did check in with Donna and learned that she had put those flowers on the graves awhile back and suggested that I move them over to Brother Stevie’s grave which is what I did the next day as seen here.)
My Wednesday plan then was to go a little early to the Cemetery, take care of the flowers and then attend the funeral. However, once I arrived at the Cemetery and tried to put the saddle arrangement around the base of the vase, I saw that the zip tie was too short to secure it properly. (No jokes please about one’s zip tie being too short to take care of the job.) Knowing that I had some longer ties at the Store, I punted again and made my way into the Church for Mrs. Drury’s service.
After the funeral and down at the Store, I secured a longer zip tie, asked Brian to watch the Store for me and made my way back to the cemetery. Proving the saying “Third time’s the charm,” I succeeded in finally securing the arrangement on Buzzy and Mom’s grave. Results turned out pretty good even if it did take me three visits to accomplish it.
Music-wise, this tune may be a tad too long for you, but it’s still worth a listen. For the lyrics (click here.)