Christmas at the Cemetery

It seems that the more time I spend at the cemetery, the more I think about the "why." When I ask people about "why do you visit the cemetery? why do you decorate according to the season/holiday?" they do not have an answer or are unwilling to share it.
Are the living trying to keep the dead in the here and now?
Are the living still struggling to let go?
If a child died 7 years ago, at the age of 6, do you leave toys for a 6 years old or a 13 year old?
Am I just too dense to see what is going on?

The images speak for themselves.

Miscellaneous

Gus continues his hunt for the evil squirrels. They are in the trees and run along the power lines. Sometimes they stop and swish their tails back and forth. I think and Gus thinks that they are doing it to taunt him.

 I continue to take Gus to the cemetery in the late afternoon. He can explore, chase lizards, some rabbits, and those elusive squirrels. He can do this in the safety of the enclosed space.  The cemetery shares a fence with a nature preserve on the south side. Right now there are 200-300 "turkey vultures" hanging out there. I was told that they migrate south this time of year. I took this later afternoon picture as a trial for a later attempt. As the sun is setting they hord or covey of vultures are gliding back and forth finding their tree. I simply urge Gus to keep moving. We don't want to provide them with a meal.

I will have a new cemetery entry Christmas in the Cemetery. I have started to see the decorations around the tombstones.Coming soon.

 I recently got a new camera that allows me to do closeups. This is a rosemary plant in bloom. I did not know that they knew how to do that.

 This one is the bloom of  a purple sweet potato vine.









As best that I could find, this is a succulent known as "paddle plant." The leaves are thick and green. When the plant is in full sun they get the red coloration. They grow easily and multiply well. I did not know they bloomed. This plant has the beginnings of the bloom.

In the photo below, the bloom shaft has begun to grow.





I have a plant with a riser that is about 4 feet tall.
This is what all the fuss is about. I am curious to see what comes next. Maybe these are the pods from outer space.

Finally the bloom from an aloe vera plant.

Wreaths

Almost a year ago, one of my nieces introduced me to the craft of making "deco-mesh ribbon wreaths." She had recently learned herself. I learned what she knew and the Christmas wreath I made I thought was great. A year later, my friend in San Antonio is also into the deco-mesh, but she has perfected the skills. I learned from her and redid the original wreath. The close-up above is part of that wreath. The new wreath is so much better. It is on the front side of the house. (below)

Passersby ask about it: where did I get it? can I make one for them? how much will I charge? I get the same reactions and questions about the decoration of the front door. (below)

However, the folks in this part of town are not about to spend $40 or $75 for a wreath. They want to barter down to less than $10. My friend in San Antonio sells hers at a base price of $40 and up depending on size and extra dodads that may be added.

The one below is one the east side of the house and it sits close to Santa. Except for the door, all have lights intertwined.

I made wreaths for my sister and my nieces as well, below.

The good thing about these is that they store as flat as possible and can then be pooffed up next year. The ribbon can be removed and saved, when you need to update or change colors. 

If you want to place a wreath order you know how to contact me.

Crafty

I was in San Antonio recently at a store called Home Goods. This place is the nicer of the TJMax and Marshalls family - in my opinion - with very good prices. I was thinking of buying a Halloween door deco for my niece. It was a wooden crescent moon with a witch. As I looked at it I thought, "I can make one."

Although I did not make the crescent moon design, I found pieces of scrap lumber that have been hanging around for much too long and started cutting. Here is what was left after I cut away the scraps.

I am thinking that my niece can use it in her classroom or inside window of her apartment.

The pumpkin stack is for my sister. It is versatile. The "jack-o-lantern" design is with duck tape. You can continue to use it through November. The color is a bit off in the picture and in reality. I was mixing colors to create a better orange and ran out of paint.

 The two upright pumpkins are from last year. The third is laying down waiting for the glitter glue to dry. The color is a bit different from the other two but then again so is he.

I started making this for my other niece but thought she might not appreciate it as much as I did, so I kept it.  I have always liked these seed pods as decorations. When I carve my pumpkins one will have the serpent tongue as well.








I set up the witch in front of the house. A tree branch adds a touch of witchy-ness. The broom is the remains of my dead rose bush roots.

Okay. This is all the deos until Christmas. Now that I have found how easy it is to use the jigsaw creatively, there are no limits. If you would like a yard deco, submit your request as soon as possible. I still have some scarp wood laying around.

Recent Pix

Although a picture may be worth a thousand words, I will add a few words too.

 This summer I added an outdoor sink to my work area. I got it for $10 from the neighbor and made the stand for it. Surprisingly (to me) the legs were even and the sink sank into the frame. It has been a useful addition.

 I really wanted the outdoor furniture I saw at Sam's Club, but I could not pay $300 for each chair. All other sets I saw did not seem comfortable. Finally BigLots! had their end of summer sale and I found something comfortable. The chairs have a slight swivel/rock motion to them. The set was totally unassembled. It was a good buy.

 Walk through the cemetery with your camera and show me your pictures. This was once an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Now it is something best fitting of Halloween. At what point do you remove what you bring to the cemetery, or do you ever?












No it is not "Wedding Barbie." This is the front window of the local "hierberia" and "santeria" store. It look eerily similar to the previous picture from the cemetery.











Highway signs

"Stripes" is a regional convenience store chain. I liked the three dimensional cup dispenser effect. I need to go back in the morning for better light and maybe less traffic.

 Pronto Insurance has done a good job with their ad campaign locally. I hear positive comments regularly. I don't how many people that relate to the ads go out and buy from the company though.

 

Gus - through the looking glass

     I have made some progress in getting Gus to get into a vehicle. At first he would not go near and resisted the pull. Once inside he was a bundle of high anxiety. Slowly the anxiety diminished, but he still did not seem comfortable riding. His behavior has progressed to the point that he is not fearful of the vehicle and will walk right up to the open door and may put both front paws on the seat or in the open door. However he still has not figured out how to maneuver his rear end to jump in. Once I lift him in he is comfortable, and dare I say happy to go for a ride. These pix depict what I see when I look out to the passenger side rear view mirror.

Digging up family

It seems like forever that I last wrote. My excuse or reason is that the summer has been very hot, tieing and breaking temperature records. It is a time to be indoors before 1 p.m. and resurfacing after 6 p.m. when the temp is around 95.

Doing a little at a time, I scraped, sanded and painted the carport. The last time it got some paint, very little prepping was done, so it needed much work. I wish I would think of doing before and after pictures.

On the search for my family I have returned to the cemetery. I knew that my maternal great-grandmothers were buried in the Weslaco City Cemetery. I also knew that other relatives were buried there. I decided to find their cemetery plots and take pictures and document where they are located. It was a good plan, but....

Who's Who in the City Cemetery
     Grandfather's mother - Maria Lugo (looking)
     Grandmothers mother - Prajedis Alanis (found)
     Grandmother's sister - Cirila Rodriguez (found)
     Grandmother's brother - Mateo Elizondo (found)
     Grandmother's sister-in-law - Maria Elizondo (looking)
     Grandmother's sister - Paula Elizondo (looking)
     Grandmother's brother-in-law - Abundio Vallejo (Looking)

"Cirila" is misspelled as "Sirilda" I am sure that this was before spellcheck.

Francisca was Cirila's daughter/ my grandmother's niece and Alberto her husband.

Mateo died in 1968.

My grandparents 2 days apart. (Interesting story.)

Maria Lugo (great grandmother)

I went to City Hall looking for the location of her grave. Using the latest in index card technology, he came back with a section, plot, and grave number. When I looked at the map, I knew that  the information was incorrect. I used to take my grandmother to the cemetery on "visit the dead" days and I remembered my great-grandmother's grave being on the "Mexican" side. (Yes, the dead were also segregated.) The information from the city had her buried (1952) on the Gringo side. Who was she going to mingle with???

 On the left side of the street was the Anglo side (it has been integrated). The markers are small or flush with the ground.

On the right side of the street is the Mexican side of the cemetery. The graves are adorned with an abundance of plastic flowers and wreaths for every occasion.  This section of the cemetery is extremely crowded.

Maria Lugo did not have a formal marker. My grandfather made a mound of cement and embedded sea shells and marbles in it. Years later the cement, and decorations disappeared.

In the old days, before plastic flowers, a trip to the cemetery required a shovel, a bucket, and other gardening tools. We had to plant and weed and water, and clean. It was almost a day-long trip if we needed to make a stop all over.

Maria Elizondo

Maria Elizondo was my "aunt," through marriage. She was my grandmother's sister-in-law and was 99 when she died in Chicago.

City Hall has no record of her burial in 2001. However....

Another distant relative was walking through the flea market when she noticed a tombstone, with a name she recognized, Maria Elizondo. Apparently the family did not finish paying for the stone and it was repossessed. The relative called the police and got to take the stone to her house. She tried to put it back, but had no one to help her and could not pay the fees that the city was charging. The stone sat on her front yard for years. I drove past and did not see it, maybe it is a bench in the back yard. I continue to try and contact this relative to get the marker to the cemetery. The City needs to find the spot though.

Looking

I just recently asked the guy at City Hall to look for the grave sites for Paula Elizondo, Abundio Vallejo,  I was told to return next week.

Monterrey,  Mexico Cemetery- Update

You remember the entrance to Neverland. My paternal grandfather and aunt are buried here.

 I was back in Mexico in July. I wanted to know who had purchased the plot.  My thinking was that now that I found new relatives in Monterrey and all are between the ages of 67 and 80, there may be a need for burial real estate. If I could have the plot transferred to my name, I could authorize burials as needed. The plot is built for 5 and has 3 vacancies.

I forgot I was in Mexico.

The plot was bought by the aunt that is buried there. She bought it about 10 years before my grandfather died. I did not know that she was so future oriented. The cemetery is city owned. They do not sell or buy plots. If a family wants to sell their plot, they advertise or inform the cemetery to refer buyers to them. The cemetery is out of the transactions.

The only way to bury someone or exhume the remains is to present the cemetery the deed to the land. I have never seen a deed. The alternative is to go to court and have a judge rule that I am the legal owner of the property as all of my family is deceased. This entails buying, a lawyer, and a judge. The property might be worth $120,000 pesos or $9000 US. From what I have heard of these proceedings, they are drawn out a they tend to bleed money, especially if the client is American. I am still thinking of a way to save this property and the remains buried there.

I WILL CONTINUE DIGGING!