All due respect to Athaliah, Fanny and Zebulun, I love graveyards, and I hope they don’t mind me taking these pictures. I find names for characters there, along with peace and quiet and fascinating histories, some beautiful, some sad.

Whilst wandering and paying my respects, between chatting with the ghosts, I spoke to a man in his eighties tending his son’s grave. His son died aged thirty. We talked about life and death, and hills and tea, then went about our day.

He thanked me for taking the time, and I apologised for taking his.

I took one close-up because of the letters carved into it. They weren’t part of the names of the deceased, and I had no idea what they meant. It turns out IHS stands for Jesus, from the first three letters of his name in Greek.

Who knew?

Stonemasonry and funerary art are crafts that are dying out (pun very much intended). We need to encourage the preservation of the old crafts, if only to keep our beautiful historic places alive.

So, when did you last visit a graveyard?

And have you written down your own wishes for your ‘disposal’, memorial or otherwise?

Memento mori

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It’s been a while!!

I’m going to be posting on my site again.

The whole social media thing is so variable and messy and moody that using my website gives me a semblance of control over the comments.

Yes, some content will be on Substack, where paid subscribers help keep the writing going, and as an indie author multiple income streams are necessary, and fun.

Substack, free and paid access options

https://substack.com/@christieadams

Writing fuelled by tea, and the 5am coffee.

https://buymeacoffee.com/christieadamswriter