greenwood cemetery

I spent a lovely afternoon at Greenwood Cemetery yesterday. It might sound a bit odd that I enjoyed a sunshine filled day at a place full of dead people, but it really was relaxing and very nice.

I went with my next door neighbor. The funny thing about her is that we met in a very random way. Both of us had gone up to the roof of our apartment building at the same time, and bumped into one another up there. We started talking and found we had a lot in common, including having similar interests and being close in age. After a lengthy discussion, the two of us decided it would be fun to scope out one of America's biggest cemeteries, and yesterday was the time to go.

Hence the trip to Greenwood.

It was supposed to thunderstorm, but luckily it didn't. By the time we walked over to the cemetery the sky was clear blue and the sun was shining. Puffy white clouds were skipping across the sky. It was like something out of a romanticist's poem from the nineteenth century. I expected little fleecy lambs to be poking about the grassy slopes where all the coffins are buried.

The two of us discovered a marvelous old cherry tree that was covered in pink froth. The ground around the tree's trunk was littered with a carpeting of pastel colored snow. It was certainly a very noble tree. Since it happened to be located on a lovely patch of grass, the two of started rolling around in the cherry blossoms and throwing it up in the air like confetti. The petals were getting in our hair and all over our clothes, and everything smelled so sweet and fresh. It was a pink paradise, literally.

We then headed over to the little pond, where only two ducks were present but plenty of geese and their babies were waddling about. A mother goose hissed at us as we walked by, and we both recounted stories of being chased by angry geese. (Who knew birds could be so scary?) Along the rim of the pond there were handfuls of snail shells leaking out baby snails in a milky white paste. It was frankly a bit gross looking. However, the little snail infants were smaller than the size of my pinky nail, which is pretty darn tiny, and therefore very cute. Some of the empty shells were quite beautiful -- I'm thinking about going back and scooping up some to place in my planters on the fire escape.

Much exploring of gravestones and monuments was carried out. We poked around trying to read the writing on old slabs of marble and not always being very successful at it. It was fun inventing faces and stories behind all those names we came across in the cemetery -- who were they, and what did they all do?

We made a pit stop at the Greenwood Church, which is a lovely old building with beautiful stained glass windows. It is left open to the public on a daily basis, and is a lovely place to sit and reflect. It's also very cool, which makes it ideal for taking a break from the sunshine. The church also happens to have very nice (and floral scented) restrooms. (I checked, naturally.)

We ended up spending several hours at the cemetery. By the time we left the sky had begun clouding over again, which made us feel rather special. The storm gods had held off any rain for us until we'd left! How accommodating.

Today hasn't been too impressive thus far. I'm still on break from school. It's going to thunder storm later this afternoon, so I'm planning avoiding the outdoors. I am going to head back to the cemetery soon, though. I want to get my hands in my cherry blossom petals and throw myself a parade complete with pink confetti.

Celebrate spring!