Memorial Weekend

I don't know why people in the west don't put flowers on graves at Memorial day like they do in the Midwest. Just a difference in regional traditions.... I enjoy it after having been gone for so many years and not doing it. I think I am more aware of it now maybe due to having had more birthdays and also my interest in genealogy. It is just that taking a minute to remember family members and friends.

Anyway, here is what the back of my vehicle looked like when Vivian and Karen left here last Saturday.

 We put flowers on 18 graves this year. This is the 3rd year we have done it and now have the process down pat. I have a list of people to get flowers for, take a marking pen to the store and we write the names on the flowers when we get them.  Then they are sorted in the car depending which cemetery we go to first.

Last year on Memorial weekend,  Vivian and I worked a very long time to clean her mother's tombstone and get the dirt, algae, etc off it.

Above is what the tombstone looked like before we cleaned it. Below is how it still looks this year after we got done cleaning it. We were surprised that it still looked so good this year.

I talked to a company that makes tombstones and he told me what to do and that is what we did and it worked. He said to use Dawn dish soap,  water, scrub with a soft bristle brush,  a really lot of elbow grease and rinse really good with water when done. There are a couple more tombstones that are starting to discolor but decided to wait another year before doing them and do it in the fall when it is cooler.

I'm taking the Quarterly to the printer this morning and then have to get back to getting ready for the class I teach on the 13th. PLUS, I have to prepare for the one I'm doing on June 25th so those are my focus this month! Then I don't have any more classes to teach for the year at this point. I don't mind doing them but it is so much work to do the PowerPoint, research, etc to get ready for them.