These are columbine, I believe. Ancolies in French. Pink ones like this, and others that are blue, come up every year in our daisy patch. This year there are fewer of them than usual, and I don't see any blue ones yet.
Our friend and neighbor, Bernard, was laid to rest in our local cemetery yesterday. The ceremony was sober and brief. I teared up a bit when the casket was lowered into the ground. At the end, attendees were invited to sprinkle rose petals on the casket, a custom in France but not one that I remember back in the US. Bernard's family hosted a reception afterward at their house across the road from us. A very nice affair, filled with memories and laughter. There must have been thirty or so cars parked all around. It was good to see people we've met over the years but haven't seen in a while. Among them, a young woman, one of Bernard's many granddaughters, who remembered us from when she was four years old.
Funerals always make me tear up, even if I have no relationship with the deceased person. I bet that was something special that you felt when the granddaughter remembered you!
ReplyDeleteOhhh, those flowers from today and yesterday are pretty :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad yesterday went well. You are part of Bernard's extended family in a way.
ReplyDeleteHow pleasant a tradition to offer rose petals on top of the casket. Once, I was offered a shovel to scoop some dirt onto the grave of a friend. I would have preferred flower petals. That 4-year-old,now a much older young woman, must have been a light moment for you to share with Ken and her. That brought a big smile to my face that hasn't been smiling much, lately.
ReplyDeleteI liked the rose petal tradition too. A warm gesture.
ReplyDeleteBTW...We call those flowers 'Granny's Bonnets' in Yorkshire. (Aquiligia). Pats. 😊
I love columbines. Our Connecticut woodchucks love them, too. And they won.
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