Season Greeting

Summer dawns

It’s Memorial Day, the unofficial first day of Summer … or, as I like to call it, the official end of Spring. Rain will now become scarcer, the weather hotter — ever hotter —and it will be months before my favorite season, Fall, shows up with its short, dark days and chilly weather. Oh, well … to try and shake my doldrums I decide to meet the new season head-on by taking some pictures of the Memorial Day-appropriate  historic Evergreen Cemetery, which our backyard faces. It’s 5:39 a.m. in the picture above and the first rays of the Summer sun have just peeked over the hills … streetlights are still on and it’s cool out, really pretty. The birds in the trees seem to be insanely happy about this, chirping maybe just a tad too loudly. *Sigh*

So quiet

Crossing the street for a closer look, I notice the headstones still have dew on them and it’s really very peaceful and quiet. Not even a slight breeze stirs the flag hanging resignedly. Relishing the quiet, I can’t help but think about the Founder’s Day celebration coming on July 4th. Tickets are only $5 and include In-n-Out burgers and live music — all virtually in our backyard. *Sigh*

First rays

Walking around the other side, I catch this shot of the Summer’s sun as it first touches our side of Mt. Rubidoux. So lovely, almost majestic, really. In the middle-ground you can see aligned with a tall headstone, our lofty eucalyptus tree and back fence. Smaller, shorter pepper trees stand at its base, but they’re in the process of being removed by the city. The job would’ve been done last week … except for the bees. *Sigh*

Not Thebes

No, we’re not in the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes now, it’s just the Egyptian revival-style crypt/crematorium at Evergreen Cemetery. This style of architecture was popular in the 1900s and it is certainly eye-catching and grand in an unexpected way. Paul’s been inside and says that crypts are stacked floor to ceiling and come complete with dusty artificial floral tributes. He also got a very short peek at the crematorium, and says it looks very clean … like a restaurant kitchen. *Sigh*

Goth-y

Retreating back to the Rancho I notice two dark, very thin, gender-neutral figures moving inside the cemetary’s metal fence … it’s not even 6 a.m. and already two kids of goth persuasion (I finally decide they’re both teenaged boys) have invaded the quiet sanctum of the graveyard to take in the air of loss and inevitable doom. How they were able to scale the fence wearing the skinniest of skinny jeans is beyond me, but such youthful willfullness fills me with hope suddenly! You can just make them out in the center of the photo above, taken from inside our fence so as not to spook them. Usually the goth kids tour the cemetary at night, after parking in front of the Rancho, so I’m surprised by these early morning specters … surprised and heartened. I mean, if skinny jeans-wearing, wannabe Rimbauds, can get up before dawn for fence-hopping-gravestone-touring and look happy about it, then what am I complaining about?! Welcome, Summer!