It is the longest day and shortest night of the year, the Summer Solstice, a perfect day to honor the ancestors with a huge box of flowers for the graves!
But when I got there, I realized I had forgotten to bring a hammer…something that is good to use with a chopstick to make some holes if the ground is hard…which it was…
Anyway I called Jackie from the Kent Cliff Historical Society – she and I had been in email communication regarding “Dixie Villa,” the 40-ish acre property owned by the family in the first half of the 1900s, which had a lake and summer cabins for the family and renters… Jackie only lived five minutes away and bailed me out! She brought a hammer and a stick so I could pound some holes for the flowers in the areas with harder earth— there were 8 graves to decorate, including one for a baby, and she helped me “plant” the fabric flowers…
I always bring pansies for my mom, her favorite flower……and flags for dad because he was a veteran of WW2. (photo above).
Below, top photo: Black-Eyed Susans for my grandmother, Mohena Belle – Etta and Albert’s eldest daughter. This time I was excited to bring her favorite flower, Lily of the Valley, which she used at her wedding. And we “planted” sweet little blooms for Etta and Albert’s toddler, Albert Gray, Jr.
Bottom left: Flowers for my great-grandparents Albert and Etta Love Bailey (she was the psychic one!)
Bottom Right: Etta and Albert’s son Robert, and his wife Rose (I always bring roses for Rose!)
Sure looked purty when we were done!
Next I want to learn how to clean the gravestones…
Before and after!
And after Jackie helped me honor the ancestors, she drove me over to take a peek at what used to be “Dixie Villa”, the old family property.
And I still got to my newfound cousin, Alan’s, in time to get my first glimpse of the gravestone of my great-great-grandparents. Catherine and Hezekiah Harris (who died at Gettysburg), and their son, Ira Hezekiah Harris.
It was an exciting day of honoring the ancestors!
