1) Something new always arrests my eye when I walk through the cemetery, and yesterday it was this tombstone by the lake, marked by a harvested sheaf of wheat bound with ivy. The wheat sheaf symbolizes resurrection and immortality, while ivy, of course, means marital fidelity. So let’s hope the husband and wife buried here really did enjoy a happy marriage.
1a) Interestingly, my copy of Kate Greenaway’s Language of Flowers (purchased in junior high school at the local mall’s Wyldyn Books [long since closed]} only gives the symbolism of a stalk of wheat, which means Riches. I guess Miss Greenaway didn’t expect any swain to woo his beloved with an entire wheat sheaf.
2) This morning, in the midst of email and dishwashing, I have been reaching back into the deepest recesses of my YewTybbe favorites list, and this came up — which, well — let’s just say it currently has an added importance to me.
2a) And then there was this poignant clip of Kathryn Grayson singing about the murder of Vienna, which, well, feels more current than I’d like.
3) Everyone’s chattering about HBO’s new The Gilded Age, which reminded me that France kind of missed out on the start of World War I because they were distracted by a high-profile murder trial. Admittedly it’s a big deal when the wife of a high government official assassinates a prominent newspaper editor in his office and is then driven in her chauffeur-driven limousine to the police station, but still . . .