Sometimes when you hand the camera to a seven-year-old, you get this:

Sometimes you get this:

Had a quiet weekend. Friday night tried to go to the Play Museum but it is closed two days out of the year, and this was one of them. Tried another museum on a long shot, but it was closed too. Ended up at the Y where the kids ran around happily til bedtime.

Tried the PM again today and spent a very pleasant hour and a half. Sam showed his friend Maddy how to play pinball, and Josh got to see the "grownup" again. He's still freaked by it, but managed this time to go up to it and try working it himself:

Other than that, a quiet weekend. Grilled hamburgers, went out on an anniversary date, went swimming at the Y, made and consumed a crumb cake, and generally enjoyed the domestic life.

Hope you a good weekend as well!

This device at the PM speaks silly poems both forwards and backwards.

Mt. Hope Cemetery with Aunt Amy!

Inspired by last week's fun graveyard walk, yesterday took a brief trip to the Mt. Hope cemetery. It was improved considerably by the presence of Aunt Amy, who was visiting for the weekend. :-)

The cemetery dates back to the 1830s. It receives ~500 new occupants each year, and has a number of famous figures, including Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, George Eastman (cremated), Bausch, Lomb and Corning. 

Perhaps the best attribute, though, is that it's on very hilly terrain populated with gorgeous old trees. To walk around this cemetery is to constantly climb steep hills or down into small gulches and valleys. And according the wikipedia, there are catacombs underneath which are currently sealed up. 

I have tried to talk to Sam a little about how in the day when the church was young Christians stood apart from pagans because they weren't afraid of cemeteries or the dead.

Also shared with him the etymology of "sacrophagus" (from "flesh eater", because the limestone of which they used to be made would cause rapid deterioration of the interred). And this led to my favorite poem about cannibals:

Among the anthropophagi,
People's friends are people's sacrophagi.

Anyway, it's a great place for kids to run (except for having to keep Josh was plunging off the many precipices--Aunt Amy was great for that!). It was a cool (60s), overcast day, which actually made it great hiking weather. Hope you enjoy the photos below... 

AA in front of one of the many fields of graves.

There is an astounding amount of gorgeous statuary. 

In front of this one was a young couple and their dog, doing some geocaching. They were enthusiastic about telling us about it, and got Sam excited about it as well. If only we had a GPS!

The only Celtic cross. What craftsmanship!

Henry was apparently a short man. Looks a little like he's just about to sneak into the bathroom with a book.

I can only assume this is the grave of a librarian.

This person appears to have died of a very bad headache.

Amy says she wants to be cremated. Shame, cause we could also recycle this one for her use...

Seriously--good birthday gift idea for Emily for next year.

Or my wife...

...Susan. At the very least could make a coffee table out of them.

There's a sizable number of Jewish graves, some, like this one, quite old.

Which brings to mind the Jewish custom of placing stones on top of grave stones.

This, though, seems a little over the top.

This is a variation, but a heartbreaking one. 

We figure the teddy bear was for Amelia.

Amelia's grave was part of four with a vast list of names, with this poem in the center:

Scatter me not to the restless winds.

Nor toss my ashes to the sea.

Remember now those years gone by

when loving gifts I gave to thee.

Remember now the happy times,

the family ties we shared.

Don't leave my resting places unmarked

as though you never cared.

Deny me not one final gift

for all to come and see...

a single lasting proof that says 

I loved and you loved me.

You don't go to cemeteries expecting all the stories to be happy ones.

There was a huge number of crypts. Josh went up to just about each one and knocked on the door. Sam had already said he wished we could come overnight and just confirm that zombies don't rise out of the ground once the sun sets.

This is set into the side of a hill.

This one is vast, but there's no indication of the names of the occupants. Guess they weren't doing it to get famous.

Sam enjoyed the crypt as well.

We always look for names which have gone well out of style. Lulu, or Fannie, for that matter.

Or even Elijah and Mihala.

One of the stranger names--Venor Mogridge.

This was a little strange. From this it appears that Charlotte, born in 1834, hasn't died yet. That's staying power--makes her 179 years old.

Amy wondered if Miss Crocker ever had the chance to marry a Mr. Dial. If she'd hyphenated , she would have been Crocker-Dial. (Well, we all thought it was funny.)

And if Antoinette had hyphenated, she could have been Ms. Pumpelly-Perkins. THAT has a ring to it. Nice Deco type face, btw.

Sam particularly enjoyed being caught in the act of falling through the air. There's something poetic about a young person being caught in mid-air in the midst of all those resting places.

Fun trip. Got us all tuckered out.

Visiting a new graveyard

Took the boys for a little outing this afternoon. Next to the Penfield public library is a cemetery. It's no Mount Hope, but it's a decent size and we found graves as old as 1850, which ain't bad. One has to be a little careful not to be too loudly jolly near any visitors, but if you can master that, it's a great place for a walk.

Several of the graves correspond to nearby street names (Qualtrough, Whalen, Rothfuss, etc.), and others are names we know from our congregation (Porte, Frelier, etc.) And we played the game where you try to imagine what story lies behind a given family name. The Carpenters are easy, and the Smiths. But others defy explanation or invite absurd stories, like Mr. Stumble, whose family is buried in the cemetery.

Sam commented on many of the new gravestones, which have embedded in them little color portraits of the deceased. These were exclusively on the graves of African-Americans. Something I hadn't seen before. And one grave had a little glass case embedded in it, containing memorabilia. Many servicepeople and several firemen. 

Didn't see any Jewish graves, though there was one Gentile grave with a stone on the top. And two pieces of loose change, including one dime held down with scotch tape. No idea what was going on there. 

Josh referred to some of the large stones as "monsters", prompting Sam to cower in fear from this one.

Sam, showing Josh some details. This pair of stones had nice carvings of doves.

"Isaac Bird Covey"?  Really?

Definitely a name which could fit into our congregation, whether or not it has. And like some names it sounds absolutely hilarious to a seven-year-old. Sam's favorite, though, was Yonkers, of whom there wee a smattering. I like to imagine law firms with these names: "Yonkers and Lindskoog, L.L.C., at your service."

This is the only place I have ever seen a Sitterly outside of our beloved neighbors up at camp.

Afterward, we walked to the library (or, in Josh' nomenclature, "libooby") playground, to putter and swing before dinner. You may notice some abrasions on his upper lip and nose. Josh fell face-forward while riding his tricycle last Friday, poor little guy.

Had the Manlys over for dinner Saturday, which was a great, delightful to-do. 

A random note from Susan:

When Josh asks where Daddy is and I tell him, "Daddy's at work," Josh then yells, "Booby-ball! Booby-ball!" (His word for "volleyball.") Yup. He's convinced Daddy gets to play volleyball all day. 

When I tell this to Tim, I think he wants to weep.

And even funnier, also from Susan:

Josh has named his rocking horse "Mommy." I'm not feeling great about this.

And finally:

I need to show more patience with other drivers. I was turning at an intersection the other day and heard Josh murmur from the back seat, "Come on, people, come on, people."

Have a good week! Josh begins Montessori Wednesday--one hour Wed, two on Thu, three on Fri. I expect trauma before he settles in. The environment's great, though. He'll love it once he accepts it.

At the Play Museum this morning, finding Nemo

First-day update

Josh is becoming more and more of a pacifier addict. We are thinking of how and when to break him of it. Here he is, taking a hit. Hard times ahead for this boy. I favor waiting until after he's started school next week. Susan wants to get it overwith now, since it's doing harm to his teeth (or so the Anti-Pacifier Dental Council of America would have you believe).

After the Play Museum on Sunday we went to a little playground nearby which the boys like a lot. It's downtown, which always means a heightened level of alertness, though I can't think of any trouble we've had there. Sam especially likes this playground because it's adjacent to a cool concrete amphitheater...

...with lots of places to climb. Also a smattering of broken glass, a little dried urine, and some blankets left by a hobo, but one of the amazing things about kids is that they just don't notice that stuff if they are getting to climb steep concrete structures. So, a little more stress for the parent, but 10x the fun for the boys--worth it overall.

This is from this morning, the first morning back to school for Sam. Josh eagerly waited for the bus along with Sam, also wearing the backpack Nana and Grandad gave him. Sam was both anxious and excited, but mostly excited. Josh wept bitter tears when he wasn't allowed to get on the bus along with Sam. :-( Next week Josh starts Montessori. I'll be dropping him off each morning. Hopefully he'll adjust to that without too many tears. It's a great environment which I am sure he'll love.

A peanut-allergy-related interview worth watching

I wish I could get all Sam's teachers and the parents of his friends, and all the people in his church to watch this interview.

Labor Day Weekend

The lamentable end of summer had some of the time-filling activity out of Sam which summer should have--in this case, making a small village for his little plastic figures. 

No pictures from it, but yesterday we made a quick stop at the Play Museum. In Susan's words:

You know that giant in Storybook Land at the National Museum of Play? Well, today Josh was genuinely scared of it for the first time. He clung to Tim, and he called it a "grown-up." 

When he got home, I knelt down and asked him if he saw the giant. He put his little face close up to mine and said, in a big, serious voice, "GROWN-UP!"

Today, Labor Day, took a trip to the zoo in the morning, and had dinner with the Borises later in the day. Here are some photos from the former:

The river otters were in a rare playfully, exhibitionist mood. 

Delightful weekend.