Here's another shot of our Brugmansia, still blooming up a storm despite (or maybe because of) ever-chillier outdoor temperatures. It's 47º F out there this morning (8.3º C) which is pretty darn cold for a tropical flower. This is another plant I'll eventually have to bring inside, though where I'll put it I have no idea.
Yesterday, by afternoon, it was warm enough for the bees to come out and gather pollen from the Michaelmas daisies.
I took the dog to the cemetery in the afternoon. On the way, we passed a woman in a black handkerchief skirt, walking with a little girl. The girl was eating an ice cream cone, and the woman -- with one earbud in her ear -- was singing "I Only Have Eyes for You" loudly enough that I heard her from the next block. I wondered if she meant the song for the little girl, who seemed unconcerned.
I was intrigued by this headstone for the Esdaile family, including wife Hephzibah. Now there's a name you don't see much anymore. Some "old lady" names have come back in fashion, but I'm not sure I've ever run into a modern Hephzibah. She married John, a church rector, and lived to be 80, dying in 1886. The stone also mentions two sons, Channing and James.
You can't walk through a cemetery, especially if you pay attention to headstones, without musing a bit on mortality. I know nothing about the Esdailes so I don't mean this as a commentary about them specifically, but for some reason I thought of Pete Seeger's song "From Way Up Here":
From way up here
The earth is very small
They shouldn't fight at all
The earth is very small
They shouldn't fight at all
Down there upon that little sphere
Their time is short
Their time is short
A life is just a day
You'd think they'd find a way
You'd think they'd get along
You'd think they'd find a way
You'd think they'd get along
And fill their sunlit days with song
You may need to move out to make room for all your plants!
ReplyDeleteIt is starting to feel like a greenhouse!
DeleteSome of those biblical names have gone out of fashion, but actually they are timeless.
ReplyDeleteWhat is a handkerchief skirt?
This, for example:
Deletehttps://www.amazon.co.uk/YSFWL-Bohemian-Handkerchief-Asymmetrical-Lightweight/dp/B0GX5SN2N8
Ugh! Thank you for explaining.
DeleteYou're welcome! :)
DeleteThose song lyrics seem most apt right now.
ReplyDeleteDon't they? Perhaps that's why the song came to my mind.
DeleteIf I had been given the name of Hephzibah (after the third time recognised by spelling;) the teacher would be forever telling me off for spelling it wrong. No matter how many songs we sing against the evil of the times we live in, it never gets better. Or does it?
ReplyDeleteI think it's all getting very gradually better, but with periodic setbacks!
DeleteGood old Pete Seeger! A man of the left, of dignity, of kindness, of love for his fellow humans and this Earth. Shame you didn't call Bailey Hephzibah when you adopted her.
ReplyDeletewell said YP. people need to hear his words more and pay heed
DeleteI once saw Pete Seeger on a train platform in the Hudson Valley. A very memorable day!
DeleteDear Steve,
ReplyDeleteseeing your beautiful Brugmansia made me a little homesick today. I am away from home for several weeks, and I have a Brugmansia in my own garden. Your photo immediately made me wonder what mine is doing at the moment and whether it is still flowering as generously as yours.
I also enjoyed following your walk through all those small observations that make an ordinary day memorable. The woman singing loudly while the little girl calmly ate her ice cream is such a wonderful little scene. I can almost picture the two of them disappearing down the street while the song could still be heard.
But it was the end of your post that stayed with me most. Old gravestones have a way of suddenly making time very tangible. A name, a few dates, perhaps a family relationship, and we find ourselves wondering about a whole life of which we know almost nothing.
Pete Seeger’s words are a beautiful choice for that moment. Our time really is so short, and yet humans manage to spend so much of it quarrelling with one another. The thought that we should rather find a way to get along and fill our sunny days with song sounds simple, but perhaps that is precisely why it is so moving.
Thank you for this thoughtful post.
Warm greetings,
Anette
I hope you get to see your Brugmansia soon, Anette!
DeleteNope, I’ve never met a Hepzibah.
ReplyDeleteI wish “they” would have listened to Pete Seeger.
Me too, whoever "they" are!
DeleteI don't know the Seeger song, but I do really like the lyrics.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great song. I think you can play it via the link.
DeleteI find cemeteries such peaceful places.
ReplyDeleteMe too! And here in the UK they're almost treated like parks. People sunbathe in them!
DeleteI've always liked Pete Seeger and that song. And yes, a good cemetery leads one to those thoughts. Today's seem rather cold, even if they are pretty. I wonder what Hepzibah's nickname was. Heppy? Zippy? Probably didn't have them back then!
ReplyDeleteToday's thoughts seem cold, you mean? They probably called her Betsy or Annie or something totally unrelated.
DeleteIt is good to see the dog is walking you daily.
ReplyDeleteShe would never allow me to stay home, even if I wanted to!
DeleteMy mother used to joke about her friend Loruama, biblical name whose spelling I don't know, who hated her name. Then she grew up married and eventually had a longed for daughter. Whom she named -- Loruama!
ReplyDeleteNow THAT's an unusual name. She probably felt obligated to pass it down! What other family is naming their child Loruama?
DeleteI believe I can pronounce "Isaias" more confidently than I could pronounce Hephzibah.
ReplyDeleteCemeteries are the bedrooms of the no-longer-living, aren't they? There sure are a lot of the eternally sleeping so we might as well sing at full volume while we're here and alive. And eat ice cream too.
"eye-say-as" easy peasy
DeleteAmen to that. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may!
DeleteI believe Hephzibah is the name of the wicked witch in the Wicked movies!
ReplyDeleteOh, I think you're right!
DeleteThat Brugmansia plant is a beauty, Steve, and so nice that it's still in bloom. There is a large cemetery ot too far from our apt with lots of trees turning beautiful autumn colors and it's one of the most peaceful places for a fall walk and reading old headstones. Hephzibah is a name I haven't seen before.
ReplyDeleteI bet you've got a Hephzibah hiding in that cemetery somewhere. :)
DeleteYour angel trumpet is almost peach colored. My niece named her daughter Mabel. How's that for an old fashioned name.
ReplyDeleteIt was yellow earlier in the year, but it's become paler in the autumn. Some of my dahlias do that too. Mabel is an "old-lady name" that is enjoying a bit of resurgence, I think. There was a Maud at the school where I worked, and an Edith and an Agatha.
DeleteI love Art Garfunkel's version of I Only Have Eyes for You.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that whole album is really good! The high point of his solo career.
DeleteWell I have my ear wigs for the day determined!
ReplyDeleteAlways happy to oblige. :)
DeleteI can imagine the very old gravestones in the UK. The cemetery makes a good place for a walk and a reminder of how short our time is on this old Earth.
ReplyDeleteGetting along ideally would be the priority. Unfortunately, no. All the war and strife we see today proves otherwise.
I love the old cemeteries here in London. They really are fascinating.
DeleteThat is an interesting name; I've never heard it before. I think Margaret is coming back in style although not as much as other old-fashioned names. I enjoy perusing the gravestones in cemeteries, especially old ones.
ReplyDeleteI think I've mainly heard it in fiction, or maybe from the Bible!
DeleteI think one of the Menuhins was named Hepzibah
DeleteI checked. Yes, I did remember rightly.
DeleteThere's a lot of history in that tombstone. I always liked Pete Seeger.
ReplyDeleteHe was terrific -- a good musician and a good man, as YP said above.
DeleteWe used to always stop and explore old cemeteries when we went on drives in the country with my Dad when we were kids. There was always a hunt to find the oldest grave stone!
ReplyDeleteThat's a fun thing to do on a family outing! I only remember doing it when we went to see a Civil War battlefield, for example. Never just an ordinary cemetery.
DeleteThat song fits the scene you described perfectly. I love those Brugmansia blooms. There is a boldness about them.
ReplyDeleteThey are very impressive, particularly when they come in such great numbers. I bet there are 15 to 20 flowers on that plant right now.
DeleteI love that Pete Seeger lyric (he really was a dreamer, wasn't he? Although he did also get shit done!). But the important question is this: was the woman singing on key? I keep meaning to record me singing with my headphones in - I'll bet it's WRETCHED. Ha!
ReplyDeleteShe wasn't bad, actually! I was mostly just amused that she was doing it so loudly and in public. She must do karaoke!
DeleteHephzibah sounds like something from the Old Testament days and I can't see it making a comeback, but who knows? I haven't wandered around in a cemetery for at least a dozen years.
ReplyDeleteIt IS a biblical name. I think it's from the New Testament but I don't remember who it was.
Delete