A wintery walk in Earlham Cemetery

Now, because Leslie has given "orders" I needed some photos for this post. Wait no longer 

I looked out the window this morning and there was some brief sunshine ... it clouded over soon after but I decided I wanted to get some photos (Leslie's order was merely serendipitous - really!) of the imposing deciduous trees around before things warm up too much and I have missed them. I have wanted to do this for some years now, especially since discovering the work of English artist David Hockney. If you follow the link, go to the Works tab, choose Paintings and then the 00s and scroll through to see the ones of Woldgate Woods and the Tunnel in snow and spring ... of course, browse at your leisure as there is a LOT of really interesting material on the site that challenge our perspectives.

No aspirations to emulate, but this visit seemed like an ideal opportunity to capture some scenes as winter ends and spring springs. While we have been driving around we have passed a very expansive cemetery several times and it is just up the road, so this morning I decided it was time to do a lap of Earlham Cemetery and cross another thing off the list of to dos. So here are a few images and some accompanying thoughts from my walk among the dead this morning ... intended to be read and viewed with sincerity (yes, yes, its really me ... the air is not that cold!).

So first let me show more precisely what I meant in my last (pictureless) post about "flintstone". The charming chapel below - note that while walking past the sun peeped through so if you are a believer, keep believing because God smiles over here too - is within the grounds and typical of most of the churches (not cathedrals) around Norfolk being constructed of flintstone. The close up below it offers a more detailed view and shows the patience and skill that would be needed - even to my very untrained building eye!

The next several images convey the sense of place ... we cannot know where our paths lead and seldom is that path straightforward ... it seemed the dead were being protected by deciduous giants shedding another year of decay ... a clear reminder that we are here by the grace of nature to be reclaimed when she is ready ... part of her constant cycle of life.

Melancholy does not suit nature though! Amid the shelter and decay of the giants you cannot help notice how life clings on, reluctant to let go and be part of the cycle ...

and when you pause to be where you are, life is everywhere ... it cannot be suppressed and emerges from the very decay and shelter of the giants ... 

Even the giants are ready to revive, to start their new deciduous cycle; the buds are springing to remind me life goes on ... in death there is life ... we are just part of it!

BUT ... never forget ... Nature rules and eventually reclaims it all ... so, when spring is in full bloom I shall return and see what is revealed. 

Not long after returning home this morning, as if to remind me there is a god, or yin and yang, there may also be a devil ... we had a spot of sleet ... perhaps it was a sign like the sun on the chapel that someone was watching over me because I was home before the sleet ... may that continue to happen :).