Mostly Wordless Wednesday: Anyone Recognize This Flowering Tree?

One of my AIIP11 conference roommates and I happened upon this tree on the way back from Fort Vancouver. Most trees in the area had yet to pop their leaves, but this one was going bonkers. And look at the flowers!

It has a trunk and size like a crepe myrtle (@walnutresearch in the foreground):

Mystery flowering tree-bush-plant-thing in Vancouver, WA. Fellow conference-goer trying to smell one of the flowers to see if they smell like roses.

And waxy leaves like ??????:

And flowers like roses (but they don’t smell strongly):

Follow Friday: A Grave Interest

If you have an interest in cemeteries and gravestones (and let’s face it, who doesn’t? ) then I suggest you check out the blog A Grave Interest. Two of blogger Joy Neighbors’ posts this week were really interesting to me. The first on Celtic crosses was very informative. I even forwarded it to a friend who has a tattoo of a Celtic cross gravestone (!). Today’s post on daffodils in cemeteries and their symbolism is very timely and sweet.

Tombstone Tuesday: Stop and See the FLOWERS, Part 2

Last week’s post reminded me of the pic below, which I snapped earlier this year in Spring Hill Cemetery in Easton, Md. I’m kind of jealous of someone whose surname lends itself well to imagery in cases like this:

This beautiful tombstone belongs to:

Lois
Beloved Daughter of
Matthew P. & Mary F.
FLOWERS
Born Dec: 17, 1859
Died Nov: 4, 1884

Tombstone Tuesday: Stop and See the Flowers

Here’s another tombstone from Boston that caught my eye, if only for the juxtaposition of the skull and the cheery little flowers:

The tombstone reads:

Here lyes Buried
the Body of Mr.
Elijah Doubelde
Who Departed this Life
July 2, AC 1750 in y
45 Year of His Age