Day 1603: Yield

Whenever I start writing a blog post, I consider millions of ideas and then usually yield to the simplest solution:  sharing an image I captured the day before, which is often the first photo I took.

What does that “Yield” sign at Mount Auburn Cemetery mean to you?

To me, it means yield to the beauty of your surroundings.

While I was yielding to the beauty of Mount Auburn Cemetery yesterday, I captured another “yield” in two photos:

“In surrendering

life for Eternity,

I yield to and

trust implicitly

in the Power that

created me.

Oran McCormick

 

Let us now yield to contemplating other images from Mount Auburn Cemetery, accompanied by sounds similar to what I heard yesterday.

 

I now yield to any thoughts and feelings you have about this post. 

Yielding and profound thanks to all who helped me create this post and to you — of  course! — for meeting me, here.

Day 498: Life, death, etc.

I like today’s post title:  Life, death, etc.  Why?  Because it covers EVERYTHING, and I enjoy looking at the “big picture.”

Also, since I was young, I’ve known how awareness of mortality can help someone

• be more in the moment
• appreciate every little thing
• set priorities
• overcome obstacles
• be authentic
• develop values and be true to them
• let go of fear and other “baggage”
• get clarity
• learn
• grow, and
• feel joy.

Of course, awareness of mortality can also help someone

• freak out and
• get paralyzed

… but, like everything else, those things pass.

All in all, I am quite grateful for “the gift of mortality.”

Why this title, today? I thought of it yesterday, while visiting one of my favorite places: Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

According to Wikipedia, Mount Auburn Cemetery was

founded in 1831 as “America’s first garden cemetery”

and

is credited as the beginning of the American public parks and gardens movement.

Here’s what I saw, yesterday, at Mt. Auburn Cemetery:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the last things I noticed, before I left Mt. Auburn Cemetery yesterday, was this bench:

Many years ago, when both my parents were still alive, I lived in an apartment very close by.  I remember sitting on the same bench, back then — reading, sunning, dreaming, feeling, thinking, etc.

Here are two views from that bench, yesterday:

 

I love Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Today, I hope I was able to show you why.

I shall now ask myself a familiar question: Does this post feel complete?

It MUST be complete.  Didn’t I say, in my introduction, that the title had EVERYTHING?  And look at everything we covered, here!

However, I did leave out a lot of history, details, etc. about Mt. Auburn Cemetery. And many of my readers have told me that they don’t click on links within posts. So here’s one important fact, from that same Wikipedia page:

Mount Auburn’s collection of over 5,500 trees includes nearly 700 species and varieties.

Wow!  Imagine all the trees  I did NOT show you.  Well, as I  recover from recent physical ailments,  taking shorter walks than I usually do … I did the best I could.

One final Wikipedia fact about Mt. Auburn Cemetery:

The area is well known for its beautiful environs and is a favorite location for bird-watchers.

Hmmm. I didn’t see any bird-watchers, yesterday.   I’m sure they were there; I just didn’t notice them.

I know!  Let’s end this post with bird-watchers, in the here and now:

.

Thanks to trees, flowers, people, benches, birds, cats, etc.  And thanks to you — of course! — for visiting today.