A morbid taste

Yesterday is when I and three of my siblings road-tripped to the west side of Michigan to pay our respects to our paternal fore-fathers (and mothers).

One of the cemeteries we visited has a reputation for being "the most haunted in Michigan". While I have never "sensed" a ghost, I have one brother and one sister who insist that they felt a "cold, clammy hand" grasp their own while walking in that cemetery. There is a place to leave coins to appease the spirits. Some years we leave some. This year we did not.

Some people who live in Michigan believe that ghosts are people who died while sitting on the crapper. A surprising number of people who slip their mortal coil do so while engaging in this inelegant activity. They feel pressure and pain and assume that they need a solid-and-satisfying #2 to make everything hunky-dory when, in fact, they are experiencing a coronary infarction and the straining hastens their demise.

I never met Michael Jerome Wheeler, but I intuitively know that I would have liked him.

I recognized the plant "his people" had put in the planter. It speaks volumes about his character.

It was not a wax-leaved begonia, geranium or petunia.

My sister

My sister is an acorn that didn't fall too far from the oak tree.

She has been known to collect "keepsakes" to remember events.

Extensive mats of LoV on the east side of the cemetery

She was fascinated to learn that all parts of Lily of the Valley contain a very potent poison (as well as being a staple of the Victorian garden). Being highly toxic results in it being very "persistent" in gardens and being able to thrive even when under the onslaught of deer and rabbits.

I wouldn't be surprised if one or two LoV starts made their way into her hand-bag. Nor would I be surprised if one or two of the current residents of the cemetery had been abusive and their spouse knew about the "curative" effects of LoV salads.

Napoleon supposedly died while sitting on the toilet

He had an incurable desire to sit on every throne he encountered.

Oh, and the ghosts of the people who died while sitting on the toilet? Obviously, they didn't shuffle through the veil to the New Jerusalem* at the appointed time because they had unfinished business. 

*Jerusalem translates as "New Salem", so "New Jerusalem" is "New New Salem". Almost like they were stuttering. The concept of "New Jerusalem shows up in Revelations 21.