11 March 2009

A Wonderful Correspondence


Unitarian Cemetery, Charleston, SC

If you've been hanging around here for long, you know that I steal a lot of my jokes from a blogger by the name of Old Horse Tail Snake. I knew Hoss was sick, in fact he often joked that he was in Hospice and not dying on schedule. It was still a shock to check back to his blog this evening for a quick smile and learn that he had passed away.

Here is how he described himself:

I am a mere 78 years old, and I have escaped from The Old Folks Home. I am living with a beautiful woman in Wilsonville, Oregon. Ain't no flies on me!

Hoss had recently lost the template to his blog and hadn't been able to rebuild it. Happily his last post was a picture of an angel, but not exactly an angelic one :)). He was a rascal to the end. It's a weird thing isn't it, missing someone you never knew.

His beloved Scamp's entry where she shares some personal letters is titled The End of a Wonderful Correspondence and in it he writes: "You will like the last line of my obit: “Maudlin plans to be cremated and then will reincarnate.” Really. A person should be allowed to have fun with his last words.

Nice. :)

5 comments:

Chattahoochee Valley Daily said...

I love old cemetaries...and cats too.

Steve said...

I absolutely, hated the situation that I was in when I lived on Queen street, and I shudder to think at the monumental stupidity and self centerdness I displayed way back when,but I absolutely, positively, without a shadow of a doubt, loved living so close to the Cemetery.
I have memories of this friend named Nerissa, this sweet little punk rock girl (who I absolutely adored) ; we'd walk thru there every now and then, and I always wanted to tell her how I really felt about her, but I just never had the nerve.

One of the only things I have kept from my old journals are sketches (albeit really bad ones) of Unitarian cemetery. Every time we go to Charleston, I have to stop there, even if only for a minute or two. Thanks for reminding me of the fond memories Joan!

Doug said...

That is a pretty cool looking place for a cemetery :-)

ProudHillbilly said...

Is the date of this photo 2009, or is it earlier? That looks like Pumpkin, who was the church cat for years and who I used look for every time I visited Charleston. But he was old then, he must be long years gone by now.

Charlestonjoan said...

I think it was taken a little earlier but not by much. I remember it clearly because I took it a day I caught a young couple stealing items from the cemetery. We had both admired the cat. When I saw them later they had pulled their truck up to the gate and she was handing him items over the fence. I went into a fury and documented the entire thing on camera. I am lucky I didn't get mugged but I did stop them.