Back amongst the dead

What is it about graveyards that's so interesting?  A link to our past, perhaps.  A reminder that, at some point, we must all die?  Whatever the reason, I can rarely resist a meander about a graveyard - and the older the better.  Although not particularly old, these three markers in St Patrick's Church of Ireland, Ballymoney caught my eye last week.  Together with the old tower in the background they made an interesting scene and I spent a little while trying to get the best perspective:

St Patrick's Church of Ireland graveyard, Ballymoney.  Hasselblad, 50mm Distagon FLE, Fomapan 100 in HC-110.  On Ilford Cooltone RC paper, which kind of suited the scene for a change.  The tower in the background lies in a much older graveyard and is presumably all that remains of the original church on this site.  You can't see it but there's a road between the two graveyards - I had to bide my time so I didn't catch any vehicles in the shot, which I suspect might have ruined the shot somewhat :)

In most graveyards in Ireland there will be a Celtic Cross of some description and this one was no exception.  The big one on the right would appear to be cast in concrete, but nonetheless is rather lovely. The other two crosses in the foreground are just hewn from stone, by the look of them. My favourite of the three is the little one on the left - unassuming beside the other two and it seems to be just placed on a rough stone. 

At some point most people get the opportunity to think about what they want done with their remains and whether or not they want a marker of some description.  Sometime after our daughter was born we made an appointment with our solicitor to make/update our wills.  I was somewhat taken aback with his first question, which was precisely that...What do you want done with your body?  Up to that point I hadn't really given the question much thought and I think I looked at my wife and we both muttered something about being buried together in the local cemetery.  In this part of the world there are usually two options - burial or cremation.  In our extended family we've had both - my uncle and his wife chose cremation and with that you get a tree planted and a small plaque in the crematorium's Garden of Remembrance, which is in Belfast.  My father and grandparents were all buried in the local cemetery in Coleraine.  My mother says when her time comes she wants to be cremated but wants no marker of any description - she's happy for her ashes to be scattered wherever I choose.  She wants no religious service.  Actually she wants no ceremony of any kind.  We're a small family and given my mother's age (she turned 90 in December past) she has no friends left to remember her - they've all gone.  Even the few neighbours that we had who knew her in her prime are no longer around.  So there will be just a few of us to celebrate her life, when that time comes.