Lichen Abstraction

I spent the morning by dad’s bedside at the hospital. A doctor was doing the rounds and asked me what my understanding of dad’s situation was. I told him, which seems about right.

I left the hospital at lunchtime - not easy - to return home. It was a long journey (as was yesterday’s coming down) due to a crash on the M6. As often as not these days there seems to be a major crash somewhere on this motorway.

Before returning home I briefly visited the local parish church, St Nicholas’s. I always find it a comforting place: the graveyard is left to nature, full of wildflowers, which I love. I took a few pics of some of the lichen covered gravestones as it’s “Abstract Thursday”.

Most of the gravestones are now rendered illegible by the profuse lichen growths. The most legible marker in the graveyard is actually the single wooden headboard near the lychgate, marking the grave of my great great great aunt Jane F, born 1810, died 1859, and that’s because a few decades ago the old board was replaced by a new one. I will have to do a bit of research sometime to understand why the replacement happened (and why she had a wooden headboard, not a gravestone), there must be a tale here.