"An Old Lady's Game"? What's that? In Retirement, going after the interests I never "had time for": travel, gardens, reading, sewing, "family history play", taking photos, etc.
Old-time, pre-pandemic fun!!
By chance, I found myself reading two books about Arlington National Cemetery:
"On Hallowed Ground" by Robert M. Poole and
"Where Valor Rests" which is a National Geographic picture volume
My parents are interred in Section 69 at ANC, on a small rise overlooking the Pentagon. What I did not realize until I read these books: shortly (2 years and 4 months) after Mother's burial, on Sept 11, 2001, the American Airlines Flight 77--doomed--came screaming in only tens of feet over the Section, aimed at the West Face of the Pentagon. Debris from the attack was scattered all over the Section, which was declared a crime scene.
Because our family lived for a time in Alexandria VA in the 1950's, I have some memories of the Cemetery. Times were freer in those days: on a nice day, Mother would bring us kids over to tour the Mansion, or at least the grounds, and explore the Cemetery on some lovely spring or summer day.
As a military family, we could use the rec facilities at the adjoining Army base, Fort Myers. We swam in the pool there frequently, in days before air conditioning.
On Memorial Day in 1958 the Unknown Soldiers (remains) from WW2 and Korea were interred. There was a huge ceremony, with President Eisenhower, national and world leaders attending, just a few miles from our home.
No, I was not invited: I was 10. But my Dad was a member of Army Counter Espionage (a security force); every one of those guys in or around DC was called in to do security for the event. He spent the day in a hot car on one of the winding lanes of the Cemetery, with all the rest, keeping their eyes open for trouble.
We--Mom, my brother and I watched the event on TV. It was among the first such events televised in the US.
The Lee Family of old, had direct ties to George Washington, through his wife. Washington's campaign kit, including a large tent and lots of furnishings, ended up stored in the Lee Mansion on the property; rescued by one of the servants, presented to the Union Army. Other Washington artifacts were looted. But the campaign kit is on display at the Yorktown battle museum which we say a view years ago.
History. It flows along, it flows through us all.
One of our great nephews had a couple of tours in Afghanistan in the first decade of the current century. He lost friends; they are now interred in Section 60, the Saddest Acre in America. He very nearly ended up there, himself.
One of my favorite photos of the entire trip. In Trastevere. I'm happy we stayed in Trastevere; that I successfully figured out a good B N B and that it all worked so well.
Washington Irving was born just as the American Revolution was ending; he died right before the American Civil War began; interesting time for a life-span. He came from a wealthy, influential family.
Over the course of his years, his many published works made him America's most famously published and popular writer before Mark Twain. He was so loved that, even today, if you notice the name "Irving" on any place/location (that may have existed before 1900) it was probably named for Washington Irving. I learned that Irving Park, IL is such a place, for example.
The Sketchbook contains his famous "Rip Van Winkle" and "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" stories. It is different to read the stories as they were originally penned than to see them recreated as movies or cartoons for children.
The book is written as a "travel", based on Geoffrey Crayon's sojourn in England about 1820. He likes the simple, rustic and rural English country life--he glorifies this richly and well.
He wrote about King James I of Scotland, held as a royal hostage in the Tower at Windsor Castle in the early 1500's. As I watched the images of the castle on TV during the funeral for Prince Phillip, I wondered where the young king was held; and I thought of Irving, visiting the castle about 1820; he felt that was "modern times": he looked back at 1500 as if it were deep history; by now, 200 more years have past.
That kind of timelessness flows throughout the book. Such as, an idle hour solitary tour around the inside of Westminster Abbey, with no one to disturb his ramblings. In his day, the place had a boys' school attached (maybe still does?) with the sounds of kids playing just outside.
He held Shakespeare in almost godly reverence and wrote about his visit to Stratford-on-Avon; the town was a tourist trap even then, with fake relics of the Bard on sale around town like pieces of the True Cross.
Irving had a creepy or maudlin streak: I read somewhere he was mourning the death of his 17 year old fiancee from TB. He was about 35 at the time; another case of a man in his 30's engaged to a teenage girl. It gives us the creeps today, but was common in the distant past. He wrote several stories of love gone wrong (and the girl wastes away to death), "the horrors of the tomb", regrets of the living as they mourn the dead, etc.
There's a series of stories about being invited to spend Christmas at an isolated estate of a family that tried to preserve the ancient customs of the land. These essays are said to have influenced Dickens, much later, to write "A Christmas Story".
At first, I was wishy-washy about finishing the book, but I did. I have internalized the material. My understanding of the world has increased by this experience.
Now what shall I read?
I wanted to love this book; since I read Mark Twain's Travel book, Following the Equator, I wanted to read something else about India. A novel seemed perfect.
But not this one. It is one of those "pages by the pound" novels where it seems a book worth 200 pages by its plot somehow expands to 500 pages.
Not only did it not pass the 30-page test, I could not make it past page 23.
Sad. It had potential. And I feel dejected when I cannot wrap my mind around some novel I'd like to enjoy.
My Grandparents on my Dad's side were both "bonus babies", kids who were born to much older parents, long after they expected...
