cemeteries and dolphins

kendall and i went to our friend janine's husband's funeral today. he had been very ill for a long time, and his death wasn't unexpected . . but, of course, it's still so difficult.

janine has ten brothers and sisters and we were trying to pick them out amongst all the guests, which included a supportive lakeside community with whom she and her husband spent their summers and weekends when they weren't in the city. kendall was busy scanning the guests for the sister with the triplets while i was noticing the brother with the dark sunglasses and black wool coat and the sister who looked like she could have been janine's twin (but she wasn't). it was chilly out, but it was a nice ceremony with a cantor and priest, and the jewish tradition of symbolically placing dirt upon the coffin open to anyone who wished to participate.

the day began sunny and blue, but the clouds had gathered by the time we were at the cemetery. we made it home before the rain began. it's now pouring and it feels very cold. i think i'll crawl into bed soon.

----

here are a few photos from my sister's trip to florida:

 her husband and sons' christmas gift to her was a swim with the dolphins in key largo. it was actually called a "shallow water dolphin" encounter. you could choose a deep water swim if you wanted . . but kathy was more comfortable with the former.

she also has a little video of herself holding onto the dorsal fins of two dolphins who pulled her across the lagoon. as you can tell from her smile, she loved it.