Blossoms at the Park

I just had to add these wonderful pictures of the blossoms here a the park – it really is looking beautiful!

Blossoming Estates

SKy View

The Blossoms are Great but if you suffer from Hayfever YIKES!

A SALE AT A CEMETERY!

OK so i never thought that cemeteries would have a sale on the lots but they do! And we are in the midst of one right now!

At least until the end of the month – i am interested to see what kind of traffic that presents. Its not exactly the thing you think of when its spring sales time…is it?

Spring is HERE!

WOW! The park is looking quite spectacular, the trees are blooming with lots of blossom and new leaves. The birds are chirping all day long and the geese are poking their heads out!

Tree Blossom

It is so beautiful and peaceful even when its raining!

Goosey Goosey

Funerals are going along as usual, the flowers are looking fabulous with all the Spring Colors

Spring is In The Air…or we wish it was!

Almost the end of February and the weather is glorious, but for how long is the question? The weather man is calling for possible snow this weekend, how can that be – we are hitting 60 today – crazy – the weather is on par with the economy, totally topsy turvy!

A few updates form the Park – March 3rd will see the entire park cleared of flowers, silk and fresh, all decorations from Christmas past will disappear to make way for the new season and new blooms. Its quite exciting really, I am looking forward to seeing pinks and purples, yellows and blues in place of reds and whites and greens!

Our counsellors up at the office are putting on an informative session to help people better understand the process of burials and funerals and why it is a good idea to get this done now instead of after the fact!

YOUR LIFE…..

What You Need To Know

Fairfax Memorial Park hosts a very informative Question & Answer Hour once a month on Sunday afternoon’s at the Cemetery office (Burke Station Rd entrance) You are invited to come and ask questions and get the answers to understanding advance Planning or “Pre-Need” options.

Sunday Q & A

Our Sunday programs offer an opportunity to be more informed and prepared before the loss of a loved one. In a brief presentation followed by a question & answer period, we are able to get information to families in our neighboring communities who might never take the initiative to pursue on their own. Call now for the Sunday Q & A Schedule 703.323.5202, we are standing by ready to assist you before, during and after your time of need.

Some Flower Arrangements Available to our Patrons

Following are just some of the Floral Arrangements now available to family and friends to place on the memorial lots.

Med 2084

Medium 2089

Med 2090

Med 2091

Med Valentine

Med Valentine 2

These are all part of the patented “Stay in The Vase” concept from Ruby’s in Marietta GA

Virginias First Winter Blast!

I have been waiting for this since I began working here last year, I just knew that it would make a great place for photos!

This was the Squirrels landing area in the fall

The guys are out clearing the snow now, the red truck is scraping away, i think he has been past the Shoppe at least 6 times already. It is coming down pretty fast, 3-4 inches are expected but it already looks like more than that.

Garden of Prophets

Good job i dont have to place any flowers today! I would never find the sites; at least not without a snow blower!

My poor little red car was never made with snow in mind I am sure!

Poor Little Red Car

And this is only

Ice - icles

10.30am….

It is certainly beautiful, but I cannot say I enjoy this weather, unless of course I am indoors with plenty of food and hot chocolate. Hopefully it will be cleared in a few days so thatwe can all get back to life as we know it! All of those that are reading this further North, I applaud you-you deal with so much more than this on a regular basis!

If there are any funerals today it will certainly be pretty but by golly it will be cold – i attended the funeral of a very close friend last week in Valhalla NY, the weather was much the same as it is here today and the burial site service was very fast no doubt due to the cold!

Happy New Year!

Hello Everybody….what a busy couple of months it has been. I was told that it would be but it went beyond what I thought they meant!

The park looked fantastic with all the red and green Christmas flower arrangements and Wreaths, we even had a few Christmas Trees dotted around!

Section 2 View of the Hill

Sadly (due to park rules) all the wreaths will be removed at the end of this month – majority of them have yellowed and needles are probably everywhere.

Here are just some of the flower, tree’s and wreaths that adorn the park this winter

Getting ready for the Spring placements now, we will be implementing a “new” patented flower arrangement system called “Stay in the Vase” from Ruby’s Flowers in Kentucky. This is due to the number of flowers we lose in the amazing winds that blow through here frequently.

Stay posted for some super photos of the flower arrangements as they come in……

It’s FRIDAY…….

The end of yet another week and only 47 day’s left in this year 2008…WOW – the Farmers Almanac is predicting a “COLDER” than usual winter for us in America, what does that mean exactly, ice, snow or just plain Cold?

If there is ice we all know how dangerous this can be, ice storms are the worst – i had not seen one of these until I moved to MD in 1998, i have seen my share of them since and would prefer not to see anymore (should i move to a warmer climate?) Snow of course is not much better though it has more of a tendency to keep people inside than out on the dangerous roads. Snow here at the Park i imagine makes the work quite difficult – this will be my first winter here, i am sure that if the grounds are covered with snow it will become almost impossible to place flowers as you wont be able to see any markers/sites! But thats OK it will keep me inside, after all i have over 100 Arrangement’s already to create for Spring! Phew!

I have added a different portion of the park for your veiwing today, we have over 118 acres and so it will take a while to get pictures of all of it. Next week we are cleaning, i hope i can some shots of that.

http://www.fmpark.com

Edge work

Gloomy is what it is, the weather

Like Soldiers…straight and tall

Looking upwards Sect 4

Looking Down to the Private Crypts and Fountain

Thursday the 13th!

Aghhhhh ’tis RAINING . . . LOL Good for the Grass there is no doubt and it washes away all of the dust and keeps the creepy crawlies at bay! Yes we have creepy crawlies here. They love to hide out in the “down turned” vases on the Memorial Plaques – can give quite a scare when turning the vases right way up and out pops a black widow! Gloves are highly recommended ….. especially in the warmer months.

Yesterday I had a visitor that sat with me for a while and talked of her family. She has a granddaughter in Atlanta that sent her some fallen leaves from the tree’s there, so my visitor collected a few from the park and is making them into a collage for her granddaughter, she will send it back soon. See the picture from yesterday, these are the leaves that will make up the collage. Well at least one or two.

I also had a phone visit from a lady that has suffered the of loss several family members over the last 3 or 4 years, her story tore at my heart as now her daughter is suffering from Stage 4 Cancer. I told her about a website that I had found after my own mother passed earlier this year from cancer, the site helped me immensely, it gave me insight and understanding into what many families and their loved ones go through during this awful time both winning and losing the battle, it helped me to understand what I was and am still going through; my mother was over 4,000 miles away and I didn’t see much of her during her last few years.  I encourage anybody to visit this site if you or anyone you know is suffering from and fighting this disease. http://www.carepages.com

As I mentioned today is wet, wet and wetter….some would say I should be used to this being from England….I would ike to say that it really doesn’t rain ALL the time at home, just most of the time LOL

Anyway here is how the park looks in the rain…..

Catch Up Day

Hump Day also known as Wednesday was also Yesterday! Very cold here at the park and also quite a bit windy – though not as windy as it was a few weeks ago when we lost SO MANY of the Floral Arrangements, and this was over a two day period. Sadly, if we did not place the flower’s we are unable to determine where they belong when we are able to locate them! The arrangements we place are “tagged/labeled” so that we know where they go. There are several reasons for this; we place multiples seasonally and so can have the van loaded with 20+ at one time, when they are tagged/labeled makes them easy to find and also if they get displaced for whatever reason we can easily put them back in the correct place. Needless to say we still lost a few during the winds, they were blown beyond our perimeter’s! And as everybody know’s the Flower Shoppe is not responsible for any placements afetr they are in the vase. (Sorry)

Here are some pictures from Hump Day – you can see that its a bit gloomy!

Gloomy Sky

Fave Tree Almost Bare

Mausoleum 2 & 3

The Golf Area ! Could be….its so nicely kept

Last of the Leaves

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