Isobel Asks The Internet

XXVIII - The Floral Tribute

I led a floral tribute to my deceased friend's grave, but was unexpectedly interrupted! How can I stop this from happening in the future?

Hey everyone! 

So, the other day I was sitting in a town council meeting reviewing some insurance documents for the supermarket's upcoming salad bar concept launch while Betty was squawking at length about emergency fuel provisions for the winter. After what seemed like an eternity, she moved on to the next agenda point which was titled 'the birthday of Mavis'; my eyes were ripped away from my documents as I wondered what kind of perverse mournful frippery the council were going to request that I engage in. I was then surprised to hear Betty ask me how the memorial garden was coming along. 

Obviously the memorial garden was THRIVING. I had converted approximately 67% of it to arable land in order to grow fruit and vegetable trees that could be sold at the supermarket; Mavis had been very interested in soil remediation when she was still inhabiting this earthly realm, although she did think that crop rotation meant picking up a plant, turning it 90 degrees and putting it back in the soil. Anyway, I knew that Mavis would have been deeply honoured by my efforts to enrich her memory while refusing to fritter away productive land.

"Isobel?" I heard Betty whine, and I realised that I had been thinking about sustainable agriculture for several minutes and had not addressed her redundant query. I told her that the garden was deeply successful, and then she launched into some kind of prepared speech about how the gardening society should prepare a series of floral tributes to mark the birthday of Mavis. This gave me pause for thought; I had lead several skills-based courses on the construction of floral wreaths, and also I could get the newspaper society involved to premier our designs to the town as a whole. 

"I'll do it!" I yelled into the council chamber.

Once that had been settled, I texted Marlene (who I had made the social secretary of the gardening society) and asked her to convene a meeting to organise our floral showcase. There weren't many flowers left in the garden following my reforms, but I was certain that we would be able to find a creative solution to overcome this issue.

The next day, the garden society in its entirety had crowded into Mavis's memorial allotment to put together the tributes using the available fruits, vegetables and herbal leaves. The results were SPECTACULAR. I wanted to make something meaningful, so I created a wreath out of parsley as Mavis had said that she was thinking about trying Lebanese food a few days before she had passed; her wish would finally be fulfilled. Heini made a stunning sculpture of the letter M by gluing some courgettes to a plastic frame, and Zelda-Mae carved a portrait of Mavis's face into a butternut squash! I knew that this memorial was going to be an excellent opportunity to showcase both our artistic prowess and our agricultural skills.

I gave Marlene the task of emailing the society with the time to meet at the cemetery where Mavis is buried. I decided to get there early with Heini, Katie, Mallory, Nigella, Marlene and Zelda-Mae (plus Renata and Xena so they could publicise this solemn occasion). We met the gravekeeper, Shelby, who was SO nice and supportive of our plans. She lived in a modest hut, around the distance of a thrown javelin away from Mavis's grave so we would have easy access to her if needed.

A few minutes later, the remaining members of the gardening society begun to flutter into the grave park armed with mournful centrepieces. I had asked Zelda-Mae to book a local cellist to play while we laid our tributes upon final the resting place of Mavis, and I was looking out for her amongst the throng. I'd also invited Katie's parents to do some catering in case anyone became hungry; as they had been present for Mavis's funeral, I thought it was only right to feature them once again. They were setting up a wok station next to Shelby's hut, as well as a tastefully clothed buffet table.