Mr Noftall and the Garlands

I like homemade headstones; they give me a feeling of someone's
control over an aspect of death that really has gotten out of control
for most people. It's a vernacular art form that calls attention to
the blandness of commercial headstones.

I like to think that Mr Noftall, born in 1929, made his own stone,
leaving a space for his death date (1993?) to be added later. And
that makes me think I could do the same, leaving a little hole where
someone could pour new cement in to finish off my stone, after I'm
finished off myself.

And the Garlands' family or friends, continuing after a decade or so
to tidy up the grave, level the stone, repaint the letters, and leave
flowers: they strike me as far more attentive to their dead than those
who pay for "perpetual care" of a gigantic expensive headstone.

Expired Kodak 200 film ("200-8" is the negative edge marking),
probably from about 2007.

Shot on my Olympus XA just before it died. Let this be a memorial to it.