Late Sunday Afternoon in Laurelton: Visiting Family at Montefiore Cemetery

 On our way from the beach, we stopped at old Montefiore Cemetery in Springfield Gardens to see the graves of our Shapiro relatives for the first time since we went there and other New York cemeteries in the mid-1970s after Roots on TV got everyone, not just African-Americans, interested in finding their ancestors.

Saturday Afternoon in the Hollywood Hills: Picnic at Forest Lawn Memorial Park

It's always fun to go to a funeral of someone you didn't like. We had that pleasure yesterday afternoon and decided to make a picnic of it at the kitschy Americana necropolis of Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills.

Unfortunately, Abraham Lincoln presided over the downfall of our picnic by freeing the ants.

Still, the surroundings were quite cheerful and festive.

The patriotic murals are to die for.

We're grateful to the Kim family for bequeathing us the view of this beautiful statue.

Many stars are buried here, but we noticed only Stan Laurel, who is apparently entombed in this wall.

At our age, we had to wonder whether it's worth it to drive all the way back to Woodland Hills on the 101 or whether we'd simply be better off just staying put.