Getting personal

Two words you don't want to read in a radiologist's report: aortic ectasia. I feel the need creeping up to write a long, intensely personal piece on death and dying, but not today.

Intriguing marker

I found this in a Springfield, Illinois, cemetery. It's not far from Abraham Lincoln's tomb.

At first blush, it's a pretty ordinary 1920's commercial marker, although it does appear that Mr. Ervin was a joiner -- I count three different organizations' symbols, with the last one being the one and only example of its type I've ever stumbled across: