Lawler Sphinx

Friday
After a cool start, it was beautiful sunshine all day today - it seems ages since we had a day like that. I decided to let it warm up a bit first, so it was early afternoon when I headed out for a walk and my dose of Vitamin D. It had been several months since I had been for a walk around Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum, so that is where I decided to go. One of the most unusual and intriguing monuments in the cemetery is the Lawler Sphinx. The grave marker was placed at the request of Davis Lawler to commorate the lives of his mother and father - Ann Lawler (1781- 1835) & Matt W. Lawler, Esq. (1755-1831). Davis and his wife Augusta of Berlin, Prussia are also buried here. I haven't found any information as to why he selected a sphinx, but The Spring Grove Report of 1857 reported that while the Lawler Sphinx did not accord with the prevailing taste, " it helps relieve the monotony of which some persons complain, caused by the too frequent recurrence of obelisks, columns, and Gothic pinnacles." The cemetery and arboretum covers a large area, so I got to walk a little over 4 miles.
When I returned home, I got to Skype with Laura in Macedonia for a while before getting changed to go out this evening - Roger and I were out for dinner at our friends J. and E. We hadn't seen them in a while, so it was good to meet up again, and E. is an excellent cook, so dinner was delicious!