Memorial Day isn't so much about military dead in my family. The family was lucky, nobody died, even the friends came back. But my father's father was a professional gardener. It was unthinkable to leave the family graves without tiny gardens, and the tending of those gardens were and are the center of my Memorial Day.

When we travelled to Chile to see an eclipse, we were there for their Day of the Dead, Nov. 1. This was near the Nazca Desert, so no gardens, but families visited graves with plastic flowers, cigarette cartons, and liquor bottles to leave at the graves. The churches were decorated with flowers. It struck me that the timing was the same - late spring (iris were in bloom in household gardens). Do other countries have a similar tradition? If so I'd like to hear about them.