It was a beautiful clear, warm spring day. Penny and I were exploring the site of the house in Joun where Lady Hester Stanhope had lived in Lebanon during the early 1800s. The ruined dwelling was high up in the hills above Sidon. The fields and orchards of olive trees surrounding the site were a vast carpet of yellow flowers and wild grasses. We slowly wended our way through the gentle countryside as we searched for the old property high on a plateau. After a painstaking search through the olive grove surrounding the ruins we eventually located the site of Lady Hester’s grave. It was covered in a profusion of wild flowers and grasses. Over the years it has suffered a certain amount of desecration. Now it was empty, the bones removed to a safe place. Sometime later, they were to be cremated and scattered at a ceremony which I was to attend.
Penny had caught me by surprise when she took this photograph. But the photograph that I took of her is a reminder of the many happy and interesting journeys that we made together in Lebanon.
Penny had caught me by surprise when she took this photograph. But the photograph that I took of her is a reminder of the many happy and interesting journeys that we made together in Lebanon.
