Grave Thoughts
There are two old cemeteries here that Judy and I have been wanting to visit for a long time. They are both huge, and appear to be one very large cemetery, as they each lie on either side of a very busy street. I drive by, or rather between them every weekday morning on my way to work, and I've always thought they looked lovely. Judy and I finally went to one of them, and I'm here to tell you that it is by far one of most gorgeous cemeteries I've had the pleasure of visiting.
We wandered over there on Thursday evening, but after a couple of delays en route we ended up not having enough light left to get the pictures we wanted. We still enjoyed strolling around, but we opted to forego our shopping plans for the next afternoon and head back to the cemetery. I am so glad we did. It was a perfect afternoon - very warm, but with a cool breeze, and lots of shade from all the old trees in the cemetery. The cemetery itself is extremely peaceful and has a wonderful energy.
We explored the oldest section, which is nothing short of stunning. The monuments and gravestones are works of art, and many of them are quite old. There are several stones that are so eroded the inscriptions can no longer be read, and a good number of the stones and monuments have quite nice collections of lichen growing on them. Not that that's necessarily good for the stones, but it does look lovely. Of course, due to the age of that section, there are a lot of children's graves, infant and child mortality being what it was. Those are always sad to see, and some of the inscriptions are just heartbreaking.
Speaking of heartbreaking, at one point in time some vandals spent one night doing a ton of damage in both of the cemeteries. From the article I read, it sounds like the focused on the old sections. They broke many gravestones and monuments, and while they were repaired, it is still easy to see the damage. It made me extremely angry and sad to see all that desecration. Some stones have been patched together, but others are still in pieces. I think they may have been repaired at one time, but fell apart again. I felt compelled to take pictures of many of the damaged stones - it just seemed like someone needed to acknowledge them and pay respect to them, and that was my way of doing so.
Two were particularly heartbreaking for me. One was a beautiful work of art on the grave of a four-year-old boy. While it does not show clearly in the picture, this little guy is holding teddy bears in his arm, and flowers in his hand. Due to erosion over the years, it's hard to make out the teddy bears unless you are standing right by the stone. Here is the picture of that stone:
Broken Hearted
As you can see, repairs were attempted, but were not overly successful. Pieces are missing, and the little guy's body has not been set back in proper position over the feet. Still, at least a good bit of the statue remains, and it was not destroyed entirely.
The other heartbreaker for me can be found in the PhotoBucket link that will follow at the end of this blog entry. It is a picture of all that remains of an old gravestone, and that is simply the base. The entire upper portion of the stone is gone, so there is no name, date, or anything else to mark the grave of the individual whose body lies there. I keep wishing I had a fair bit of money, then I could call the cemetery, find out who is buried there, and have a new stone made for him or her.
It really angers me when people do that kind of senseless damage. It is so horribly disrespectful, both to those who are buried there and to their families who are still alive. I can only imagine how people felt when they discovered that their relatives' graves had been vandalized. It would be very traumatic, to say the least. On top of that, works of art have been badly damaged, and in some cases destroyed. These old monuments and gravestones are wonderful pieces of art, and were made with care, respect, and great crafstmanship. If some vandal were to take a knife to the Mona Lisa he or she would be prosecuted quite strongly. I honestly feel that the same should happen with those who vandalize cemeteries like this - not only are they destroying works of art, they are grossly disrespecting the resting places of those who have passed on - or at least of their remains. I know they are not there in spirit, but their remains still deserve respect.
I could rant about this for quite some time, but I suppose I'd best let it go for the moment. At any rate, Judy and I had a wonderful time wandering around the cemetery, and we got some lovely pictures too. I took 185, and while Judy didn't take that many I know she took quite a few as well. Actually I took 185 yesterday afternoon - the night before I took 107! Although some of those were full moon shots that I took after we'd come home. Still, I have a whack of cemetery pictures! I've put less than half of them on PhotoBucket at this point in time. I may add more later, but for now I've put up most of my favourite shots.
If you'd like, you can check them out in the following link:
Click Here To View Cemetery Pictures
I'm also posting a few of my favourites below:
Broken Cross
Old Graves
I was asked if these five graves were from the same family. I honestly don't know. I just loved the way they looked in their little group, and had to get a shot.
Autumn Leaves
This is one of my favourite shots. It was a picture that I thought would not turn out well, so I was all prepared to delete it after downloading the pictures. I was shocked when I opened it - I absolutely love the way it turned out.
Serenity
See? How could anyone not want to hang out in this gorgeous place?
You can see larger versions of the above pictures in the PhotoBucket link, as well as many others shots of some wonderful old stones and some lovely views of the cemetery. One of my favourite spots in the cemetery is an old crypt. I was fascinated with it the minute we walked in the cemetery on Thursday evening, and I'm still fascinated with it now. You can see a couple of pictures of it in the link.
I'm going to shut up now, and let you all get to looking at the pictures, if you so desire. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them. I can't wait to get back there and take some more!
Have a wonderful night, everyone!
EDIT: Judy posted her pictures already - I didn't think she was doing it until tomorrow. So make sure to head over to Showers and Sunflowers and check Judy's pictures out!
We wandered over there on Thursday evening, but after a couple of delays en route we ended up not having enough light left to get the pictures we wanted. We still enjoyed strolling around, but we opted to forego our shopping plans for the next afternoon and head back to the cemetery. I am so glad we did. It was a perfect afternoon - very warm, but with a cool breeze, and lots of shade from all the old trees in the cemetery. The cemetery itself is extremely peaceful and has a wonderful energy.
We explored the oldest section, which is nothing short of stunning. The monuments and gravestones are works of art, and many of them are quite old. There are several stones that are so eroded the inscriptions can no longer be read, and a good number of the stones and monuments have quite nice collections of lichen growing on them. Not that that's necessarily good for the stones, but it does look lovely. Of course, due to the age of that section, there are a lot of children's graves, infant and child mortality being what it was. Those are always sad to see, and some of the inscriptions are just heartbreaking.
Speaking of heartbreaking, at one point in time some vandals spent one night doing a ton of damage in both of the cemeteries. From the article I read, it sounds like the focused on the old sections. They broke many gravestones and monuments, and while they were repaired, it is still easy to see the damage. It made me extremely angry and sad to see all that desecration. Some stones have been patched together, but others are still in pieces. I think they may have been repaired at one time, but fell apart again. I felt compelled to take pictures of many of the damaged stones - it just seemed like someone needed to acknowledge them and pay respect to them, and that was my way of doing so.
Two were particularly heartbreaking for me. One was a beautiful work of art on the grave of a four-year-old boy. While it does not show clearly in the picture, this little guy is holding teddy bears in his arm, and flowers in his hand. Due to erosion over the years, it's hard to make out the teddy bears unless you are standing right by the stone. Here is the picture of that stone:
Broken Hearted
As you can see, repairs were attempted, but were not overly successful. Pieces are missing, and the little guy's body has not been set back in proper position over the feet. Still, at least a good bit of the statue remains, and it was not destroyed entirely.
The other heartbreaker for me can be found in the PhotoBucket link that will follow at the end of this blog entry. It is a picture of all that remains of an old gravestone, and that is simply the base. The entire upper portion of the stone is gone, so there is no name, date, or anything else to mark the grave of the individual whose body lies there. I keep wishing I had a fair bit of money, then I could call the cemetery, find out who is buried there, and have a new stone made for him or her.
It really angers me when people do that kind of senseless damage. It is so horribly disrespectful, both to those who are buried there and to their families who are still alive. I can only imagine how people felt when they discovered that their relatives' graves had been vandalized. It would be very traumatic, to say the least. On top of that, works of art have been badly damaged, and in some cases destroyed. These old monuments and gravestones are wonderful pieces of art, and were made with care, respect, and great crafstmanship. If some vandal were to take a knife to the Mona Lisa he or she would be prosecuted quite strongly. I honestly feel that the same should happen with those who vandalize cemeteries like this - not only are they destroying works of art, they are grossly disrespecting the resting places of those who have passed on - or at least of their remains. I know they are not there in spirit, but their remains still deserve respect.
I could rant about this for quite some time, but I suppose I'd best let it go for the moment. At any rate, Judy and I had a wonderful time wandering around the cemetery, and we got some lovely pictures too. I took 185, and while Judy didn't take that many I know she took quite a few as well. Actually I took 185 yesterday afternoon - the night before I took 107! Although some of those were full moon shots that I took after we'd come home. Still, I have a whack of cemetery pictures! I've put less than half of them on PhotoBucket at this point in time. I may add more later, but for now I've put up most of my favourite shots.
If you'd like, you can check them out in the following link:
Click Here To View Cemetery Pictures
I'm also posting a few of my favourites below:
Broken Cross
Old Graves
I was asked if these five graves were from the same family. I honestly don't know. I just loved the way they looked in their little group, and had to get a shot.
Autumn Leaves
This is one of my favourite shots. It was a picture that I thought would not turn out well, so I was all prepared to delete it after downloading the pictures. I was shocked when I opened it - I absolutely love the way it turned out.
Serenity
See? How could anyone not want to hang out in this gorgeous place?
You can see larger versions of the above pictures in the PhotoBucket link, as well as many others shots of some wonderful old stones and some lovely views of the cemetery. One of my favourite spots in the cemetery is an old crypt. I was fascinated with it the minute we walked in the cemetery on Thursday evening, and I'm still fascinated with it now. You can see a couple of pictures of it in the link.
I'm going to shut up now, and let you all get to looking at the pictures, if you so desire. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them. I can't wait to get back there and take some more!
Have a wonderful night, everyone!
EDIT: Judy posted her pictures already - I didn't think she was doing it until tomorrow. So make sure to head over to Showers and Sunflowers and check Judy's pictures out!
posted by Fullmoondolphin at 7:31 PM
6 Comments:
I love 'em! Like I said before, you should be selling some of these, sis. *wink*
These 2 trips to the cemetary were the most enjoyable part of my week. Thanks, love you!!
Aw, thanks Judy - love you too!
Yeah, they were definitely the highlight of the week for me. They even take precedence over the new bedspread and pillows!
I am considering selling prints of some of my pictures - not only the cemetery ones, but some of the others too, especially the flowers. I'll just have to find a way to do it.
Have a good sleep - hope you're feeling better tomorrow!
I came to your site from Jude's blog & also like your photos. How about trying increasing the contrast and slightly darkening the one you call "Autumn Leaves?" Be sure to work on a copy so the original isn't lost!
I find your copywright marking quite distracting. The earlier photos without it are much cleaner and easier to look at. If you must include it, make it smaller and don't place it in the center of the photo.
You are doing good work. These are just personal observations of my own and not intended to criticize.
Okay I can't stand it. I wanna go do some more cemetaries! Hahaha!
You sure you can't take next week off too? *wink*
Boy, you guys have been busy with the picture taking!! I'm glad you are having fun with this. Take care and enjoy the rest of the vacation (or is your's finished??).
Love you lots!
Hello Dick! I'm glad you liked the pictures, and thanks very much for the comments. There are several pictures I'll be playing around with, that one included, although I prefer to leave them as they are, as that's how they looked in real life. I do enjoy the artistic fiddling just for fun, but I prefer the pictures to look just as I saw the scene at the time.
As for the copyright, I know that some people like it, and some don't. Many of us use it as it makes it more difficult for someone to swipe the pictures and use them for their own purposes. I've actually kept the size much smaller than most do. I prefer the pictures without anything on them, but I've seen too many people have their work show up elsewhere (with people actually trying to sell it, at times), so I finally joined the ranks of plastering the transparent copyright on mine.
Judy, I would love to do more cemeteries, and I would LOVE to take this week off too! Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. However, since it will be cooler later in the week we can wander out after work - with the cooler temps we can take the dogs and leave them in the car while we wander around.
Linda, unfortunately my holidays are over. *sob* I do have a couple of weeks off at the end of October, beginning of November, so I'll just have to be patient until then! Love you too!
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