Sunday, November 23, 2008

At Rest

First, a quick apology for not having posted in the past several days. I don't really have much excuse, except being tired and mildly busy. Also, this snow and cold weather and the early dark have a kind of depressive effect on me, so that when I get home all I want to do is laze around with a book and a cup of coffee!When we drive, we almost always look for the blue highways. (An aside: that's a great book, by the way, Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon. It's a memoir of his travels around the country by back roads...the so-called "blue highways" on the map.) I always like the blue highways on trips. What the heck do you get to see from the interstate? Nothing but median and billboards. When you're driving on a regular road, you have the chance of seeing something like a sign that says "Pet Cemetery" with an arrow. And you can choose to turn down that road on a lark, just to see what you find.
I'm almost always one to take the turn down the side street and see what we find. On the way home from the toy museum, we came upon a huge pet cemetery. Seriously, this place had more acreage than a lot of the human cemeteries we've stopped to visit. The graves we found were no less touching or sentimental than anything you'd find in a regular cemetery.The cemetery has been open since 1919, but we didn't find any graves older than the 1960s or so. Unfortunately, the place was positively swampy from the rain, which made exploring kind of difficult.

I managed to get some shots from the paths, though.

Most of the graves had pictures of the pets, which was very sweet.
I did happen to see a couple of living animals while we were there...several white tailed deer came out of the woods to munch some grass.
And lastly, speaking of animal pictures, here's Liam's 2nd grade school photo. Isn't he the funniest ham you've ever seen?

14 comments:

Liz said...

You and family find the coolest places to explore. I am going to come and follow you all around for day.
Oh and your little "animal" is awfully cute!

pat said...

Hey Amy--good to see you back! I like L's photo; he's got quite the mischievious sparkle in his eye. That bridge shot is soooo neat; was that a blue-road discovery? I've read that book and loved it.

Sharon said...

Interesting place. Nice captures.

Cindi Koceich said...

Don't apologize for taking a break!! It's good for you!! A good book and a cup of coffee sounds like a dream to me!!

Lori said...

Awesome bridge shot! I love to shoot in cemeteries, but I've neve found a pet cemetery in our area, very cool! Great captures!

Michelle said...

well now I will definitely have to look for more blue highways. what an interesting place to explore.

Anonymous said...

Amy,
Sometimes it's in the taking quiet time that we make the most fascinating discoveries. Never guilt-out about rest both for your body and for your soul! You supply so many smiles and ohs and ahs with your photos that you deserve the time off!
Thanks for the trip!

Reds said...

What a cool cemetery!! Should go on a drive to nowhere and see what great captures I could get!

Bobbi said...

I love that bridge. Liam is too cute, look at that little poser!

Anonymous said...

Love the symmetry of that bridge reflected in the stream. The gravestone sentiments are so touching, and that deer!! Man. I wish deer came to my cemeteries. What an adorable picture of Liam in the beautiful vest. Wonder how much longer he'll let himself be referred to as "adorable"? ;-)

Margaret said...

Love that bridge shot! Beautiful refleciton. And Liam's picture is adorable, too! What a cute expression!

Angela2932 said...

Another book to add to my list! I love the bridge shot; it looks like absolutely a gorgeous spot. . . even this late in the season.

Anonymous said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you, Amy, and to Dan, Emily, and Liam. May your day be joyful--AND photographable. :)

Anonymous said...

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