Archive for the ‘At First Glance’ Category
Like most people who love family history, I love to visit cemeteries. No where else can you stand in one place and have so many stories swirl around you. I am drawn to the very old grave markers and the rows and rows of people who all died in the same year . . . […]
While it is true that Ferris Wheels are still in many amusement parks, they are not as exciting as they used to be. That is because the amusement park rides of today are designed to rattle your brains and scare you almost to death. Somehow, the simple movement of the Ferris Wheel seems quite tame. […]
We took trimmers and brooms and cans for water. We cut flowers from the garden. We explained why we were here and what we were going to do. When we finished trimming and sweeping our ancestral graves, the grandchildren began to roam around. They found other grave stones to clean. Some had dirt. Some cobwebs. […]
To the young child, just learning to read, the cemetery can be an interesting place. Aside from all of the unusual surnames, there are some words which are repeated over and over in a cemetery. They are mother, father, papa, mama, brother, sister, daughter, friend, wife, husband. Coming face-to-face with a stone with papa carved […]
Cemeteries are strange places. Adults understand cemeteries but children are wary. On this Memorial Day we took Talmage and Holden with us to meet their ancestors. Well, at least to see their ancestors’ burial places. Walking through cemeteries gives grown-ups a chance to talk about things. About life and death. About beliefs. About why we […]