Haunting old cemeteries...

Dear Diary,

I have always loved walking in old cemeteries.  They are so peaceful and quiet.  I enjoy reading the inscriptions and wondering about the lives the people led, some painfully short.  It is a good place to photograph as well and this photograph was made in the old section of a cemetery right down the road from my house.  In all the years I have lived here I have never visited it.

I followed a small flock of Cowbirds around among the old stones.  They hung together and alternated between feeding on the ground and flying from stone to stone.  This male struck an especially nice pose while clinging to a Knights of Pythias marker.  This was a fraternal organization that was popular in the 19th century.  These organizations served a social as well as a community role in the town. 

These small rural cemeteries are  not usually noted for their ornate monuments or amazing sculptures, you would have to go into the city for those.  But there is a tranquility and a common place simplicity about these places that I love and I continue to "haunt" old cemeteries wherever I travel...even if it is just down the road.

In my beginning is my end. . . . In my end is my beginning. from the grave of T.S. Eliot