invitation or greed??

aprilraven · Dec 19, 2005

saturday, my husband and i were out gallavanting around...and he suggested he show me this cemetary he had found in the summer ...now when i say that we were in the boonies, let me share, i mean boonies... me and anicole live so far out, we get saturday night live on tuesday...ok? so when i say out in the back woods, we mean that they pipe in sunshine... they live so far out, it takes them 2 and a half hours to watch 60 minutes...see what i am saying here?? aways out there..and hang a left.... Most of arkansas has directions that say, turn of the paved road...but this was off the paved road, off the gravel road, turn on a dirt road, follow the wagon tracks..and then hang a left at the deer crossing.. over the river and thru the woods...anyway, this cemetary had graves that were 1800's and before...there were only about 3 to 4 families buried there, but atleast 200 graves...so they kinda " inter-married" a bit..the name of the cemetary just blew me away... you cant make this stuff up....
we were wandering around, and a guy on a four wheeler came by..real slow like...then within 5 minutes...two other four wheelers came by, scoping us out... i decided a quick retreat was in order...before we made it to the bronco..4 fourwheelers had decided to show... these people dont cotton to strangers, and my husband and i had already decided we would say we were related to a certain family, but as we pulled away, with eyes following our every movement, i realized they would know all their kin,( possibly in the biblical sense..) and that little lie wouldnt fly ... we did "escape" unscathed... but more wary....when your so far away, the law dont come, your too far to be comfortable....
anyway.. some of the graves only had stone markers...no names.. no dates.. but flowers on ever grave... i found it strange that even ones that had been there over a hundred years..close to two hundred, still had flowers..these people take their respect and love of cemetaries serious....
greed or advertising??

waiting area...

this is a head stone with no name...but it was well over a foot taller than me, and it was sturdy, i leaned against it...wondering how many family had mourned over this grave...did a woman hang on to the stone and cry? or a son pull this out from a favored fishing spot to put on his daddys grave??

more graves unmarked, but not forgotten

then we traveled on to holla bend, a game refuge, and there is something about bare trees that throw their branches to the sky in supplication for winter to end... i just love the look...

this is the bark of that tree..just thought it was interesting...

and jonmikal, raymond, and all who love eagles...they nest here for the winter...but this little bugger i chased all over hecks half acre..he kept flying right when i would almost get close...so this is the best i got...sneaky little suckers..huh?? raymond, i have more respect for you after this...!!

and last i had to include something for the texans... gotta dig armadillos... i so love them..this sucker would have let me touch her if i wanted to....

thanks ya,ll for looking..sorry it was so long...i cant do anything with out a story!! and remember, ya'll are the pro's ... i just play.... so mine are no where near the calibur as ya'lls are...this should be in snapshots, i think...

anicole · Dec 19, 2005

I'll forgive you for dumping me for a photo op day ... especially after seeing these and reading your story.

I love the cemetary name ... I wonder if they were getting crowded and one time, one of the elders said, We need more cemetary for the buryin'. and that's how it was named ...

The second, Waiting Area, is almost reverent. NICE work.

The slate in the third is just heartbreaking. No more ... just heartbreaking.

Unmarked, not forgotten, I expect at any time, for a weeping widow to walk past ...great capture.

That tree is a Yamis tree ... want it, 'k?

See ... your stuff is cool. POST MORE! I happen to know you took a couple hundred ...

(did I hear 'Deliverance' in the background?!)

:fling:

aprilraven · Dec 19, 2005

i knew you would like the tree...i got ya about four more...one is real eerie..

thanks pallie..:heart: your so lying... but thanks..and i had a flash of brilliance, that if they took us for ransome, i had you ready on speed dial...till i realized there was no signal...and bubba didnt look like he would have indoor plumbing, much less a phone with him....:mrgreen:

i got the impression he liked mustard with his biscuits...!!! ( i like the way you talk...ummhumm....)

oh, and you didnt want an armadillo pic????

JTHphoto · Dec 19, 2005

nice shots, that's quite the name for a cemetary... i love the bench... i enjoyed your bald eagle shot too, yours is just as special because it is in the "wild", the armadillo is a strange critter, we don't have them here, i have never had the opportunity to see one in "real" life.

thanks for sharing! :thumbup:

aprilraven · Dec 19, 2005

JTHphoto said:
nice shots, that's quite the name for a cemetary... i love the bench... i enjoyed your bald eagle shot too, yours is just as special because it is in the "wild", the armadillo is a strange critter, we don't have them here, i have never had the opportunity to see one in "real" life. thanks for sharing! :thumbup:

thanks! i thought arizona would have armidillo's....funny, that... they are so cute in the face...and you wouldnt believe it, but they are hairy... most think they have survived since the dinasaurs...( if you believe that stuff..) :mrgreen:

stupid facts i retain for no reason..: armidillos have exactly four babies everytime they give birth..and the babies are always the same sex...so its either all four boys or all four girls...and they have very poor eye sight..but can dig like a back hoe on crack.....unreal..

see, nothing i know is good on a resume... i am useless trivia personifide..!!

terri · Dec 19, 2005

Good stuff, April! :thumbup: Glad you two were able to hightail it outta there before Bubba and friends decided to ornery. More likely they wanted to make sure their well-tended cemetery wasn't going to be vandalized, but no point in sitting there talking. :shock:

I love the tree shot, and the armadillo.

Can't quite figure out the name of the cemetery, but.... :scratch: I guess it's a family affair. And all those unmarked graves in the fourth shot.....good capture, it looks so forlorn out there.

JTHphoto · Dec 19, 2005

well, they sure look like a dinosaur, that's for sure. like crocodiles and tortoises... i'm always up for some useless trivia, i had heard they were diggers and had poor eyesight. i also hear they jump when in danger, (why there are so many roadkill, if they would just hunker down they would be fine) - so i'm told.

JonMikal · Dec 19, 2005

why doesn't grass grow on the graves in Arkansas?

anicole · Dec 19, 2005

Oooohhhh JonMikal ... if you ONLY knew! Raven and I have had this discussion many times. Grass doesn't grow because hicks feel like they ought to dump white pea gravel on every grave, pile stones and bricks around the area and make it a display (it's every cemetary you come across in the country). No kidding ... (meaning absolutely no disrespect to our 96 year old grandfater ...) when one of us passes, he goes into town, gets a load of gravel, spreads it (with his tractor), tends it for a couple of weeks as it settles with his hoe and shovel and then tends it throughout the year. Then again ... most of the area in our cemetary is red clay and slate, so that may be another reason.

(did we ever think of that, Raven? Either way ... I still don't want it. Just me and the slate.)

Chiller · Dec 19, 2005

Excellent series April. Man...I would love to wander around there, but, Im sure the locals would get a little miffed seein me there. Strange how it seemed like only a few families there. And is that sand on the graves? I wonder what the meaning would be if it is.
.....off to google.
I found a place like this in Memphis. It looked like a poor folk cemetery and the graves looked hand made. Got pics someplace.

Glad you and the hubby got out of there in one piece. Im sure they had their shootin irons ready . Great stuff April.

aprilraven · Dec 19, 2005

thanks ya'll..actually they did have shootin irons on their four wheelers... ofcourse in the south, men carry their sh*t with them...all the time..

as far as the sand, every grave there had sand on it...and in the bench pic you can see that a bunch had huge amounts of flowers on them... i think the sand makes it better to hold the flowers..i dont know....

thanks ya'll...and jonmikal, the only graves with grass is in the uppity cemetaries where they have caretakers....these are private ones, and they all have so many trees i think it prevents the grass growth...that and what nicole said, we gots people who love the gravel on graves...go figure...

JonMikal · Dec 19, 2005

thank you anicole

nice series nance! the b&w's are especially a treat for me and that eagle shot tops it off nicely...it was shot in the wild!
you have quite an imagine about the tall stone...interesting! i like the tree shot too! :thumbup:

thanks for sharing these!

anicole · Dec 19, 2005

JonMikal said:
you have quite an imagine about the tall stone...interesting!

You'd be surprised what people around here do ... some of it is not only moving but also practical. A marble remembrance bench by a beloved brother and son's grave, just under a massive (oak?) tree ... not only provides a shaded spot, but comfort while you visit with your loved one. We have full sized flags flying from permanent poles (most folks change them regularly as is their due), telling stones and all kinds of honors.

I had a friend whose headstone was fashioned with the grill from his jeep. I've seen fireworks shot off during July, gifts left on birthdays and holidays and other little doodads.

Privately owned cemetaries (mostly churches) are very lax about their rules. Long as we can mow around without knocking off a blade ... it's pretty much anything goes.

aprilraven · Dec 19, 2005

anicole said:
You'd be surprised what people around here do ... some of it is not only moving but also practical. A marble remembrance bench by a beloved brother and son's grave, just under a massive (oak?) tree ... not only provides a shaded spot, but comfort while you visit with your loved one. We have full sized flags flying from permanent poles (most folks change them regularly as is their due), telling stones and all kinds of honors.

I had a friend whose headstone was fashioned with the grill from his jeep. I've seen fireworks shot off during July, gifts left on birthdays and holidays and other little doodads.

Privately owned cemetaries (mostly churches) are very lax about their rules. Long as we can mow around without knocking off a blade ... it's pretty much anything goes.

nicole is very kind..she is not telling you that the bench is my fathers, and my brothers, along with our grandmother's... and we have flags flying cause my brother was army and my father retired from airforce.. my son had put the thunderbirds on his grandfathers casket piece for the funeral..and still to this day, there are rocks with words and biblical sayings and just wisdom wrote on them from me...i cant go anywhere without putting a rock from where i had been, on my fathers grave... along with fathers day cards in plastic wrap....balloons at times... and black feathers, roses. etc. some at the cemetary dont even bother looking anymore...they expect the weird on his grave... i have left a candle burning and just sat and watched it till it went out...

the things families and loved ones do at graves are spectacular...and when you can tell something about the person when you look at the grave, then that is what makes it for me... that is the last thing you see of that person... nothing should be held back...

thanks pallie for trying to spare me... luv ya for it...