Grace Episcopal Church

Continuing on with our day in St. Francisville, LA, B and I made time to visit Grace Episcopal Church. The church was very beautiful, but I was more interested in the cemetery, as was B. Probably the most fascinating thing there was an open tomb. B titled her Facebook album, Tales From The Crypt. Dang, I wish I had thought of it first! lol B is a great photographer with a sharp wit. When we both decided this day would be an adventure, I had no idea we'd be climbing deep into a damp, dark grave! When she said 'Let's have an adventure' she meant it!

This must've been a baby or young girl. Isabel is her first name; couldn't read the last name.

Detailed carving of above grave. It said OUR DARLING BELLE.

Open tomb...down we go!

Sweet B. My ISO was too low, as was the shutter speed
which resulted in B looking all ghost-like.
Not a good photo by any stretch, but it fits!

Rear of church.

Linking up with Tex's

Keenan Cemetery

This is an old cemetery in Farmers Branch, Texas. This is what I wrote about it on Flickr in 2011:

Sunday after church I asked my husband to take me to the rose garden for some photography. The roses were not in bloom yet, but there were violets and other small flowers around. Well, the infernal wind is back so I just could not get any good shots with petals swirling around! I was just about to get in the car when I saw the cemetery next door, framed by the fleur-de-lis fence. I quick snapped off a shot, too lazy to get closer (which is what I would normally do). I'm so glad I took this from a distance. Used the Aged Photo preset in Lighroom which seemed to capture the mood I was after. 

This is the oldest Cemetery in Dallas County. Keenan Cemetery was established on November 11, 1843, when Thomas and Sarah Keenan, two of the area's first settlers, buried their infant son John Keenan. The Cemetery contains approximately 3 acres and has three Texas State Historical Markers. Also buried in the Cemetery are military veterans of every War from the War of 1812 through the Vietnam conflict, including both Union and Confederate veterans of the Civil War.

Please visit TexWisGirl's Good Fences meme for more fence shots.

Civil War Cemetery and Collection

I found this in my Draft folder, completely forgotten. Not sure why I never posted this from last year, so Veterans Day seemed a good day to publish it. Many prayers and thanks to our military!!! God bless them.

My dad and I visited this civil war cemetery located in Magnolia, MS sometime last year.

Processed with Pioneer Woman's "Heartland" action

It seems odd that flowers were placed here since this soldier has been dead for 150 years.
Perhaps they blew over from another grave.
Processed with Coffee Shop's Vanilla Bakery Glaze action.

This is a small sampling of my dad's Civil War collection. The collection has grown since I last took these photos, so I need to go back and document the new pieces.

My dad actually eats with this spoon. He likes the idea that someone with the initials O.E.F. actually used it 150 years ago.

Same with the fork.

Proudly posing with some of his antique rifles.

An actual bullet that struck the handle of the rifle during the Civil War. 

See the piece of flint in the thingamajig? It somehow created a spark which fired the gun. I'm sure I explained that perfectly. :)

Not sure if this is a Civil War era knife, but it's kind of cool.
Daddy decorated it himself by painting the handle
and adding the tiger eye.

My Amazing Day (MAD)

Just thought I'd share a little about my day:

• Woke up at 4 a.m. and could not go back to sleep; finally got up at 6:30.
• Let the dogs out for their morning business. Sparky found something stinky in the yard and proceeded to rub it into his fur. He then came inside and headed straight for the sofa blanket, freshly washed from the night before, funkifying it forever.
• Chance threw up on the good rug as I took my first sip of coffee. Twice. No warning.
• The monument company called one HOUR before bringing my mom's headstone to the graveyard. So much for the one day notice. Hopped in the shower and got ready in record time; flew out to the cemetery.
• Car started throwing error messages again. I pressed on.
• Attorney called while errors flashed, asking a question about my deceased sister that I had no answer for. The whole time I'm thinking, 'how much is this call costing me?!'
• Made it to the cemetery, showed the guys the grave, but first had a disagreement with my cousin (who is the church secretary) on placement of the headstone. Turns out I misunderstood, so I fussed at her for nothing. Bad Gail!
• Retrieved camera gear out of the car because a dragonfly was eating an insect on a rusted fleur de lis cross, posing perfectly.
• By the time I got the right lens on, tripod out, and camera mounted, the dragonfly was still there but he was done with his lunch.
• I lost my car/house keys somewhere between the car, the dragonfly and mama's grave. Could not find them to save my life. Searching over an hour, I was drenched with humidity.
• Double D to the rescue--a 30 minute drive for him. In the meantime, another distant cousin, Billy, had arrived and helped me look for the keys. Billy found them within 15 minutes, right by the fleur de lis cross, the same area I had scoured several times.
• I now have a headache the size of Texas.
• Got home to look at the photos I took of a colorful skink and the aforementioned dragonfly only to learn that my camera was set on ISO 800 the whole time.
• Izzy is on my lap as I type this post, emitting the worst gas ever. If I could bottle this stuff, I think I could blow up Iran with one small container.

Taken with iPhone

I texted my friend and asked her if she could write me a country/western hit out of all this mess so we could make a million bucks. She said not to worry, that the cemetery/vomit/dog poop song just made the top 10 on Country Music Billboard. 

I treated my cousin to lunch because I felt guilty for fussing at her. My lunch of bbq shrimp and grits was delicious! And guess what? Yep, I have heartburn. The one good thing from today? The headstone came out nice. So how was your day?

Afternoon Delight and a Possible D-I-V-O-R-C-E

Did my post title alarm you? No worries here. Yet, anyway. :)

On Saturday I had the pleasure of shooting with a church friend for part of the afternoon. We met at Gussie Field Watterworth Park, a National Earthkind™ Trial Rose Garden. One hundred rose cultivars are evaluated for research that includes four countries, seven universities, and twenty states. However, since we're in a severe drought, this is obviously taking its toll on the roses. The plantings around the rose beds such as lantana, zinnias, salvia, and daisies are doing better than the roses.

Whether the roses were blooming or not was of no consequence to me since I'm drawn to the living creatures feasting on and making their homes in the garden. The life that these plantings attract is simply fascinating to me. This is just what I like to photograph and I don't have the strength to fight that urge. Besides, I'm from the "if it feels good do it" generation. Nature photography makes me downright giddy, so why fight it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On an unrelated note, is it possible to overdose on watching televised sports? I think my husband is dangerously close to needing intervention. Or a divorce. I can just see the legal papers now: "Reason for divorce: alienation of affection due to spouse's excessive watching of football, baseball, and basketball." Lord, please help me through the baseball playoffs at least. Of course, he could always countersue with the same thing, replacing ball games with photography. Ha!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Now on to the photos!

American Painted Lady

Skippers

I love the bokeh in this one.

A decapitated statue in the cemetery next door 

I believe this is a corn earworm moth

Red wasp. When he landed he began clutching his head like, "Ouch! That hurt!"

Say, "CHEESE!"