Hey guys!
As some of you would know, today was/is the big trip back from Sydney to Melbourne...
Well, all along the way I have been trying to find somewhere that my modem will connect up, and not having much luck... I wanted a war, dag nabbit!
So now I am parked out the front of Maccas, using THEIR WiFi as mine still won't connect... So, alas, I am unable to get on IRC at this stage, but I thought I would share some interesting things that I found today...
I went to a cemetery, in a place called Marulan, off the side of the highway, near a small farming area I guess... And I had a wander, and a sit, and a read(of tombstones) and a write! YAY! 8067 now!
Anyways, I have always found old tombstones interesting, and today was no different...
As a lot of them were from the late 1800's a lot of the poems and scriptures and stuff quoted were a little darker than what we would find nowadays... Some of the ones that stuck out to me, I typed out so that I could look back at them later. And, perhaps, share with you... :P
I typed them all up verbatim, with line spaces to show the way they were done on the headstone.
Alice, I sat next to while I wrote, poor thing(not the me writing next to her, but how old she was!):
"In affectionate remembrance of Alice May Harden
Who died
2 December 1892
Aged 5 weeks
I am sleeping
with Jesus"
-Honor was next to Alice, but her stone and the flowery text worn down were hard to make out, I could read:
"Honor
beloved wife of
Edward Harden
who was accidentally burnt at marulan
and departed this life
April 27th 1886
Aged 46 years"
-I have to wonder if Edward was Alice's father, and if so, how did he feel when he lost his newborn daughter to a new wife, not so long after he lost his old wife...? But then again, back in those times, death was more commonplace... How long did he mourn?
"In remembrance of
Joseph Leslie,
Infant son of
William Morroni
and
Mary Jane Cunningham
who departed this life 26th February 1883
Aged 5 months
Ere sin could blight or sorrow fade
Death came with timely care
the opening bud to heaven conveyed
and bade it blossom there"
-This one I found REALLY interesting, note the parents' last names... And in those times too... The whole family would have probably been scorned... Was theirs a forbidden love? Was he an illegitimate child to a man other than her husband?
"In loving memory
of
Annie Elizabeth Gardiner
Dide July 2nd 97. Aged 13yrs.
Also of Walter James Gardiner
Died Janry 23rd 90. Aged 3 Mths
Safe in the arms of (Jesus scratched out)"
Now it only says 97, and 90, so it doesn't tell us if it was 15 years ago, or 115... I think that it might have been meant for 1800's, because the two were on the same stone, and the way it was abbreviated, and also the style of headstone... Most headstones nowadays look granite like, this one was like sandstone or something similar, with lots of aging and moss and such on it, plus, no sign of flowers...
And finally, this one was quite interesting I thought...
"Here repose
in
Expectation of a joyful resurrection
the mortal remains
of
JAMES.HATTER
WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE ON
THE 29TH MAY 1868
AGED 62 YEARS
A good husband A father dear
A sincear friend lies buried hear"
(All spelled exactly as it appeared on the stone.)
Oh, and there was a William Bell, his son William Henry Bell, and his wife Catherine Bell.
I checked the dates, I don't think he is THE William Henry Bell... :P Just thought that was interesting!
----------
NaNo07: A Ghostly Belonging - WON!
NaNo08: Muntaer - WON!
NaNo09: Growing Up Robot / We Have Your Voices
28,723 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 04 50
Do you guys ever do this? Go out to cemeteries and just READ what is there?
----------NaNo07: A Ghostly Belonging - WON!
NaNo08: Muntaer - WON!
NaNo09: Growing Up Robot / We Have Your Voices
15,015 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 05 00
i walk past cemerties with good reason i sort of sense things that shouldn't be there X'P but that being said there is a chacarter in my story who is entombed in a glass coffin in a garden so her body doesn't decay.
----------28,723 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 05 07
A la Snow White?
Yeah, I sense things too, but mostly this place had a good feel about it, some of the graves felt bad, so I stayed away from them, but a lot were fine...
I do have to wonder about Edward Harden though... I get an odd feeling about him from his family members.
Oh, and there was this stupid magpie that kept trying to swoop me, so I had to keep swinging my Gypsie's leash around my head when it looked like it was eyeing me... Bloody pain it was...
----------NaNo07: A Ghostly Belonging - WON!
NaNo08: Muntaer - WON!
NaNo09: Growing Up Robot / We Have Your Voices
45,178 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 05 09
Last time I was in Ireland I went through a couple of cemeteries and read the stones there. Some of them were even in Gaelic and had all sorts of interesting markers and stuff. I like old cemeteries, but the ones near me are horrible regimented rows of graves which no-one ever visits. Sad, really.
The "accidentally burnt" one intrigues me. I wonder what the story is behind that...
----------I got nothing.
51,416 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 05 14
I can't even remember what was inscribed on the plaque of my father's grave. All I remember was that he died at 49 in an MVA. And that just opposite his plot was another father who died around the same age. We all wondered if he went the same way.
51,416 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 05 17
Now I remember the message on the other grave. It was a quote he was fond of:
"To the world, you are somebody. To somebody, the world."
35,041 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 06 23
I love the lines left on Joseph's grave. They're very striking, and probably infer something about the relationship that may have happened.
On the whole, I haven't seen any interesting graves around where I live here in Oz, but I found a grave up in Shrewsbury, England that belonged to Ebeneezer Scrooge (check me on the spelling, it's late and I can't think).
----------We're all still debating whether or not it's the real one, or if it was just made for the film since the book was set there. :D
[take it or leave it, this is all something we have to do]
50,097 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 16 03
I grew up in Castlemaine, with a lot of old Cemeteries around the area, particularly from goldrush times. I used to visit them quite a bit and wander around the old gravestones.
Especially affecting for me is visiting the Children's Cemetery at Pennyweight Flat. Many of the graves were unmarked, or simply designated using unlabeled stones, and most of the headstones that were inscribed have been stolen over the years, until now there is barely anything legible left. It's hard to imagine what sort of person would do something like that. Despite the lack of many proper headstones to read, it remains an incredibly atmospheric place.