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There are many mysteries
This cemetery is especially stark, with that jumble of mostly unmarked wooden crosses and piles of rock marking gravesites. It’s hot – so hot that candles melt, leaving greasy marks on the rocks. Many of the graves are those of miners, who succumbed to the occupational hazards in nearby mercury mines, which began production in 1903. Other graves are from the influenza epidemic of 1918-19. And still others are recent. They are crowded together (the complete site is only about an acre) and it’s easy to get scratches from mesquite trees or poked by cactus thorns.
But it is also especially beautiful, with a view across to the Chisos Mountains and Big Bend National Park and that half moon, one week away from the first full moon of the year, hanging in the sky.
Terlingua Cemetery
Terlingua, Texas
photographed 1.20.2013
(I am gone for a while, and will not be responding to comments right away. But make some anyway, if you feel inclined, and I’ll get back to you – it just won’t be right away.)
Rosary, as belt
That rosary, as a belt. Those worn-out knees.
There’s nothing more to say.
Elm Grove Cemetery
Alpine, Texas
photographed 1.19.2013
(I am gone for a while, and will not be responding to comments right away. But make some anyway, if you feel inclined, and I’ll get back to you – it just won’t be right away.)
Two traditions
The very formal stone marker in the foreground and the Virgin of Guadalupe in her niche behind it are a fairly accurate representation of the way cultures in New Mexico co-exist.
Rosario Cemetery
Santa Fe, New Mexico
photographed 6.28.2014
Another one of life’s cycles
(This is probably self-explanatory.)
Kearney Cemetery
Kearney, Nebraska
photographed 8.30.2014
Guardians
I tried to figure out who St. Libory was. It seemed easy enough: the town and the church were both named for him/her. It turned out to be a bit more of a challenge than I’d anticipated, however, and the closest I could come up with was St. Liborius.
This led me to the information that St. Liborius is invoked against calculi. And that made me think I might have benefitted from St. L. during some of my higher-level math classes in college. But then I figured out that actually referred to gallstones or kidney stones or similar afflictions. And then that made me notice, again, that Jesus’s stone hand has gone missing. Which set me to wondering if “stone hand” could be considered a calculus.
And, as it turns out, all of that nonsense distracted me from the point I intended to make all along, which was that I appreciated that way the headstone and two statutes seemed to be guarding the crucifix.
St. Libory Cemetery
St. Libory, Nebraska
photographed 8.30.2014
One Day | One Image 