"When leaves have to let go of the tree,
they wear their best colors
and they dance all the way to the ground."
~Karen Kingsbury
Finding Home
Here are my first cemetery photographs for 2020. I have enjoyed visiting the graveyards close to where we live in the Central Valley, but this year, with the situation with the pandemic far from solved, I think it might be time to visit graveyards in Colma, California, and maybe even Golden Gate National Cemetery. I wanted to practice out here first, and kind of find my inspiration in the monuments, like this angel. I find the quiet and history of these places comforting, and I am needing plenty of comforting this year. Life has never felt more fragile.
I guess in some ways I am beginning to identify with the character of Maude, from the amazing film, Harold and Maude. The older I get, the more I want to not just exist, but to live, especially now that things in the world have become so frightening. Deep down I know everything is going to work itself out, but sometimes in the middle of the night, I swear I can hear the missiles flying over. I wonder what Maude would say about that? I suppose, now that I think about it, she would simply burst into song, or steal a car. LOL. Two actions I am not nearly brave enough to try, but who knows, perhaps I will do just that one day, if I don't give up.
Anyway, there are two historical persons, buried in the Bay Area that I have been meaning to pay my respects to. Wyatt Earp, in Colma, and the Black Dahlia, who rests in the Oakland hills. It's also time that I revisit the crosses on the hill in Lafayette. They were placed on the hillside as a tribute to the fallen American service members of the Afghanistan Iraq wars. It's been such a long time since I dropped by to pay my respects and do some updated photography. When that tribute was erected it was so controversial. The owners of the property wanted to share with the commuters along the HWY 24 corridor, what the human toll of those wars looked like in symbol.
Pretty soon a false narrative was established by Republican "patriots" who felt that the monument was somehow disrespectful. It wasn't disrespectful in my opinion, because like with most art, it was installed to provoke and make the viewer consider the full emotion of losing a loved one, or sometimes a full community, to war. All these years later, it's rarely, if ever mentioned. Isn't that always the way? Controversies stop being controversies when folks stop caring. It takes a lot of energy to be outraged. I am so grateful to our military, for the sacrifices they make for us every day, and they deserve so much more than to be forgotten. Hopefully, me and my camera can help that effort in some small way.
And Now Today's Leaf Of The Day
~Carly
Stockton, California
September 28th 2020
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