Totally incongruous...

-
I'm researching the Center Cemetery in Farmington, Maine. Because the headstones are so old and weathered, it's easier to read them in the evening; you shine a flashlight across the letters and they stand out better.

So there I am, crouched down in the middle of a cemetery at dusk, reading gravestones and dictating what I find into a digital recorder--and the wind wafts the (delicious) smell of cooking hamburgers from a nearby restaurant and my stomach growls. I had to laugh. The moment was just so odd, so incongruous.

Then I went inside and fixed myself some dinner.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sunday Morning @ Belcher Cemetery

-
Image
Spent the morning at Belcher Cemetery. It's just a short walk up Anson Street from where I live--although it is a bit of an uphill climb. Dorothy Wirth in her book on Franklin County cemeteries states the access is through a private drive you need permission for. But Nancy Porter scoffed at that: Just walk up Anson Street until you see a big white house on the left. Just past it on the right is a wooded area that's city property, and there's a path up to the Belcher Cemetery. Willena and I spent a pleasant morning together, digital cameras in hand. I did video surveys of the site as whole and each row of headstones. Willena took many excellent still images of the stonework and the surrounding woods--and of me doing the video surveys. I was impressed with the quality of the construction of the walls and the gate, especially the foundations stones supporting the corners and the joins of the stones.
Read more

Photographing Domestic Violence: The Work of Donna Ferrato

-
This is a work of incredible courage. "It might appear impossible to reconcile the two seemingly discordant narratives of Ms. Ferrato’s photographic career. Yet they share a common foundation: both are unflinching, intimate explorations of the deeply personal. And both make the viewer uncomfortable." “I want to start a revolution with my pictures,” she said. “I want to wake people up, make people feel things — either suffering or incredible pleasure, or whatever I am feeling or observing.”  (Tip of the hat to Ophelia Benson )
Read more

The Riddle of John Lewis Cutler

-
Image
Doing research on the Center Cemetery in Farmington is made easier by the fact it's practically in my front yard. So while compiling the data of names and dates, I frequently trot out onto the cemetery grounds to survey the headstones and double-check the info on the headstones (bless my digital camera!). And every time I pass by the Butler family plot (Francis Gould Butler et al) I would pass by a small headstone propped up in the corner of the family plot. I knew it didn't belong there, but I kept telling myself, "later." Butler family plot with odd gravestone So then the other night I stopped on my way back from double-checking some inscriptions and read the wayward headstone. Wayward is right: "John Lewis Cutler." I went, what the heck?  There are no Cutlers buried in Center Cemetery. John Lewis Cutler--and no dates To make it worse, there are no dates carved on the stone--just the name. So I'll check the cemetery records at the town Lib...
Read more