My trip to Washington and walk along the Potomac had to be postponed due to scheduling factors at Devin's work places. The year 2012 will mark 150 years from the time that the Gilmour letters were written and James fought and died during the civil war. I still have time to follow a chronological walking in his footsteps and thankfully the time to plan it well enough to enjoy the walk also.
This blog has veered from its from its original focus over the past few months and become more of a traditional blog in that I am posting random things that interest me and keep me busy emotionally and creatively.
I will continue to post on The Gilmours/O'Brien's as well, but in November of this year I intend to start a related blog that will contain the Gilmour letters and documents posted 150 years to the day of their original creation. Complete with ephemera that I have collected along the way having to do with each letter and the location of its writing.
I also have letters from my Dad to his parents during WWII that I intend to treat similarly. There may be some love letters around to my mother as well... ;)
This blog has veered from its from its original focus over the past few months and become more of a traditional blog in that I am posting random things that interest me and keep me busy emotionally and creatively.
I will continue to post on The Gilmours/O'Brien's as well, but in November of this year I intend to start a related blog that will contain the Gilmour letters and documents posted 150 years to the day of their original creation. Complete with ephemera that I have collected along the way having to do with each letter and the location of its writing.
I also have letters from my Dad to his parents during WWII that I intend to treat similarly. There may be some love letters around to my mother as well... ;)
~
I don't want to abandon this blog or create a new separate one for my other pursuits. I've become accustomed to being a "Glebe Homie". This space is my place. Where I think, grow and contemplate the world. I'll try to mix things up more for the sake of the different audiences I have cultivated from around the world, but I gotta be me.
Not perfect, hopefully genuine.
~
I went out to the family grave-site today for a prayer and some pictures. I imagine we will be revisiting here as a family soon. When my sister spoke with the folksy curator /caretaker the last time she was up and she had to push for a map that indicated the exact location of all our plots. There were some discrepancies but we seem to finally have an accurate map. There is a row of plots behind this one on the other side of what is designated as a walking path.
I have visited enough of my ancestors plots to realize ours is not the same as the larger cemeteries as far as organization and professionalism. The other thing I have come to see is the importance of headstones and the information on them. I can't tell you what a letdown it can be when you approach a family plot and find no stone or stones.
There is something to be said about no headstone. It can be a valid philosophical point of view; but headstones like funerals are not for the living.
When I find a long lost relative, and their final resting place, it completes a part of me. It makes me more whole. I know where I came from and therefore who I am.
So spread your ashes on a mountaintop, but leave a stone if possible. Not for you, for your children's children.
I have visited enough of my ancestors plots to realize ours is not the same as the larger cemeteries as far as organization and professionalism. The other thing I have come to see is the importance of headstones and the information on them. I can't tell you what a letdown it can be when you approach a family plot and find no stone or stones.
There is something to be said about no headstone. It can be a valid philosophical point of view; but headstones like funerals are not for the living.
When I find a long lost relative, and their final resting place, it completes a part of me. It makes me more whole. I know where I came from and therefore who I am.
So spread your ashes on a mountaintop, but leave a stone if possible. Not for you, for your children's children.
obeedúid~
25/may/09
