We have returned

…and hopefully, so will this blog. So I admit, I’ve fallen off in posting this year, and for that, I apologize. But I’m in the middle of uploading my photographs from Ireland, where I visited no less than 6 cemeteries, including the final resting place of poet William Butler Yeats. It’s taken me a whole week just to sort through the photos, and I’m still uploading them so I can get to the much more amusing task of writing about them. So, photos and posts coming soon, and thanks for your patience with me. New, fun posts are coming soon!

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2012 in review – thanks for reading, everyone!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 20,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 5 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

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Hope you enjoyed

I tried very hard to focus my posts this month on gravestones for women in honor of Women’s History Month, and I was kind of disappointed to discover how hard it was. Women’s tombstones seem less likely to have epitaphs or other biographical information beyond whose wife or mother the deceased was.

Tonight I was at a restaurant and the hostess’ nametag said her name was “Keziah.” It’s a name I had never before seen given to a currently living person, but it was a little awkward to explain that I run a cemetery blog, and so she might have thought I was a bit strange. She did tell me that it is from the Biblical Book of Job.

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Forest Lawn Cemetery

I took this photo almost exactly a year ago at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York. I was back there this weekend, so new photos will be coming soon!

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An apology

Sorry for the lighter than usual postings lately, but I’ve been able to do two more cemetery trips with the nice weather we’ve been having, so expect some exciting new posts soon!

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A Grave Concern: Happy New Year!

Another year has come and gone. I won’t miss 2011 at all – it was a year of sadness, sickness, and death for myself and so many around me, even if it wasn’t often reflected in this blog. I’m looking forward to a better year, and that includes lots more trips to cemeteries and plenty of photos.

Last year my goal was to post once a day for the whole year, and I didn’t quite achieve that – there were a few days I missed in there. So I’m going to renew that goal for 2012 for a post for every day. I appreciate all of you coming along for that adventure.

And for those of you who have asked, after 2 1/2 years of writing this blog, I’ve finally given you a photograph of me (not just my shoes peeking into the picture). This is me at work in the Nelaview Cemetery at the former Presbyterian Church in East Cleveland. The photo was taken by another member of the Collinwood-Nottingham Historical Society.

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A Grave Concern: Flowers for a friend

I am back from vacation, but still catching up, and not sure I’m ready to deal with writing about cemeteries. While I was on vacation last week, a good friend of mine passed away. Rest in peace, Mariassa.

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A Grave Concern: Vacation announcement

Just wanted to let everyone know that I will be on vacation next week without internet access. I’ve set up posts for all the days I’m gone, but it does mean that comment moderation will be non-existent, so be patient if it takes a while for your comment to show and be nice if you already have commenting privileges. See everyone on in a little over a week!

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A Grave Concern: Vacation!

Today we are off on our vacation to the Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, area. Posting will be constant, as I’ve set up posts in advance, but comment moderation will be slow. Please be patient! There will be lots of great new photos after I get back!

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New Year’s challenges

Happy New Year! Even though we haven’t made it to the blog’s anniversary yet, I’m pretty happy that we’ve hit 2011 and we’re still going.

As we finish the holiday season and start the new year, it does seem an appropriate time for reflection. I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. Most resolutions I have witnessed or made myself seem either overly ambitious or doomed. (I could be wrong, but most resolutions in my experience are proposals to radically alter some part of someone’s life in a very rigid and immediate way – such as going from zero to sixty on an exercise regimen or embarking on a radical, restrictive diet.) What I will issue to myself are challenges. On that note, here are some goals I will strive for this year that are related to the blog.

1. I will visit 10 new cemeteries that I have never visited before.
2. I will keep up with a selected number of related blogs (Cleveland history blogs, Graveyard Rabbit blogs) to inform my own writing.
3. I will take 25 photography trips this year (counting each individual cemetery on a multi-stop photography tour as “trip.”)
4. I will write at least 350 posts for this blog.
5. I will read more on the history of Cleveland and the symbolism and and history of cemeteries – book and blog recommendations are always welcome!

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