Monday, June 2, 2014

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

I have an itch. A bug. An unrelenting desire to travel.

It's grown stronger this year. I lost my short lived photography job in January and ever since then it's been poking at me. Like a kid poking something on the beach with a stick.

My dream place to go would be the UK. Some of my ancestry roots are there. Plus Harry Potter and other literary roots. And the accent. And men in kilts.

Genealogically speaking... Poland is where I should go. Krakow and Tarnow.

So far this year I've done a few trips to Orlando. Big whoop that's 4 hours. I've gone to Sarasota and Key West. A big trip is coming up tomorrow. This time tomorrow I'll be in New Orleans. Awesome sauce. But it's still not enough.

I keep checking travel sites and tour groups to Europe.

And I finally decided... I'm going.

Not just for me. Because if it was just for me, I'd go to one of the places I listed above. No no.

You see, my mom is turning 50 this year. Big year. She hasn't exactly squashed travel plans... but she puts everything logically. Like... you should save money. You have plenty of time for that later. Be responsible.

She's good like that.

I've come to realize something though. You gotta get out there and do stuff. If you keep putting it off and waiting and waiting... before you know it your chance will be over and you won't be able to do things you want. You won't be able to live. Really live.

So I'm taking her to Italy.

She wants to go. Just... not right now. In a few years when we save up. Eventually.

She gets worried about money and stuff. And I know she'll yell at me when she finds out. but I'm not alone.

My dad and my grandparent's are helping. and I have a fundraising site.

She deserves it.



                                         

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Cemetery Clean Up

Happy New Year!

This past September my dad and I cleaned up a cemetery. Just the two of us. It was wonderful. We have plenty left to do of course, but seeing as the cemetery is far from where I live... 1200 miles give or take...  I won't be able to get there for a little while.

If anyone gets the opportunity to do so, clean up a cemetery. The dead will thank you.

Here are some before and after pics. There are some on findagrave that predate even my photos. Go take a look.

July 2013

Sept 2013


yes that's the same stone


Before

After. Look at all of that back there!!





There's actually a stone barely sticking out to the right of this one

We found about six stones we didn't see on our first trip.

See anything? There's a tombstone in there.

Next time I would like to uncover the stones. Get rid of more branches and debris. Heck if I could dig up bodies to do an anthropological analysis on them I would. ... ... ... That wouldn't be illegal would it?