So, I watched a couple of good horror movies last night (what is the definition of "horror" anyway?) and now I shall review them for you.


RESPIRE

I started with Respire, a 2011 movie by an unknown (to me) director, featuring unknown (to me) actors. It's about a terminally ill woman who discovers, purely by accident, a way to prolong her life and destroy the disease destroying her. The problem is, there are two other people who want what she's got and only one of them is a good guy. IMDb has only given it a 4/10, but I think it's at least worth a 5 or 6, because it's actually a decent plot and the acting doesn't totally blow. The only bad thing about it is the very end...was a tad disappointed by that, but for the most part a pretty good movie.







THE RITE

Whilst on my travels, I came across a new cookbook...some of you may know that I have a...thing...for cookbooks. I collect unique and/or "ethnic" ones. So, when I came across this one -  The Art Of Cookery Made Plain And Easy, by Mrs. Glasse - I just had to have it!

"Why is this particular cookbook so special,"? you ask. Well, it was originally published in 1747. The particular edition I have is from 1805 and was an American edition published in Alexandria, Virginia (Mrs. Glasse was English and her earlier editions were specifically English editions, making no mention of American tastes).

I am fascinated by this book...this is not an original copy, but it is a facsimile of the original with the original type and spelling errors, and in the original format (paragraph format, not like this). But that's not what fascinates me, what gets me is the recipes themselves...She has recipes for things no sane person would be caught dead eating these days. And I have to wonder, what's changed? Why was it totally "normal" to use every last bit of the animal, back then, but totally gross now? And where have some of these recipes gone? Why have I never even heard of half of these?

Now, while I'm drawn to all of the recipes, I'm particularly attracted to the grosser ones...lol

For example:

To stew Ox Palates.

Stew them very tender; which must be done by putting them into cold water, and let them stew very softly over a slow fire till they are tender, then take off the two skins, cut them in pieces, and put them either into your made-dish or soup; and cock's-combs and artichoke-bottoms, cut small, and put into the made dish. Garnish your dishes with lemon, sweet-breads stewed, or white dishes, and fried for brown ones, and cut in little pieces.

First of all, some of the language in this book is...archaic...to say the least, and some of it is clearly geared toward those who already know what's what. Now, I know what a "palate" is...and if that's really what she's cooking up here then I'll decline the dinner invite. But then she goes a step further and adds "cock's-combs." Um...yuck? Why on earth would anyone want to eat a cock's comb?! The only thing I think is that she doesn't mean the one that comes from an animal, but the floral variety which can be used as a vegetable (man, I hope that's what she's talking about!).


BELOW: Rooster combs = gross                                           BELOW: Cockscomb = okay

Far from disgusting recipes being the only fair in her book, not all of the recipes contain questionable content; some actually sound quite good (like the ice cream recipe on page 231). Aaaand then there are some really bizarre ones...like "Hysterical Water" (which contains ground up millepede, by the way), and "Plague-Water." Turns out Plague-Water was a home remedy devised during the Great Plague of 1665. Considering the quantity and variety of herbs in this recipe, if the plague didn't kill you, the recipe just might!

The lady who wrote the introduction to this printing has clearly tried some of these recipes to great results, I guess I'll have to do the same. I'll let you know how the Orange-Fool turns out!

Day 16

Fairfax County, Virginia to Willoughby, Ohio.

If you plan on traveling through Maryland and Ohio, don't do it on a Wednesday...We got to the Maryland border, crossed it, and stopped at the first Welcome Center. And didn't feel very welcome since the place was closed! No Maryland map for me...

Yeah, so I started collecting maps in Florida. If I had been thinking more clearly, I would have started back in Arizona and would now have a tidy little stack to catalog the states I've been in.

So, there was no map in Maryland, but we did manage to get one in Pennsylvania. We traveled the Pennsylvania Turnpike and traveled through Pittsburgh. That wasn't originally the plan, we were going to go a different route, but I begged and so we did it my way.


I have looked at Pittsburgh before, as a possible place to relocate. But it's hard to decide you can live in a place if you've never actually been there. So, I wanted to get at least a fleeting glance at the place before saying, yeah, I can handle that!


My first impression of Pittsburgh is that it reminds me of the Amalfi coast of Italy. It's hilly (or mountainous, if you've never seen the Rockies before), it is at the confluence of two rivers which flow out of the Ohio, and the houses are historical. The Amalfi coast is hilly (or, in this case, actually mountainous), it is on the Mediterranean, and the houses are historical. At any rate, I liked what I saw.

My second observation is that there are a lot of bridges in Pittsburgh...and they're all made of steel (go figure). But, despite this, or maybe because of it, the bridges have a certain appeal.

Day 14

Fairfax County, Virginia

Don't be confused by the fact that Day 14 is following Day 15...I got confused, but I've got it all sorted out now. Problem is, I don't readily know how to correct the order of my posts, without a fair deal of trouble, so, you get to suffer. :-)

Anyway, on Day 14, Monday, we had reservations to visit Ford's Theater - you know, that infamous location of Lincoln's assassination? Yeah, that Ford's Theater.

I had been there before, back in 1993, but it's changed a bit since then (they've added a section on the side with the requisite gift shop and so on), in fact, when we walked up to it I didn't recognize it! But, having not been there in over a decade, I was happy to return. These days they have created a huge exhibit in the basement where, in 1993, there was a much smaller one that focused on the assassination itself. Nowadays, they focus on the entire Lincoln presidency; I found that a bit disappointing...

But the one thing they've added that I did appreciate was the presentation in the theater. According to my sister, they used to have a Park Ranger just tell the story of what happened that night in April 1865, now they have the Ranger dressed up as a constable who was present at the time of the event! The Ranger did a splendid job of portraying the constable who was the first police officer on the scene that night. He gave a first person narrative of the events and after the presentation even answered questions from the audience, still in character!

Although we weren't allowed to enter or get a real good look at the presidential box (which is now totally off-limits, despite the fact that the theater is a fully functioning theater and has been thus since it was refurbished in the 1960's) I was able to get a few shots of it from the lower gallery. I will post the more interesting photos for you.

Day 15

Fairfax County, Virginia

On Tuesday, we had a real treat; we went to the Shakespeare Theater in D.C., for The Merchant Of Venice. Now, normally I don't care for Shakespeare set in modern dress, à la Kenneth Branagh's film version of Richard III. I think it's a stupid idea and totally unnecessary. If they want to do it in modern dress they should do a totally different movie, like The Taming Of The Shew, à la 10 Things I Hate About You. But, in this case I wasn't totally turned off by it, probably because the lady who played Portia did so phenomenally well that I almost didn't notice she was speaking 16th century English in 1920's dress.

 

But that was in the evening. That morning we took a trip to the Potomac Mills Outlet Mall in Woodbridge, Virginia to look for clothes for my mom. After that, we stopped at the Red Robin across the street. I had never been to Red Robin before...it is good. A tiring day, but capped off by a great performance.

Day 13

Fairfax County, Virginia.

Perhaps you are wondering why I keep calling it "Fairfax County" and not Alexandria...(or not, who knows what you people think since you never leave messages). Well, there's a somewhat simple explanation...

The Commonwealth of Virginia is divided into 95 counties and 39 independent cities, which are considered county-equivalents for census purposes. What that means, is that my sister lives in the Alexandria area of Fairfax County, but not actually in Alexandria...confused? If you want to learn more (or maybe try to figure out what all this means, because you have nothing better to do today) then check out the Wikipedia article on it.

But I digress...

Sunday was spent...wait for it...wandering through cemeteries...surprise! I was looking for a specific individual when I went looking for old cemeteries in Alexandria, and came across the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex. It's about 6 cemeteries all right next to each other, only separated by hedge or fence. I went there looking for a couple of families to help put some more pictures up on Find A Grave, but really I was only looking for The Female Stranger. I won't bore you to death with all of the pictures I took (ha, ha), I'll just give you a few.



The story goes, that on 25th July 1816 a man and woman traveling on the "Four Sons" bound from Halifax to the West Indies, were put ashore on the Potomac and appeared at The Bunch of Grapes, or what is now known as Gadsby's Tavern, in Alexandria, Virginia. The woman was very ill. According to John Elfreth Watkins' account in his book, "Famous Mysteries: Curious and fantastic riddles of human life that have never been solved,"

Days 12

Fairfax County, Virginia

Our adventures began on Saturday, when we went to Lincoln's Summer Cottage...that's okay, I'd never heard of it before, either. It's on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home, which is located just minutes from the White House. This retirement home for veterans (that's okay, I'd never heard of it before, either...broken record?) has a long history dating back to the time of the Civil War. Lincoln spent fully one quarter of his presidency in this residence.

Because the house had been used for various things after Lincoln's assassination, there is no original furniture for visitors to not touch, but the house is used, instead, as an interpretive space with each room representing a different year or period during Lincoln's presidency. The house is administered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, so there is a fee to visit. But, if you find yourself in Washington, D.C. and are a fan of the 16th President, then follow the link above for the cottage and I've added directions below (we got lost, and based on something the guide said, apparently that happens a lot).

In front of the house is a statue of Lincoln. It was created by using his life mask and hand casts as size indicators. In other words, it is roughly life size. When my dad saw it he wanted to have a picture...as you can see, he's not as tall as Lincoln, but he read that Lincoln was 6' 3"/1.9 m tall. My dad used to be 6' 6"/1.98 m tall, but he's shrunk a bit...

 

That night, my sister, mom, and I went to Alexandria Old Town for a Ghost and Graveyard tour. The tours start from the Ramsey House Visitors Center on King Street and meander through Old Town for about an hour. Our tour guide was great! She was very entertaining and I certainly learned things that I didn't know before (and not just about Alexandria!). I highly recommend this tour. If you ever find yourself in Alexandria or it's environs and have nothing more pressing to do, take one of these tours! There are at least two different routes through the city and on Friday and Saturday they generally have tours starting at 7:30 and 9 pm.

 

BELOW: Our tour ended (perhaps they all do?) in the cemetery of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House. 1) Unmodified image of the front of the church. 2) Color modification of same image. Do you see anything?

 

 

This would be the same church where, in 1799, George Washington's burial service was conducted 4 times (his services were conducted here, despite the fact that he was an Anglican, because this was the only church within the town of Alexandria, proper, at that time; all the Anglican churches were in the country, and it was determined that his service shouldn't be held in a country church).

 

BELOW: Old Presbyterian Meeting House Cemetery. 1) Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the American Revolutionary War. 2) Dr. James Craik, the physician who attended George Washington. 3) Members of our tour party chatting with the guide in the back of the cemetery. (First two images are unaltered from their original state, the third has been color adjusted for better clarity...do you see anything?)

 

Day 10

St. Augustine, Florida to Mt. Airy, North Carolina.

Day 11

Mt. Airy, North Carolina to Fairfax County, Virginia.

The trip from St. Augustine to Mt. Airy was fairly typical. I had the dubious pleasure of driving through Georgia...apparently in Georgia the speed limit is merely a suggestion, either that or people don't understand the concept. At any rate, I was quite happy to let someone else take over once we hit the visitors center on the South Carolina border. I have since been informed that I should "go with the flow" and drive like everybody else "when in Rome." I have a few issues with that, but suppose it's not a bad idea from a purely sanity-saving point of view.

Anyway, the trip north was otherwise uneventful and we arrived in Mt. Airy and managed to find our lodgings without too much difficulty. We were only staying one night, so we drove around a bit and then found a great Mexican restaurant called Chili Rojo. Very good, highly recommend.

Now, you might be wondering what we were doing in Mt. Airy...I bet most of you have never even heard of it...or, perhaps you've heard of it by its other name - Mayberry. Yes, that's right, Mt. Airy, North Carolina is the birthplace of Andy Griffith and the location for the Andy Griffith show. His house has been turned into a museum and there are loads of references to both Andy and the show. But that's not why we were there.


My 4th great grandparents, Benjamin and Nancy Taylor are buried, along with several of their children, in Mt. Airy. That's where they ended up after moving from...somewhere...in Virginia (there is conflicting information about just where they lived while in Virginia). From there, their son Thomas and his wife Mary (my 3rd great grandparents) and their children moved to Utah. We were there, essentially, to find the Taylor graves. I had two leads (the Taylor Cemetery in Mt. Airy, and the John Anderson Taylor Memorial Cemetery in Pilot Mountain). Before we left Mt. Airy for Virginia, we visited both.

The Taylor Cemetery in Mt. Airy is in a sorry state of dereliction. It's picturesque, make no mistake, but if you didn't know it was there...The cemetery is actually quite large, a rough estimate of a hundred wouldn't be out of the ballpark here. Most of the stones are just that, stones. According to our guide, when people were too poor to afford a proper headstone they would simply use a big rock from the area. Most of the markers here are like that. There are a few "proper" markers and there is even one mausoleum, but most of the people in this area were fairly poor.



The John Anderson Taylor Cemetery (no idea why it's named for the son and not the father, Benjamin...) is much more accessible, though not any more readily locatable. It's in a residential area next to a house with a lot of (intact) male dogs. We drove up a grassy track and were attacked by four dogs; two German Shepherds, a Boxer, and a Beagle (well, the cars were attacked, we were still in them. Once we got out of the cars the dogs ran away.). The cemetery is surrounded by a chain-link fence and we were told by the lady with us (she is from the Genealogical Society) that the last time she had been there the grass was cut. The day we were there the grass was about knee high.



When we were done, I walked out of the cemetery to find the little Beagle just sitting there in the middle of the track. He let me walk right up to him and even pet him! He seemed a little unsure at first, but as soon as I stopped petting him he got all excited and wanted to give me hugs and kisses. He was the cutest...

After finding and photographing both cemeteries, we bid Mt. Airy farewell and headed to Fairfax County Virginia. We are still there (we leave tomorrow). We are staying with my sister and her family. The trip to their house was pretty uneventful and we arrived safely.

Day 9

St. Augustine, Florida.

The oldest city in America...That's St. Augustine's claim to fame.

St. Augustine was founded on 8 September 1565, by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. He had sighted land eleven days earlier, on the feast of St. Augustine (San Augustín) of Hippo and claimed the land for Spain and named it for the Saint. In order to protect it form the local Timucuan he quickly fortified the area (the well-preserved Castillo de San Marcos wasn't constructed until later - between 1672 and 1695). But it wasn't just the natives that threatened the Spanish colony of Saint Augustine, both the French and the English threatened Spanish rule in this area.

There are two prominent cemeteries within Saint Augustine's Old Town, Tolomato and the Huguenot. Both are closed to the public though they both give tours. I got in touch with the Tolomato Cemetery Preservation Association and was granted permission to visit. I didn't get in touch with the St. Augustine Historical Society's Research Library, so I didn't get into the Huguenot Cemetery (but there's always a next time!).

A bit of history: According to the Tolomato Cemetery Preservation Association website, "Tolomato Cemetery in St. Augustine is the oldest extant planned cemetery in the State of Florida, with burials starting during the First Spanish Period (1565-1763)." It has gone through many hands during it's existence, but is currently owned by the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Augustine.

The Huguenot Cemetery began life in 1821 as a cemetery for non-Catholics and Yellow Fever victims. From there it was sold to the Presbyterian Church in 1832 and has remained in their hands ever since. Due to overcrowding and sanitation concerns, all cemeteries within the city were closed to new interments in 1884.

For those who don't know, the Huguenot movement began shortly after Luther posted his 95 theses in 1517. The term "Huguenot" dates back to the 1500's but was originally political, not religious. Basically, it referred to Genevan partisans opposed to the Duke of Savoy (who joined the Swiss Confederation) and was probably an alteration of the Swiss German word for "confederate." The French word was most likely altered by association with Hugues Besançon, leader of the Genevan partisans. The word later came to refer specifically to French Protestants and was used in court cases to refer to "heretics." At first, the term was used as a form of abuse, but it later became an honorary name.

It should be noted that the Huguenot Cemetery in St. Augustine, while named for that sect, is not actually known to ever have contained any Huguenot members. It's likely that the name was used to denote the fact that it was a Protestant cemetery, and not a Catholic one.

So, the first order of business upon arrival in St. Augustine Old Town was a visit to Tolomato. There are over 1000 people buried there but you'd never know it because there are only a few dozen markers left. I was informed that the original markers were primarily wooden which explains this.



After my all-too-brief visit to Tolomato, I walked over to the Huguenot Cemetery and took some pictures over the brick walls.



Then I walked around Old Town a bit and visited the Oldest Drugstore; which is now a nice, modern tourist trap...er...store with restaurant (well, part of it is, anyway). I then visited the Visitors Center and waited for my parents to come back into town. After that we went to the Governors House Museum and then walked over to the Spanish Military Hospital.


The Governors House Museum is pretty small, but it provides a basic chronological trip down memory lane. Gives a bit of history and shows some of the architectural features of the Oldest City in America.

On the way to the Governors House Museum I stopped off at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine (America's First Parish). As it's a fully functioning church I didn't feel comfortable taking photos, hence there are only exterior views, but the interior is beautiful. In the yard is a monument to the Minorcans who came to Saint Augustine and helped to build it up.

Day 8

New Orleans, Louisiana to St. Augustine, Florida.

This was a pretty short day for me as I slept half of the way...but before and after I zonked out we passed over loads of bridges. But I woke up in time to spot the USS Alabama off in the distance.

BELOW: USS Alabama. It is now a memorial. It cam be found in Mobile Bay at Battleship Park.

Day 7

New Orleans

I had big plans for New Orleans...but 1 full day doesn't really offer enough time for "big plans," so I had to settle for little plans.

We wound up splitting up, because I had plans and they didn't want to be part of them (which was fine with me), so they wandered off by themselves and I took off for the St. Vincent de Paul Cemetery.

The walk there was interesting; my first impression of New Orleans was the smell...if it didn't smell like urine then it smelled like rotting trash. Not everywhere, mind you, some streets were stinkier than others; but the problem is that the garbage cans are on the sidewalk and lots of people have dogs. The second impression was that it's nowhere near as scarey as I was lead to believe; I never once felt threatened or fearful. Although, I will mention that I wasn't much impressed the night before as we were driving through the Quarter looking for our lodgings...I guess I prefer NOLa during the day.


I didn't realize when I headed out, but St. Vincent is actually 3 cemeteries, so I only went to the one, until I got discouraged because I couldn't find anyone on my list! So, I went back to the Creole Inn (will discuss momentarily) and looked at Find A Grave to try and figure out what the problem was...that's when I discovered that there are other people who are apparently unaware that St. Vincent is actually 3 cemeteries.

Armed with this new knowledge, and an increased list of names, I prepared to head back out to the cemeteries. That's when my parents returned and agreed to drive me over there...it's a good thing they did, because I had totally forgotten that the cemetery closes at 3:30 pm. Had they not been there, I would have been locked in the cemetery! (Which, wouldn't have been all that bad, per se, but there are no toilets and very little shade; I had left a note, so when I didn't return they would have come looking for me). While I only managed to find one name on my list, it wasn't a total loss because I ran into someone who works there and he explained a few things to me; just because the name isn't on the stone doesn't mean the body isn't there; just because the name is on the stone doesn't mean the body is there.



That night, we ate dinner at La Peniche, a restaurant just outside of the French Quarter. The food was quite good, I recommend it.

The place we stayed in is called the Creole Inn. It is a no-frills establishment just outside of the Quarter, owned and run by a retired military couple. It is a Bed & Breakfast without the breakfast, basically. But it's very homey, the hostess was friendly, and it puts you just outside of the French Quarter. The one issue I had was that there was no hot water in the shower...ever. But, if you don't mind taking cold showers, then it's a great place to stay.

Day 6

San Antonio, Texas to New Orleans, Louisiana

This leg of the journey was pretty uneventful until we hit the construction on the Katy Freeway (aka I-10). We were shunted off onto a Frontage road as the freeway was completely closed down. It's interesting to see how little attention some people pay to road signs; there were multiple signs informing drivers that all traffic must exit the freeway. Dozens of people completely ignored them, and some ignored them long enough to get bogged down in the traffic and then they drove through the median to get to the Frontage Road...

Day 5

San Antonio

The first half of the day was spent running around the Spanish Mission Trail, the second half was spent visiting a family friend, Dawn.

Obviously, when you go to San Antonio you have to visit the Alamo...no, really, you have to visit the Alamo; trust me, everyone was there. And it served to remind me just how incredibly obnoxious tourists can be. We started the Spanish Mission Trail at the Alamo...and we stayed only long enough to walk through the shrine (yes, the Alamo is a shrine; they will make the men take off their hats and you can't take photos inside). That was enough for me to know I will never go back, unless it's nowhere near tourist season (don't tourist go to San Antonio all year long, though? Hmm...might have to find out when the mad rush is at ebb-tide before going back there).

BELOW: The Alamo. Second picture is the front of the Alamo, third picture is the back. I don't know where Ozzy peed on the Alamo, as it's not marked, but having been there, I can image the immediate response!

I wasn't much impressed by the Alamo (no offense, Texas) because nothing was labeled! I had to guess that the painting was Davey Crockett, based on the clothing. Couldn't rightly guess to whom the muskets had belonged and the leather vest? No idea...unless they all belonged to the man in the painting...who I assumed to be Davey Crockett...So, yeah, not very impressed.

But after the Alamo things got loads better - fewer tourists!

The first mission we went to was the mission of Nuestra Señora de la Purisima Concepción, or Mission Concepción. This is the best preserved church in the Spanish missions; the entire church is preserved, as well as some of the associated buildings. The church reminds me of San Felipe de Neri in Albuquerque (which shouldn't be a surprise since they were both built by the Spanish and in the 1700's (San Felipe in 1793 and Concepción in 1755).



After Concepción, we went to the mission of San José y San Miguel de Aguayo, or Mission San José. It's the largest of the missions and it's associated buildings are well preserved, but we couldn't even get into the church as it is in full restoration mode.

BELOW: Mission San José. First, the side of the church. Second, from the front. Third, La Ventana de Rosa, or Rose Window. Fourth, Joseph, to the left of the front doors. Fifth, Mary and Jesus, to the right of the doors. Sixth and seventh, detail above the doors.


After San José we went to the Mission Burial Park (of course I had to go to a cemetery!). This is a fairly impressive cemetery in terms of the type of monuments (though not, perhaps, on the order of some of the New Orleans cemeteries), and it is huge! I could've spend weeks there, but I only had about an hour. I will do a Visions at some point with pictures from all the cemeteries I get to on this trip, so stay posted.

BELOW: Mission Burial Park. 1) Notice the inverted pentagram? If anyone knows what that is, I'd love to hear it! 2) There aren't a whole lot of Jesus statues in cemeteries, but every now and then... 3) This man was a Mason. 4) A beautiful Celtic cross. 5) Huntress? 6) Houston, not sure if it's any of the Houston's. 7) For those of you into That 70's Show... 8) There are some stores with the name "Luby"...didn't do any research to find out if it's these Luby's. 9) Not the Oppenheimer, but still interesting. 10) An Egyptian-esque mausoleum.


Next came the mission of San Juan Capistrano, which was originally called San José de los Nazonis. This mission is in a pretty sad state...I can't vouch for the state of the church, though, as I didn't go in. There was a note on the door and some other people read it and moved on, so I don't know if the church was open as I didn't read the note attached to the door myself (I'm still kicking myself over that), but there's very little left of anything else and what is there is labeled a private residence...



Near the entrance to San Juan is the little San Juan Cemetery. It's quite a small area, but they've got a lot of bodies crammed into it. I was hoping to find some really old graves, but  didn't manage to come across anything older than 1900. But it's a peaceful little place.



On the way to the mission of San Fransisco de la Espada (originally known as San Fransisco de los Tejas), or Mission Espada, there is the Espada Aquaduct. It's not real impressive, but it's a good example of the construction technique of the 18th century.


Founded in 1690, the Espada mission is actually the oldest ot he East Texas missions. We didn't make it to Mission Espada...I pooped out. I'm disappointed with myself for not going, but I guess that gives me a great excuse to go back to San Antonio, right?

Day 4

Albuquerque, New Mexico to San Antonio, Texas.

The trip to San Antonio was pretty uneventful. We took the I-40 to the 285 through a bunch of little towns. In Vaughn we stopped at what we thought was an old, abandoned service station...only to discover that it was "Pedro's Burritos." We felt kind of silly just walking around the car when we realized the place was actually open for business; so we got breakfast burritos (it was 8:30-ish in the morning and the breakfast at the hotel was pretty lame).

 

After Vaughn, we continued down the boring 285 to...Roswell! No, we didn't get abducted by little green men...although they were all over the city! Unfortunately, we never seemed to stop beside the good stuff, so the best I could do was a little green head on the fence. Clearly, Roswell milks the attention they have received thanks to Area 51; there were little green men in front of hotels, there were flying saucers in restaurant logos. No, I didn't see Area 51, and I wouldn't even know where to look if I wanted to see it. But after driving down the main thoroughfare I felt that I might could possibly feel okay living there...

 

 

Day 3

Albuquerque

We stayed with my sister, Rachel, and her family for two nights. We really had no plans for the full day we were spending there, we mainly wanted to catch up with them and get some much-needed rest before the gargantuan day ahead of us.

But, as so often happens with me, I realized I had the perfect opportunity to visit an old cemetery! It took me a while to find one that would suit my purpose, but eventually I found Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery. After convincing my mom that I should be allowed to go (and after a very yummy dinner of green chile chicken enchiladas!), mom, Rachel, my niece Jenna, and I went to the cemetery...I am so glad I did!

Mount Calvary is a beautiful cemetery in the lower left corner of "The Eye" (aka the I-40/I-25 interchange). It backs another cemetery which has a pet section (Best Friends). There are essentially two sections to Mount Calvary -- the grassy newer section, and the sandy older section (though there are older burials in the "newer" section and newer burials in the "older" section). There are lots of big monuments with names you find on Albuquerque streets, such as Candelaria and Griego. It is a wonderful place and I could've spend hours there, but it was after 7 pm when we got there and most (if not all) cemeteries close at dusk, so we had to get out.

Since I took so many pictures I will only post a few here, but I am planning a special Visions for later and you will see some more (or maybe repeats) from this cemetery.

 

BELOW: Damiano Cabeza De Baca. Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca (or Baca) was an early explorer of the Americas. His family name, which means "head of a cow," (and thus, the family name of his descendant Damiano, for only the one family could have this name) was the result of an early peasant ancestor who brought about a great victory over the Moors at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, on 11 July 1212. The ancestor led the Spanish forces to a vital strategic position by placing the skull of a cow near it as an indicator. The peasant was ennobled and given the name Cabeza de Vaca and a coat of arms.

 

BELOW: Fred and Pauline Dempwolf.

 

 

BELOW: Grace L. Maes.

 

 

BELOW: Griego. There is a street (next to Candelaria) with this name.

 

 

BELOW: John Baron Burg. Note the inscription...

 

 

BELOW: Jose Justiniano Garcia. There are several monuments like this in the cemetery.

 

 

BELOW: Unknown. This monument is severely eroded. The only thing left is this Latin inscription...which I would translate for you if the light were better, it weren't well after midnight and I had my Latin dictionary here with me...

 

 

BELOW: Napoleon and Odella Tulip. What great names!

 

Should you ever find yourself in Albuquerque and want to visit this cemetery, it is at 1900 Edith Street. Be aware, the sandy section has some very gnarly stickers, so wear appropriate footwear and be sure to pull any stickers out of your soles before getting into your car to leave.

It's after 10:30 pm and I should be going to sleep, but I'm too worked up by the days events to get to sleep right now...so I'll catch up on a bit of traveling.

Day 2

St. George, Utah to Albuquerque, New Mexico...via Snowflake, Arizona.

From St. George, we headed toward Snowflake, Arizona via Routes 9 and 59, through Hurricane, Utah (that's Hurricn, not Hurricane). At the Utah-Arizona border are the lovely towns of Hildale and Colorado City...unbeknownst to me, these two dinky dots on the map are polygamist towns...interestingly, the houses are large and plain; go figure.

Across the border 59 turns into 389 and winds up toward Fredonia. Fredonia is a pimple on the landscape. We stopped at a service station for a potty break and that's about all that's there (okay, there are some houses, but not many).

After Fredonia, the road becomes 89 again and winds through the Kaibab plateau up to Jacob Lake, and then down through Marble Canyon and various other scenic mountain vistas and then south to Flagstaff. From there, we took the I-40 to Holbrook and then south to Snowflake.

BELOW: Kaibab Plateau

Why on earth would there be a Snowflake in Arizona, you ask? Well, in 1878, the town was founded by Erastus Snow and Jordan Flake, two Mormon pioneers/colonizers.

We went to Snowflake to visit my mother's 91-year-old cousin Elva and her 95-year-old husband Harvey (and their 14-year-old poodle). Their son and daughter were there, also (their daughter brought her 17-year-old poodle).

(I have come to the conclusion that the poodle is the senior citizen's dog of choice; I asked my parents when they are getting one...they just laughed).

After Snowflake, we went back to Holbrook, got some A&W food (yummy!) and then proceeded to Albuquerque, via I-40. It was a long day and I didn't get too many good pictures, but the night-time drive into Albuquerque was beautiful; you approach the city from above and when you round the corner above it, the city lights sparkle! Breathtaking!

BELOW: Before the Arizona-New Mexico border. We went through several rain storms that day and this is what the sky looked like just before the border.

BELOW: After the border. A pull off we stopped at so dad could stretch his legs and walk around. Third picture is the refinery across the freeway from where we were.

Some of you may know that I'm taking a vacation...most likely the last one for at least a year (unless I win the lottery...). I'm taking this vacation with my parents; they are taking their last vacation for two years as they are going on a mission in August. Well, I'm several days into it and at a point where I can update the first few days; will attempt to get at least to San Antonio (updating my update - we are mere hours away from leaving San Antonio so that won't happen).

Day 1

We left on Tuesday, bright and early, and our destination was St. George, Utah. Along the way we stopped off in Richfield to visit with my mother's friend Janell (they have been friends since school). I've met Janell only twice, but I really like her -- she makes porcelain dolls, she has thousands; her husband makes ships, he doesn't have quite so many; I love porcelain dolls and ships! I told her I have begun collecting Harlequins and she said she has one in her "doll morgue" and when she finds it she will give it to me! Yay!

After leaving Richfield we went to St. George, checked into the motel and then went to the Jacob Hamblin house. After that, we went to Ivins to visit my father's cousin Barbara and her 16-year-old decrepit poodle...

I didn't get a whole lot of pictures in St. George but here are some of the ones I did get. NOTE: Some of the pictures throughout this trip will be rather poor quality...two reasons for that - first, the camera is having issues with the auto focus (grrr); second, some of the scenery ones are taken in a moving vehicle.

As anyone who has ever watched CSI: Miami knows, David Caruso can be an...interesting...actor. So, when I came across this movie with him in it...yeah, wasn't too sure I wanted to watch it. But I decided to watch it because I was in the mood for a horror movie (and that's what it's being touted as). Well, it wasn't what I'd call a horror movie but it did turn out to be okay. As more of a suspense/thriller, it had elements of Jacob's Ladder (a movie I love).

The premise is, an asbestos removal crew take a job in an abandoned psychiatric hospital. Really, that's all I'm saying, any more and I'll give it away; IMDb's primary synopsis doesn't tell you much more:

"Tensions rise within an asbestos cleaning crew as they work in an abandoned mental hospital with a horrific past that seems to be coming back."

As far as the quality of the movie, the acting, blah, blah, blah...Caruso isn't even half as stiff in this as he is in CSI: Miami, so he actually does a pretty good job (I never watched NYPD Blue, so I can't compare this to that). The only other well-known name in the movie is Paul Guilfoyle, from CSI.

The hospital portions were filmed on location at the Danvers State Hospital, site of the 1958 movie, Home Before Dark (have not seen it, but now that I know it was filmed there I shall have to watch it!). Danvers, in Massachusetts, was built in 1878 in an unusual shape -- it resembles a bird (or a bat...). Due to budget cuts within the mental health system, Danvers was closed on June 24, 1992. I tell you all this, but, interestingly enough, much of it comes out in the movie! I find it fascinating that they used a genuine psychiatric hospital and even used some of it's real history! Now, if only more people would do that...

It's worth a watch.

So, a number of sources are reporting that Mayhem used real human bones in their Hellfest appearance...I fail to see why this is so shocking/amazing. Human "remains" (that was really a poor choice of word to use to describe bones as it produces the impression of tissue, not simply bone) are really not that hard to come by (expensive as all get-out [it's actually cheaper to buy an intact cadaver], but not hard to get), and I'm not currently aware of any international laws prohibiting the transport of legally purchased human bone (note I said legally purchased), so why they would have to "smuggle" them into The Netherlands...

 

If you are really interested in purchasing human bones, I found The Bone Room some time ago. They don't seem to update their site terribly regularly, but they do have contact information.

Came across this talk given by Laurie Santos, a Yale primatologist, for TED. She provides proof that humans aren't as superior to other animals as we may think we are.

 

As a companion piece, NewScientist printed an article by Rowan Hooper expanding on the monkeynomics with advertising.

So, are we not as smart as we think we are, or do we simply succumb to our baser nature?