Things That Don't Belong There

As I have been visiting within the sacred spaces of so many Cemeteries I have tried to be meticulous in being a neutral force in those spaces.  I am careful to not intrude on private spaces when others are there.  I make no changes to anything and pictures are quite noninvasive.  I am very aware that there are people buried in these places and their presence in these places makes it a kind of sacred space.

Occasionally I am reminded that this is the real world and not everything in a cemetery exactly fits the place.  In my travels I have taken some pictures of things within cemeteries that don't exactly belong there.

This one I guess I can kind of understand.  I often travel with a cup of coffee.  As someone was visiting this grave or another one close by, they finished their coffee or just set it down and forgot it.  There the cup sits!

I clearly understand the presence of a coffee cup, but this one leave me mystified.  This is a wooden box and a shoe.  They are placed on some rocks near this stone.  I don't get it!  Possibly there is some significance to this, but it is known only to the person who left the items there.

This one I totally get.  First, there was no way to shoot the picture and show that it was from a cemetery.  The baseball was deep into the grass.  The grass was newly mowed and the ball was unharmed.  This was an accident.  The cemetery was surrounded by a chain-link fence and just across  the street were some houses.  I  can envision children playing ball and when the ball went astray into the cemetery the children had strict orders not to go there!  So here sits their baseball.

This final one is a bit poignant.  This is a deflated helium balloon.  It is the kind that children are so fond of.  There is a smiley face and a heart with "I Love You" written on it.  Strictly speaking it may not belong, but possibly it was intentionally left much as one might leave flowers.  It is unclear if the balloon just blew there or was left.  The string was not attached and the balloon just was laying there.


This theme, I am sure, will appear again as I investigate new places and walk in new sacred fields.

Olde East Street Burying Grounds

I have a friend that lives in Plainville Connecticut.  I vist her often and I pass by this little cemetery every time I visit her.  I decided to stop and shoot some pictures, but to my distress the Cemetery is closed to the public.  It is completely fenced with high fences which are locked.  The fences on two of the sides is chain-link so I was able to shoot some photographs from a distance.

As the sign indicates this is an early cemetery for the Plainville community.  Veterans, community leaders and farmers were buried here.  As a note, I was able to hold the camera up over the fence to take this. 

There was a large old tree right in the center of the plot.  You can see part of a neighboring wooden fence and the chain-link fence as well as several of the stones.

Though I was able to get some clear shots and you can see that the stones are very old, I did not have my longest lens with me.  I could not get great clarity to real some of the stones clearly.  Time, weathering, stone quality and distance made this a more difficult shoot.