Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Ma. S. O. De Arguello?

So you're probably wondering just like I was. What's a Ma. S. O. de Arguello? Well after about an hour of research and several different Google searches I finally found out. Maria Soledad Ortega de Arguello. I see a lot of abbreviations for names on gravestones or in this case monuments but without the power of the internet I may have never figured this one out. Maria was the grand daughter of Sgt. Ortega of the Portola Expedition which was Spain's first attempt to explore Alta California and allegedly the first European to see the San Francisco Bay. At the age of 25 in 1822 she married Luis Antonio Arguello and married into one of the most influential families in early California History. Luis succeeded his father as governor of California and became the first native of Alta California to serve as governor under the rule of the Mexican government and the first native of California to hold that position. Luis never lived on Rancho de las Pulgas but his family moved there after his death in 1830. Rancho de las Pulgas has now become 5 cities in Northern California. It now forms the cities of San Mateo, Belmont, San Carlos, Redwood City, Atherton and Menlo Park.

I found it interesting that Maria is buried at Santa Clara mission cemetery while Luis is buried at Mission Dolores in San Francisco. I searched through my pictures and happened to have a picture of Luis' grave from when I visited Mission Dolores for a school project on missions for my girlfriend's daughter. I had no idea at the time that I would one day be able to connect him to someone else. With most of my earlier pictures I wasn't as interested in the history behind who was buried as I was the marker itself. I now find myself saying "I need to go back there and get more information." I'm just glad I keep my photos organized enough to be able to go back and see if I have that one crucial link...

That Thing Thursday

This weeks thing happens to be an upside down crow. As I happened upon it at Santa Clara Mission Cemetery it appeared to be stuck on a branch struggling to free itself. Being in no mood to climb a tree I stood there and watched for a couple minutes as it tried to free itself. When it finally broke free it swooped right above my head as if to say "Hey jerk can't you put down the camera for a second and help me out?". I often see crows in cemeteries and a few times I've followed them as they randomly travel from grave to grave just to see if it brings me anywhere interesting. So far, unless I'm missing some sort of message from beyond my following them hasn't led me anywhere. I did do a little research today to see what the crow symbolizes. So I began looking into Bird Mythology and have uncovered several different beliefs.

A number of Native American Tribes believed that the crow was able to see past, present and future all at once with it's far seeing eye.

The Greeks believed that the crow was a sign of impending death and therefore saw it as unlucky. They were sacred to Athena but she still would not permit them to land on the roof of the Acropolis.

In China a 3 legged crow is said to live in the sun with his 3 legs representing morning, noon and night.

Medieval Christians believed that the crow was a sign of the devil due to it's scavenging as well as a symbol of fidelity because they thought that when the crow's partner died that it would never seek a new mate.

I could not find any information on what if anything an upside down crow symbolizes. I can tell you that if you encounter one that's high in a tree that you either attempt to help it by climbing the tree or it'll buzz by your head on it's way down. That's only if it can figure out how to free itself before you become bored watching it hang there...

Freaky Friday

This picture was taken at the Santa Clara Mission Cemetery. When I first walked up I was more interested in the elevated casket you see toward the left. But as I looked a little closer I became interested in somebody's home made sleeping arrangements on the right. I thought to myself, hmm at least you'd mostly be blocked from the wind. But could I sleep in a cemetery? Next to someone's grave? I'm not too sure this is my cup of tea. I guess it's working for whoever has been sleeping there. I did feel a little bad that someone out there has reached such a low in their life that they'd have to sleep here. But many times I look at someone and say "Well they've made their own bed. Now they have to lie in it"

Tombstone Tuesday

I had the opportunity to visit the Santa Clara Mission Cemetery yesterday during my lunch break. Do you ever get that sense of excitement when you pull up to a cemetery and know instantly that you're going to find something interesting? There were so many things to look at and my time was limited so I began following my 6th cemetery sense allowing it to lead me this way and that. During my search I encountered a lot of material. One of the things I came across was this marker you see pictured (click picture for larger photo as always). At first I didn't find anything special until I looked at the name. James Morrison. Of course it's not the real Jim Morrison I know. Well he is technically the real Jim Morrison but not the one we all know and love. The lead singer of The Doors. Anyone that knows me or has become my friend through Facebook knows that I'm a Doors fan and have even done some artwork with Jim Morrison as the focus.

Freaky Friday - Oak Hill Cemetery San Jose, CA

Ok so I'll let you decide on the level of freakyness here. But from this perspective this crypt seemed perfectly normal to me. Nothing out of the ordinary anyway. I have this obsession with having to peer in and see how many people are in there and as I got close I noticed some strange writing on the steps just before the door. I couldn't quite make it out with my eyes but I've found that if I hold my camera up to things sometimes it helps me to read them. In the next picture you'll see what I saw.


It looked to me like it said "Salara". I looked inside and I didn't see anyone with that name buried inside. I could still be way off on what it said. And it could just be someone decided to scratch their name at the steps. I'm always a skeptic when it comes to ghosts and all that stuff so I think I'm going to need some more convincing. I just found this one more strange than anything. Like the saying goes "Guess you had to be there"

Freaky Friday

So I decided I'm going to create my own thing for Fridays and call it "Freaky Friday". I seem to come across some strange statues now and then. This gem was found at Oak Hill Cemetery in San Jose, CA. I'm sure the hand used to point up and the bird just happened to land there just as I took the picture.

Oak Hill Memorial Park San Jose, CA

San Jose's Oak Hill Memorial park originally began in 1839 when people were given permission by city officials to be buried under the oak trees at the south end of town. Then in 1848 a man by the name of Chester Lymon laid out approximately 25 acres for the burial of Protestants and Catholics and 4 acres to be used as a potter's field. Which I've just learned is a burial place for strangers of sort. (see wiki) The cemetery has since been expanded to more than 300 acres. This is the oldest secular cemetery in California which makes sense because apparently San Jose is the oldest city in California as well. San Jose was incorporated in 1777 and at the time the cemetery was simply known as "The Graveyard". It wasn't until 1933 that citizens decided to rename it Oak Hill Memorial Park. Upon entry the first thing I noticed was the fountain of the 12 apostles. This is a beautiful fountain and I found it interesting how each apostle seemed to have his own unique personality captured by the artist. The individual apostle pictures can be found here. I usually drive around a cemetery before I decide where I was going to start. Today I decided to start my walk at the huge statue of Jesus at the top of the hill. This statue towered over me. Of to his left and right stood 2 smaller yet equally beautiful statues of women kneeling and behind him a beautiful mausoleum which I did not visit because there were services going on and I didn't want to disturb anyone out of respect. On his pedestal I'd say that Jesus stood at least 30 feet high or more. I'm not too good at judging height so this is just an estimate. Behind me I could see the city of San Jose but as you can probably tell from the pictures it wasn't a very clear day and it rained a little. We didn't care though we had umbrella armed and were ready to take it on rain or shine. We had just visited the Winchester Mystery house and beforehand I had done a quick search and decided to couple in the cemetery when we were done unbeknown to my lovely girlfriend who was also excited when she found out we'd be going. Anyway enough about that back to the cemetery. This cemetery also has a large population of Asians which adorn their graves with beautiful jade statues as well but the hardest section for me to visit in any cemetery is always the military section. Oak Hill Memorial has a section dedicated to Union Veteran's of the Civil War. This is always difficult because my brother is in the U.S. Marines and has done two tours in Iraq. I'm always thankful that he's come back each time but sections like this always remind me that not everyone does. I don't like to get emotional when I visit cemeteries but every once in awhile I see something that I didn't want to see and it makes me think about my own family and the families that have lost loved ones which is why I usually stick to the older sections.