Lafayette Hillside Memorial

Viewable from the Lafayette Bart station in Lafayette, CA is a monument of sorts which is home to over 5000 wooden crosses to date. I drive by this place at least once or twice a week and always say "One day I'm going to stop and take a picture of that." Well it turns out that today was my day so I'd like to share it with you. This is a memorial was started in November of 2006 by a gentleman by the name of Jeff Heaton to symbolize American men and women that were killed in the Iraq war. Amid the crosses is a sign that tells people exactly what that number is. It has recently been changed to reflect the soldiers that were also killed in Afghanistan as well. That number now stands at 5,166 and is updated every week as necessary to represent the new tally. The property they stand on is owned by Louise Clark and her deceased husband Johnson Clark who happens to be a WWII veteran. Of course when the memorial first got underway there were strong opinions on both sides. Some say it is disrespectful to the troops and others say that it's simply stating a fact. I tend to agree with the latter. I have a brother who is a U.S. Marine and understand his job and what he's supposed to do and fully support him in doing that. It just seems that when you put something into the sort of perspective this memorial does that people tend to get angry and upset with reality. I ask myself questions such as why are we still there? What are we fighting for now? And the reality is my brother has been one of the lucky ones to survive Iraq twice. He's not some pencil pusher that just gets to watch everyone. He's the first one in and the last one out. I hope to never have to put a cross on that hill for him...

Tombstone Tuesday

This picture was taken at Oakview Memorial in Antioch, CA. I found it interesting that it looked more like the stump of a petrified tree than anything else. Even more strange was that somebody had been there to place the flowers. Upon closer inspection the stump in the back was a tree of some kind that was pretty flaky. The whole thing was very puzzling. I looked around and the tree seemed to be the only marker. I had to come back and edit this post because I don't remember seeing that thing on the bottom right of the stump. I have no idea what it is. I took another picture of the backside which I'll include as well...any ideas?

Ahahaaaa...

I must be drunk...I did a post on Memorial day...it's actually Labor Day. It's been a long week.

Don't Mess With Big Mama

I had the pleasure of visiting Oakview Memorial Park in Antioch, CA yesterday so my girlfriend could clean her grandmother's headstone. As she was busy scrubbing away I decided it would be a good time to do some exploring. As I was doing my normal observations and taking a few random shots something caught my eye. I see not too far away a headstone that reads as you see here "Big Mama Viola Red". At first I thought that this was just a wonderful name. I know that all these people buried in the cemetery meant to world to someone. But Big Mama struck me as what was probably once the matriarch of her family. I imagined huge get togethers at her house, family and their children running around and everyone eating and having a good time. I'm guessing Big Mama probably had a specialty dish that everyone was always looking forward to. I know for my mom it's always the world famous baked beans. Oh I could taste them as I stood before the grave of Big Mama. I also noticed on the headstone that there was an actual picture of Big Mama as she once lived.I'm not exactly sure why this picture was chosen for the headstone. It looked to me as if Big Mama was trying to say "Don't mess with me. Big Mama is not to be trifled with." She struck me as the same type of person my mom is. The one grandma that had no problem smacking someone elses kid. Well as long as they were semi related. Heck my mom would even smack my friends. So I'd like to say thanks to Big Mama for giving me something to think about yesterday and allowing me to remember how important those times with family and the get togethers are because they definitely don't last forever.

That Thing Thursday

This weeks "Thing" is an emu that I saw while visiting Bubbling Springs Pet Cemetery in Napa, CA. I wanted to go there and see how far people go for their pets burials. There wasn't anything too elaborate but coming from the ghetto it was hard for me to comprehend that there was a place like this in the first place. We probably had 3 or 4 cats, a dog and probably a gold fish or two buried in my backyard. Well at least I thought I did anyway. I don't know what my dad did when we weren't looking and Mom's chili never tasted funny but it seems weird to have a bunch of dead animals in your backyard now that I'm older.They also had a couple Llama in a pen there as well. It's possible these live animals were guarding the sea of dead cats, dogs, rabbits and who knows what else. It's amazing to me that people love their animals so much that their seems to be no separation between animal and human. I guess this all depends on your upbringing. There is a place I did some work in San Francisco called Wag Hotel it's basically a hotel for your dog. The guy took me around the place and showed me everything they do there. I'm not doing a commercial here but this thing is amazing. They have screens in all the rooms and the dog or cat can watch TV. A person can be on vacation and log onto the internet and look at their dog in this room. I think it's rather ridiculous. It's a far stretch from dumping a bag of food on the porch and filling up a bucket of water or asking the neighbor to make sure your dog is fed while you're on vacation. Just amazing...again I think it comes down to upbringing. I guess this is the point where I go on record and say that no I'm not an animal lover but I do like animals. My only rule is they must belong to someone else and that someone else better have control of their animal and be able to prevent it from jumping on me. Yes I will punch your dog if I feel threatened...don't get mad.

Wordless Wednesday

Tombstone Tuesday

This picture was taken at Tulocay Cemetery in Napa, CA. The name read Easterby and it was in a sort of open space under this huge tree. The stone itself was pretty raw. Almost as if someone just found a rock and carved the name in it. I need to go back to Tulocay because I had three bored little kids with me that day and it kind of ruined the experience...