Haunting with the dead

Now, before you call me creepy or send me an angry message about how it's sick and wrong to go to a cemetary for "the fun of it", read my explanation. Cemetaries are home to beautiful, though admittedly morbid, artwork. There are clear cultural ties and ancient styles. I'm not haunting with the dead by dressing up as a vampire and skulking through the headstones hoping to scare the visitors. And for the record, I have never stepped on someones grave. We walk carefully around every single one. No rudeness, no vandalism. Just admiration at the artwork. And respect for the dead.

Sometimes we see a first or last name that we rather like when we are touring the cemetaries. I don't see it as disrespectful to borrow a name here or there to use in our writing. Why can't it be a small gesture to honor their memory? Cemetaries are such a great Taboo in our culture. Not all that long ago, the trip before my last, someone asked me rather angrily why I would be taking a picture in the graveyard? Sometimes there is a particular piece of art that strikes me or a name, which I have nothing to scribble down on. I don't see this as disrespectful either. We truly mean no harm by it.

And so, because I feel that it is in no way wrong, rude or harmful, I have decided to post some of the pictures from my last trip to a cemetary. They were above, if you didn't notice.