Exploring Cemeteries in Cecil County

On April 14, 2018 I went to Cecil County and explored four cemeteries, looking for graves I knew about and graves I didn’t. I had been planning this for about two months, and you never know what you’ll find until you go and look. The roots of my dad’s family come from what I jokinglyContinue reading “Exploring Cemeteries in Cecil County”

Plans for a Cecil County Outing

Tomorrow is a big day. In addition to Cecil Con, a small comic book convention in North East, Maryland, I’m going to visit four cemeteries in the area. My dad’s side of the family comes from what I call “the borderlands of Maryland and Pennsylvania”; there are Gibsons and Browns and Reynolds and Russells thatContinue reading “Plans for a Cecil County Outing”

The Things You Find in Your Photo Collection

As some people know, I like to visit cemeteries. And when I visit cemeteries, I tend to take pictures of headstones and the cemetery itself, even if I have no familial reason to. I’ve visited Dallastown’s cemeteries many times, I’ve taken many photos, and I’m related to absolutely no one. I have a particular fondnessContinue reading “The Things You Find in Your Photo Collection”

On the Year That Was, 2017

With 2017 drawing to a close and 2018 about to begin, I decided to take a look back at 2016 and spotlight the best (or most significant) blog post of each month. John Hurt, a Reminisence – Sir John Hurt died, aged 77, of pancreatic cancer. I can’t say that what I wrote was profound,Continue reading “On the Year That Was, 2017”

A Vacation Day in the District

Thursday I took a vacation day. I went to Washington, DC for the day. I hadn’t been in the District since March for Shamrock Fest (though I had been to a baseball game in Bethesda at the beginning of August), and I hadn’t made it to a Nationals game yet this season, and I’d beenContinue reading “A Vacation Day in the District”

A Distant Family Tragedy

People wrote differently a century ago than we do today. I do not mean the mechanics of writing, though yesterday’s manual typewriters and and fountain pens worked differently than today’s word processors and predictive text and text-to-speech. We write faster than our ancestors did because our technology has improved. What I mean is that theContinue reading “A Distant Family Tragedy”

Returning to a Cemetery

Thursday I got the Beetle back. It had been in the shop for a week and a half, after I had broken the key off in the ignition. It should not have taken that long, but the newly cut key Volkswagen sent wasn’t cut properly — keys for the Beetle are laser-etched, for security purposesContinue reading “Returning to a Cemetery”

Exploring Cemeteries

Last weekend, after the Mid-Maryland Celtic Festival, I drove home by way of Eldersburg, mainly because it was easier to head north to Liberty Road instead of south to I-70. As I approached Eldersburg, I decided, entirely on a whim, to visit the church graveyard where my great-uncle and great-aunt are buried, coincidentally quite closeContinue reading “Exploring Cemeteries”