Thursday, May 11, 2017

Lone Oak Cemetery: a parallel world


Do you sometimes feel, as I often do, there are are several places that exist at the same time?  A parallel world?  I suppose we are getting into quantum physics now.  

What actually happens is that I sometimes turn a corner, step inside a small cafe, or visit a place outside my previous experiences and   suddenly it is as if you have "stepped outside" time.  The atmosphere, the sounds, the speed with which things happen at that new moment thrust you into another dimension for a brief time.

Today's visit to sketch in the oldest cemetery in Leesburg, FL was a little like that.  One minute you are busy planning or working or making lists and then you get in your car, turn a few corners, and suddenly step back in time.  Here nothing is moving except the lawn mower.  Birds are singing their heads off, and old grave stones reach toward the horizon tipping sometimes wildly as they have survived the centuries.  Confederate flags stand guard at some graves (this is the south after all) and stone angels and ancient dates draw you away from the reality of today into another time.  

Lee and Susan and I spread out to sketch so the quietness forms an envelope that lowers my heart rate.  The 88 degree morning makes the air seem thick like you are looking through old glass.  The water trickles slowly from this ancient fountain (in which gold fish swim) and beside me is a bench engraved Johnne Lee and Diane Marie "Two less lonely people in the world".  

At the far side in the oldest section of the cemetery is a marker George Alfred Widdas 1854 to 1920. Buried by Annie Oakley. Gunsmith to Bill Cody and Annie Oakley.  It's like a Time Machine.  

  




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