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A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

arlington national cemetery

30 Days of Writing: Hanging out in the cemetery (16/30)

June 16, 2012

Cemeteries — especially old ones — can be amazing places for research, photography or other reasons. And all the while, you can pay respects to those who went before us.

This post is written in conjunction with the 30 Days of Writing, a blog challenge devised by Nicky and Mike at “We Work For Cheese.” I’ll be participating throughout the month of June. If interested, you can see my post with the details of the challenge. 

Please note that some of these posts will be serious, some will be normal, and some will be an attempt at humor. This one is a little of everything! 

Cemeteries.

Many look at cemeteries as a sad place. One where many people who have passed through life are buried.

Did you know, back when, cemeteries were places of celebration? People would picnic in cemeteries and town events would be held there. And it’s how it should be. When you go to a cemetery, you can celebrate those who have already left us. Sure, it can be sad. But it can also be a good place — one where you remember the good times.

I was brought to this old cemetery through geocaching. It was an overgrown cemetery with some historical people and I never would have found it without the game.

But man cemeteries seemed to be long forgotten. The ones that aren’t active anymore and have the old and amazing tombstones. Hundreds of years have passed for some of these cemeteries and, unless they were famous, there are many people buried throughout the world who likely have nobody who visits their graves anymore.

I have a lot of hobbies in which I participate. One of them is based around cemeteries, the other sometimes involves cemeteries.

The first is with the website Find A Grave.

Many people use this site to help with research about family or whatever else. The site has a large database of cemeteries and photos. What I do, is when local cemeteries get requests for photos of graves, I like to try and get out and go get them for the people seeking the photos. It’s actually been a little while since I’ve done it as my other hobbies have distracted from this one.

But, I love this one because when you’re searching for the headstones, you can learn about things. You can see the stones and different aspects of the burial grounds.

My other hobby in which cemeteries sometimes appear is geocaching.

For those who don’t know, geocaching is a technology-based treasure hunt, using a GPS.

From Geocaching.com:

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.

Geocachers will hide caches all over. In fact, there are nearly 1,800,000 active caches placed around the world. And there are more than 5 million geocachers playing the game.

But, back to cemeteries.

Cachers like to find old cemeteries and hide caches near them. Often, geocachers will do research about these long-forgotten cemeteries and take you there for a certain reason. Maybe because there’s people buried there who fought in the Revolutionary War. Or a famous athlete is buried there. Or someone else. I’ve learned a lot in cemeteries through geocaching and for that, I’m thankful.

Arlington National Cemetery is a place where you can lose yourself in the history and be moved by everything this cemetery stands for.

Finally, cemeteries can be some of the most powerful places to visit.

Take for example Arlington National Cemetery.

I don’t know how many of you have visited there, but during a trip to visit friends in Washington D.C. last year, I spent a combined six or so hours in Arlington National spaced out over two days. From the changing of the guard to staring at all the headstones, it was one of the moving things I’ve ever seen. To know how many of these people have given their life for the United States is something that, for those of us who are Americans, should be thankful for.

Cemeteries, though places where people are buried when life on Earth ends, are not places to be afraid of, rather places to remember and honor those who have gone.

Take a walk through a local old cemetery and look at the headstones. Even if it’s people you might not know, be related to or know anything about, you can still pay respects or at least look around and know that you might be one of the only people to see these names over a given time.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Filed Under: blogging, Cemeteries, Geocaching, My world, Photography, We Work For Cheese Challenges Tagged With: 30 days of writing, 30 days of writing challenge, arlington national cemetery, blog challenge, blogging, cemeteries, cemetery, find a grave, geocaching, photography, photos, we work for cheese challenge, we work for cheese., writing

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Foto Friday: The archives

February 10, 2012

My external hard drive is starting to fill up. That pretty much means I need to start shifting some things and deleting, or I might not have room for a lot of photos.

I have three external hard drives, but two of them are full and the third, which is a terabyte, doesn’t have much left. I know there’s a lot of waste on all three of them. So, over the next few weeks, it’s my hope to really clear a lot of space. In the end, I’d like to have the TB drive be all photos only — so I can get an online backup service as well.

Anyway, as I do that, I got peeking at some older photos. And that got me interested in looking at some older photos on Flickr, too. So, in this post, I am going to share some of my favorite (or not so favorite) photos from the Flickr archives. Things are going to be random. I am going to hit a few random pages and snag a photo of those pages and share them here.

I’m hoping to head out and shoot some fireworks tonight, so if things come out as I hope, I’ll look to share what I did and such with the images next Friday.

Page 40

Ahhh, this past September. We got some unseasonably warm weather and this page was basically filled with sports photos — a softball tournament and some flag football. Here’s one of those shots.

Foul ball!

 Page 67

I had been catching up on posting some images, including from my trip to Ireland in 2010. Those photos were on this page.

Good advice!

Page 94

From April of last year, my trip to the Washington DC area and Arlington National Cemetery.

The unknown plots are extremely moving. There are far too many.

Page 123

From November 2010. One of my favorite disc golf photos.

My faithful buzzz.

Page 149

Ahhh, the Ireland trip. This wasn’t long after getting back. This was a shot I took in Howth.

My mother and brothers at Howth Harbor.

Page 165

The Oneonta Outlaws. Love some of the shots on this page.

Pitch coming in.

Page 187

Out on a photo day with a former co-worker. Watershed property…

Stay off!

Page 204

This big snowstorm at the end of February 2010 shut down local schools and even the local college. A great day to be out taking photos!

Snow!

Page 235

Geno’s Steaks, at night. December, 2008.

All lit up!

Page 270 (last page for now)

Downtown Montreal at night. I took this photo from Mont Royal in August of 2007.

Montreal!

I hope you enjoyed a slight trip through the archives with me. I’m sure as I get going through these external drives, I’ll be sharing more — and uploading a lot more to Flickr. I want to get a lot more of my photos on Flickr and put them together as sets. That way, they are there for all to see!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

Filed Under: Cameras, Foto Friday, My world, Photography Tagged With: adult softball, archives, arlington, arlington national cemetery, baseball, buzzz, camera, cheesesteak, cold, disc golf, discraft, discraft buzzz, dublin, dublin zoo, foto, foto friday, geno's, geno's steaks, headstone, howth, images, ireland, montreal, new york city watershed, oneonta outlaws, outlaws, philadelphia, photo archives, photography, photos, snow, softball, south philly, sports, unknown soldier, upstate new york, washington dc, watershed, winter

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Don’t mind me. Just watching a little TV with so Don’t mind me. Just watching a little TV with some snuggles on the couch! 

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It was haircut time with Cameron before Thanksgivi It was haircut time with Cameron before Thanksgiving and he challenged @studio11chris some with this festive art! 

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Sunday was a day with some errands and such, but a Sunday was a day with some errands and such, but also a nice walk on the Vestal Rail Trail. Harper loved it, of course, especially because she got to also walk with her "Gram!" 

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Quick snap tonight while out walking Harper. #ni Quick snap tonight while out walking Harper. 

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The weather didn’t deter Harper for National Fet The weather didn’t deter Harper for National Fetch Day! And then friends came to Harper’s Landing to make it even better! 

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Who’s ready for National Fetch Day on Saturday? Who’s ready for National Fetch Day on Saturday? I’m pretty sure Harper is! 

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Tis a dreary and rainy day. What better than to ha Tis a dreary and rainy day. What better than to have a cup of tea in my new mug, which was a birthday gift from my nephew/godson Cameron!
Live life the best you can. Have experiences. Smil Live life the best you can. Have experiences. Smile. Love the world. 

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Likely my final game of the year… but a nice nig Likely my final game of the year… but a nice night! 

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Harper and Phil! #goldenretriever #dog #dogsofin Harper and Phil! 

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Saturday was national dog day… posted on Faceboo Saturday was national dog day… posted on Facebook, but forgot here! Harper was spoiled all day!
How could we skip this? North of the border this How could we skip this? 

North of the border this weekend to get away and hit a few caching events and geocache. Dinner tonight was at @harpersburgers, especially with outdoor seating and dog friendly! @harper_dublin got to enjoy a little of my #burger, of course. And, yes, I got poutine, duh! Great service and great food! Went back later for a spiked shake. This one was a Malibu Colada (malibu rum, dark rum, vanilla ice cream, and pineapple juice) … yum! 

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My newest #pathtag came in! A great design by @geo My newest #pathtag came in! A great design by @geofoxandthehound! This one, of course, is connected to @harper_dublin ‘s Instagram account. It won’t be easy to get! 

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Haircut day! I got mine done, as did Cameron. He g Haircut day! I got mine done, as did Cameron. He got some waves for when he goes to the shore next week! One shot of me getting the straight razor too! Nice job @studio11chris at @studio11barbersuite ! 

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Part one of the backyard work is done. New patio h Part one of the backyard work is done. New patio has been installed ... (the rock garden area is basically done, too ... but i need to put a few things up with it). The guy who did my patio did a great job... looks cool. 

I think Harper approves. 

One more step and we'll be set to really enjoy it back there with some shade!

Working on a few other landscaping things, too.
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Waggin’ Wednesday at the @swbrailriders was a lo Waggin’ Wednesday at the @swbrailriders was a lot of fun! Hot night, but very enjoyable! 

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A video looking at my first year and a half of owning a golden retriever, my first dog. It's had its ups and downs, but I've truly loved the ride and look forward to the future. 

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I hate being in front of the camera, but also realize sometimes it's not the worst thing in the world. So, I'm getting better with it. Week 4's theme was all about us and having us in front of the camera, so I tried to come up with a creative way to do it. 

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