Travels with Auntie M

Old Fort MacArthur Days - 11 JUL 2009

Billed as "one of the largest multi-cultural, living history events in Southern California" this year it was bigger and better than ever. "A truly spectacular event, showcasing the history of military activity from around the world and across time." A pacifist like myself, might describe it as the idealization of men and their wars. It seemed like every type of uniform every worn, was presented in the opening parade.

Re-enactment enthusiasts and their families spent the week-end living in tents, cooking like their historical counter parts and making hand-crafted items.

While "lookie lou's" like myself paid the $10 admission fee to observe the activities while wearing comfortable cloths appropriate for a hot summer day.

I saw the pouring of lead into a musket ball mold, while my brother saw the making of lead pencils using a sand cast method. We both passed on the Civil War Medical Tent demonstration. Get your free amputations...no waiting.

I didn't know a cannon could blow a smoke ring.

Throughout the day they had re-enactments of famous battles...I felt very Rosenthalist when I got this shot of the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima.

Famous image by Joe Rosenthal

As I was leaving, I saw this wench who had just got her hand painted.

There was no sign of Tinky Winky...must still be hanging out with the musicians.

Check out these links for more Old Fort MacArthur Days:
Old Fort MacArthur Days - 2015
Old Fort MacArthur Days - 2014

Sunnyside Cemetery, Signal Hills, CA - 09 JUN 2009

Because it was a typical June morning, heavily overcast, giving everything a soft light without harsh shadows, I decided to head over to Long Beach and re-photograph the Denni Angel (see the first entry of 2009, "Farewell 2008").

I think I like her in black & white the best...it makes the trees less distracting.

While I was shooting, a man came out of the office to tell me the story of another statue on the other side of the cemetery. It seems Ansel Adams made this statue famous in 1939 when he photographed it with Signal Hills in the background. Here's his shot:

Ansel Adams 1939 "Angel of Sorrow"

The derrick towers are long gone and the trees have grown high enough to cover the hill but from this angle you can see small parts of some grasshopper drills.

However, this angle would tell a story similar to the Adams shot...

but I prefer the image without a background to distract from the "Angel of Sorrow".

There are no wings, so I have no idea why that's her name.

To view more of my cemetery images: EnfocusGallery.com

City of the Silent, Cemeteries of Colma, CA

A small incorporated town in San Mateo County just south of San Francisco is a place were the dead out number the living one thousand to one.

Walk into a local bar and you are bound to have someone tell you, "It's great to be alive in Colma." (Their local joke.)

In 1902, San Francisco outlawed interments within the city limits and the largest cemeteries had to move their populations out of town. Business was moved to the first town outside of the city limits that was accessible by train...hence the creation of Colma's new (lasting) business.

There is one cemetery for pets and 17 for humans.

They include: Catholic, Jewish, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Greek Orthodox (Russian), Oddfellows, & Serbian, to name a few.

The famous located here include: William Randolph Hearst at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Wyatt Earp and his wife Josephine Marcus at the Jewish Cemetery, Hills of Eternity, as well as Levi Strauss who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans; at Holy Cross, is baseball star, Joe DiMaggio (who became more famous for marrying Marilyn Monroe) and Abigail Folger, the coffee heiress who was murdered by Charlie Manson.