In Memorium

 

The end of the year seems a good time to remember the dead. Some who were very close to me, whether family or friends. Some who were not so close, but who were in one of my circles, and impactful. Some whose connection to me was ephemeral, but whose life touched me in some way. Some who died after this blog debuted. Some who died years before.

My mother, Carol: The Last Monday Letter and posts that featured her here.

Carol on the Delta Queen. October 2013. Credit: Mzuriana.

My father, Ron: I hold complicated feelings about my father, but as they relate to challenges and opportunities I encountered as an adult, he delivered support in both tangible and intangible ways. With eight children, and, at times, a dog and a duck, not to mention my mom - he was definitely rooted. Except. He had a life-long dream of learning to fly. My dad sustained that dream through a stint with the Air Force, marriage, college, various household relocations, raising and supporting the eight kids, until, finally, he made it happen in his 60s.

 

My father, Ron, and my mother, Carol

Dan Offret in Tucson: A Toast to Dan

Jessica Terrell in Missouri (then New Mexico): Voluntary Simplicity

Judy Ackerman in El Paso, whose orbit I circled through her varied avocations and activist work: hiking, land preservation, voter engagement, women's rights, and pro-choice rights.

Donna Snyder in El Paso, founder of the Tumblewords Project, a weekly writers' workshop - still going strong 28 years later, even beyond her death in 2022. This interview, A Conversation with Donna Snyder: An Advocate and Speaker for the Unseen, published in April 2022, serves as a memorial to some parts to her whole of a life.

Mobile, Alabama: A Curiosity

 

 

A hanging fox tail. Mobile, Alabama. July 2022. Credit: Mzuriana.

It wasn't there the day before.

It was there the next day.

A fox tail, it seems.

Real? 

I didn't touch it. 

Why hanging? 

Why hanging there? 

Related fox posts

2016: On the Way to Colorado: Snapshots

2017: Big Bend National Park, Texas: Poop and Circumstance

2018: Backyard Fox

 

Mobile, Alabama: Cheeky Squirrels

Looky Lou squirrel at my window. Mobile, Alabama. December 2021. Credit: Mzuriana.

 

Mobile squirrels think they are something. 

Not only are Mobile squirrels plentiful, they are kinda cocky, practically dashing across the sidewalk right in front of you in a show of no-fucks-given for your hominid-archical bullshit. 

Researchers have classified four personality characteristics of squirrels that vary among individual squirrels: 

1. Boldness
2. Aggressiveness
3. Activity level
4. Sociability

The researchers devised various tests to quantify where individual squirrels fell on a continuum of the traits. Any of us can conduct one of the tests: 

In the third test, researchers quietly and slowly approached individuals in the wild to see how long it took for them to run away. This is a common way to determine an individual's shyness. [I will assume 'shyness' relates to the characteristic of 'boldness.']

As a group, I'd classify Mobilian squirrels to the far right end of the continuum of bold, along with a high activity level.

I lost a half hour of my life while researching for this post, which I shall never recoup, by watching the Backyard Squirrel Maze Ninja Course.  It gave me many utils of pleasure, so it was time well misspent:

PBS' Nature series broadcast a one-hour documentary on squirrels in 2018. You can watch it in its entirety if you've got a Passport account. If you don't have a Passport, you can view several engaging snippets here. 

In memorium

Recently, while on a neighborhood walk, I spied a dead squirrel. Laid out on a raised funereal dais created by a live oak's trunk arms that had surfaced from the loamy depths. Medium-size black ants, those avid morticians, bustled about the remains, performing their organic rituals. 

I admit to a fascination with the squirrel's tiny lower jaw and teeth, a wishbone of delicate architecture. It is maddening that I cannot capture a photo in which both rows of the teeth are equally defined, despite numerous attempts. 

Here's the best of a poor lot: 

Lower jaw of dead squirrel. Mobile, Alabama. June 2022. Credit: Mzuriana.

I have added the squirrel's jaw and its full corpus to my Carcass Collection here.

Related squirrel posts

2011: Louisiana Road Trip 2011, Part 1: Driving Day in Driving Rain (squirrels skittering)

2014: Lafayette, Louisiana: Sounds From My Place (squirrels barreling)

2015: Washington, Louisiana: Squirrel Cook-Off (Spoiler alert: It's not the squirrels doing the cooking)

2019: Tucson, Arizona: Temporary Home #2 (gregarious squirrels)

Oi. 

Another 20 minutes of the finite resource which is my life - gone. Here. I don't begrudge the expenditure, however.

 

Mobile, Alabama: An Addition to the Carcass Gallery

 

 

Cedar waxwing, dead. Mobile, Alabama. February 2022. Credit: Mzuriana.

Although I didn't touch the body, it emitted an essence of still-warm plumpness. 

I found a small stick and I gently moved it off the sidewalk pavement so as to save it from the indignity of an unintentional crush by a pedestrian's footfall. 

How did it die? There was no evidence of injury. Note the small berry in the upper right corner of the photo. If it is a nandina berry, this can kill cedar waxwings that binge on them. But is it a nandina? I don't know.

The cedar waxwing is the newest addition to the We Stop for Carcasses collection:

 

Las Cruces NM 2019: White Sands: Dead Moth

Dead moth, White Sands, New Mexico. March 2019.

My Las Cruces housemates, Beck and Susie, were my travel companions to White Sands the other day.

Dead moth, White Sands, New Mexico. March 2019.

Susie noticed this exquisite moth, sadly dead. She picked it up, held it for awhile, appreciating its beauty, handed it to me.

Dead moth, White Sands, New Mexico. March 2019.

I admired it, too.

Dead moth, White Sands, New Mexico. March 2019.

I laid it in various spots on the sand, tenderly. 

Dead moth, White Sands, New Mexico. March 2019.

Dead moth, White Sands, New Mexico. March 2019.

Dead moth, White Sands, New Mexico. March 2019.

An addition to the carcass collection in the slide show below:

El Paso: A Walk Among the Dead

La Llorona, Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

October 2016


What better way to spend a sparkling Saturday afternoon than walking among the dead, the undead, and the living?

Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Well, I could have done without these. They are veritable demons when dead.

But otherwise, it was a day of beauty, both somber and playful.

Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Giant puppets danced through cemetery lanes:

A mariachi band serenaded; La Llorona made a cameo appearance. On the other side of the stone wall is the Chinese section of the cemetery:

Concordia Cemetery honors the Buffalo Soldiers.

Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Chinese residents of El Paso made their final homes here.

Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

The Franklin Mountains give the cemetery a sense of place and of calm reserve.

Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Natural flags paid their respects.

Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Drummers drummed -- Echoes in the Park -- who you can find and join - at Upper Tom Lea Park on Friday evenings from May through October.

Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

The Paso del Norte Paranormal Society hosts the annual Day of the Dead event at Concordia Cemetery.


One of Benjamin Alire Saenz' characters resides at Concordia Cemetery. From Carry Me Like Water (1995), about Diego's friend, Mary, who met a violent death:

“[Mary’s] going to be buried at Concordia. That’s where they bury them, the people who don’t have anybody get buried at a section of Concordia. At least they’re still saving spaces in the ground for the Marys of the world.”

… Concordia was filled with weeds and trash delivered there by the El Paso wind. It looked more like a dump than a cemetery. It was only cleaned once a year when the prisoners from the county jail were let out to clean it, but that wasn’t until the summer, and it had been almost a year since its last cleaning, a year’s worth of old newspapers lying up against the gravestones.

For a moment, Concordia Cemetery distracted another character in the same book:

Driving down Interstate 10, Jake took the Juarez exit. He took his eyes off the road for a moment and stared down at Concordia Cemetery, the dead disturbed now by a freeway the locals called the spaghetti bowl. As the freeway curbed around, Juarez was straight ahead. It was so easy to get there, just get in the car, take an exit – Mexico – so easy, he thought.

A slide show below:

El Paso: Dove Tail Memoriam

Dead dove on UTEP parking lot. El Paso, Texas. March 2017.

Found on the pavement of a UTEP parking lot.

The upright tail. Yellow corn nuggets spilled out of its gullet.

An addition to the carcass gallery:

Washington, Louisiana: Cedar Hill Cemetery

Cedar Hill Cemetery, Washington, Louisiana. Eugene Lemontey, born in France and died in Washington.

The village of Washington, Louisiana, lists four historic cemeteries:

1. Cedar Hill Cemetery
2. Hebrew Rest Cemetery
3. Hinckley Family Cemetery
4. Old Church Landing Cemetery (aka Yellow Fever Cemetery)

Cedar Hill Cemetery, Washington, Louisiana.

One day, I took a quick look at Cedar Hill Cemetery.

Cedar Hill Cemetery, Washington, Louisiana.

I have so much appreciation for individuals who give their time and careful attention to identifying and mapping the inhabitants of graves in cemeteries. Here is a list of the deceased buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery.  The names. These families are still here, as they have been for hundreds of years. From the name list, you can click through to a photo of the person's grave. Sometimes there is additional information about the individual.

Decades ago, when my mother researched her family's genealogy, she traveled to different sites in the US and in Canada, visiting libraries, exchanging letters with people and organizations who might have the information she sought. Now - so much of this data is a click away. 

It's a beautiful thing.

Cedar Hill Cemetery, Washington, Louisiana.

I am curious about the putty-colored box in the tree above. Is it for beekeeping?

Opelousas: Stories in a Cemetery

Myrtle Grove Cemetery, Opelousas, Louisiana.

Myrtle Grove Cemetery in Opelousas is right across the street from the "Old Village" - Vieux Village - which is also the site for the Music & Market series in the spring and fall. Which means you can listen to music while you saunter over to the cemetery.

Myrtle Grove Cemetery, Opelousas, Louisiana.

What is the story here? The clothes look fresh and clean. Where is their owner? What is he wearing now?

Myrtle Grove Cemetery, Opelousas, Louisiana.

This story we already know. Empty bottle, empty dreams. I see several homeless men who frequent this area. I always wonder what they thought about, dreamed about, when they were eight-year-old boys, and what happened on their way to being the husks of men they are today.

Myrtle Grove Cemetery, Opelousas, Louisiana.

What ungodly creature lives in this house - the cemetery hosts a colony:

Myrtle Grove Cemetery, Opelousas, Louisiana.

A hint: They are edible.

Myrtle Grove Cemetery, Opelousas, Louisiana.

Elton, Louisiana: On My Way to the Powwow: Liberty Cemetery

Liberty Cemetery, near Elton, Louisiana

I'm on 190 going west, on the way to the Coushatta Powwow in Kinder, Louisiana. I've just left the weekly Saturday jam at the Savoy Music Center, and I've checked out the roseate spoonbills and taken a first glance at the village of Elton.

I see a large sign pointing to a road on the left, Liberty Cemetery Board. I drive up a-ways, turn around, and go check it out.

The first things that grab my attention are the fence around the cemetery property entire, then the fence around the garden of graves, and then the Puritan meetinghouse-esque chapel.

Liberty Cemetery, near Elton, Louisiana

My rational, mature brain feels soothed by the serene plainness of the chapel within and without.

But it is my irrational, Flat Earth brain that enters, half-way expecting to startle a psychopath camping out in a dusty corner. Or slavering dogs.

Liberty Cemetery, near Elton, Louisiana

The pews are marked with family names and memorials.

Liberty Cemetery, near Elton, Louisiana

There is an empty altar. I do not inspect it for sacrificial blood.

Liberty Cemetery, near Elton, Louisiana

Two small rooms flank each side of the altar, perfect hidey-holes for aforementioned, imaginary madman to lunge out at an unsuspecting visitor.

Liberty Cemetery, near Elton, Louisiana

The best I can tell, there's no electric power in this building. I imagine the window shutters are opened during memorial services, letting in natural light. If anything happens here at night, it's probably best not to know.

Liberty Cemetery, near Elton, Louisiana

The angel is androgynous. I like that.

There is some word that Liberty Cemetery is haunted. From another site, there's this story from "Greg:"

You can ask anyone that lives in the town of Elton if you sincerely want to see a ghost or something they will tell you without a doubt that you can go any night to Liberty Cemetary. I have been 5 maybe 6 times with friends and each time it only took minutes to notice that something was not right with this place you feel something in the air something that feels like its watching you and that you should not be there. I've heard of stories of people being chased down the road on foot from something screaming at them and their car not wanting to start; even stories about a little girl that sits on her grave every night waiting for her mother to come visit her but she never goes!!! I on the other hand have only heard voices giggles and laughs of children. Ohhh!!! Yeah, I almost forgot; there is a church on the far end of the cemetary that is extremely old that it has been closed down for probly 50 years or so. But... well to tell you the truth I haven't even heard of anyone even getting close to the church because they dont make it but maybe a few yards inside the cemetery without being freaked out by something.... Don't believe me? pshhhh.. try it yourself.

Louisiana: We Still Stop for Carcasses

Dead bluejay, Franklin, Louisiana

In December 2012, when I was in New Mexico, my mother came to visit. I wrote this post: We Stop for Carcasses.

Still do, and the number of photos has increased to the point of warranting a slide show:



~~~~

Not sure why I mark these remains of what used to be life. Perhaps it's that taking a photo and sharing that photo is a conscious noticing of them.

The original post: 

"We Stop for Carcasses."

My mother, Carol, who is visiting me from Missouri, and I were driving at a speedy clip down Highway 117, I think, when I saw chicken-sized ravens making merry on the remains of a large mammal. I wondered if I should stop to take a look, but passed on.

I commented to Carol, "Did you see that animal the ravens were eating"?
"No," she said. 
I asked, "Do you want me to turn around"? 
"Yes. We stop for carcasses," she replied.

So I turned around.

Dead elk, Highway 117, New Mexico

Earlier in Carol's visit, we'd stopped for this fallen elk on Highway 70 between Tularosa and Mescalero.

Dead elk, Highway 70, New Mexico

As Carol was framing her shot, a car pulled up behind us. A man emerged and walked toward us. What? Ah, he was a tourist from Nebraska. He had his camera out, too.

A few years ago, on another trip to New Mexico with my mother, I stopped for a wilderpee along Highway 152, only to almost stumble on this dead dog.

Dead dog, Highway 152, New Mexico

Speaking of almost stumbling on carrion while finding a good place to relieve oneself, here's a shot of a dead deer in Carson National Forest, also in New Mexico, on yet another past trip.  I got all artistic on this shot.  

Dead deer, Carson National Forest, New Mexico

 There has been no lack of carrion in Missouri, either:

Dead armadillo, Highway 21, Missouri

Dead frog, Missouri

Dead snake, Missouri

Dead something, Highway 21, Missouri

Then there was the horse in Nazret, Ethiopia:

Dead horse, Nazret, Ethiopia

... and the one in Monument Valley:

Dead horse, Monument Valley

This poor bird got caught in some branches in Arkansas:

Dead duck, Arkansas

Remains of dove killed by hawk, which later return for leftovers. Alamogordo, NM

 We stop for carcasses.