Memorial Day

Hey, a happy Memorial Day to you! (Sorry---in case you stopped by here early this morning and saw only the photos: I had uploaded them yesterday afternoon, intending to add the text in the evening, but my husband whisked me off for a drive to his parents' grave and a stop at Dairy Queen. So, you see, it was all his fault!)

This next Civil War soldier died in 1864. If he had been killed in battle, wouldn't he be buried where that took place? Or, did they ship the bodies home? Otherwise, I wondered if maybe he was sent home wounded and then died.

Next is a photo taken last year on May 19, six days before the devastating tornado storm swept through the area:

Most of the grove behind the cemetery met its demise in the wind last year. This gravestone in a far corner belongs to a 19-year-old woman---"Sada, Wife of Royal Wirth"---who may have died in childbirth. I think my aunt is the one who places flowers there every year, as well as by a few other old stones. Obviously, I inherited my tendency towards sappy sentimentalism.....

Here's another photo from last year.......a tall pine tree guarding over a metal headstone embossed with the clinging-to-the-Cross motif.

Now the tree is gone. I counted approximately 130 rings on the stump.

It was one year ago today---May 25---that the F5 tornado churned across the landscape from Parkersburg to Stanley, Iowa. On May 19 last year, after I left the cemetery, I stopped and took a quick photo of the farm where I grew up, with its landmark round barn.

Here’s a photo taken from the same spot---at sunset a little over a year later---on the evening the tornado came through. The barn’s profile appears a bit altered.

Here's a shot from the day after the storm. Yup, the barn roof was blown away, revealing the silo standing in the center. Darn.....in my whole life, I never thought to take a photo of the inside view of the barn's roof, which was quite an amazing sight to see.....darn.

Just for remembrance sake, here are a few hailstones that fell at our farm as the tornado was enacting its destruction a couple miles to the south.

Ok, you can exit through the old cemetery’s gate (don’t trip over the waving flag’s shadow) to take your leave of today’s blogpost……

Thanks for stopping by! Here’s an article written by an editor at the Waterloo Courier. He and his family live about a mile away from the old cemetery……they lost their house and outbuildings in last year’s Memorial Weekend storm. [Update: The same Courier editor/reporter has a front-page article in today's paper: Feeling Gravity's Pull......about how tornadoes form and gain intensity......it may involve something called "gravity waves".]

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Have a fun a safe holiday!

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