November Theme Challenge - CEMETERY

[Cassel]

 

The theme for November is CEMETERY. Did you visit a cemetary for Veteran's Day? Or to honor an ancestor? Or a recently deceased friend or relative?

Remember that you can also share older layouts you already made. You don't have to create a brand new one!

Let's go!

Post your project in the gallery.

[Rene Marker]

The cemetery my parents are buried in is right here in town. I've gone there for many years multiple times during the year. For quite a few years I would go 3 times in May -- Mother's Day, May 20 which was my mother's birthday and Memorial Day. Then I would go on Dec 26 which was her date of death. After Dad passed away 8 years ago, I would go once in May, June 14 (his date of death), Oct 15 (their anniversary), Dec 1 (his birthday) and Dec 26. So I pretty much saw all the seasons of the trees in the cemetery.

I always take photos when I go. Since a couple of the dates fall in the months that I do a layout for each day of the month, I have scrapped a lot of layouts of the cemetery. I will share a few.

My October layout in 2023 was a few days late because I wasn't feeling good after my surgery. In December 2020 we had a snowstorm on the 1st so I went on the 2nd. The last layout is one I did in 2012.

 

[Corrie Kinkel]

In the Netherlands there are now a lot more cremations than burials! That is the case in my family and my husband's. Of course I have to attend burials from friends or people I know and go out of compassion with them. When that is the case I do not take photos and I never go back to do so, it doesn't appeal to me. Over here after a cremation you can have the urn put in an urn wall at a cemetery or crematorium or put it in an already existing grave; you can scatter the ashes at a special field next to the crematorium or at sea;  you can take the urn home with you. My mom and dad choose the scattering field and as a family you can witness it if you wish to. The children of my sister in law scattered their mother's ashes over a lake where she lived nearby her whole life and another sister in law's ash was sprinkled over the sea from a ship. I always loved the little cemeteries in the Alpes in the tiny villages full with flowers and well tended to, but you can't take photos when you pass by and a burial is taking place.

[Daniel Hess]

I was 14 when we lost my sister (who had recently turned 15).  At the time we lived in California.  In 2005, my mother passed away.  Her cremains are buried in Arlington National Cemetery, where she will be joined by my father when he passes on, (hopefully not any time soon, though he turned 82 this past February). 

[Julie Magerka]

I'm back! I was MIA for a while b/c life can sometimes get in the way of our plans and other activities. When things are rocky, I tend to withdraw and lick my wounds until I regain my balance. I couldn't produce anything for a while; the simplest layout was beyond me.

I visit cemeteries quite a bit. As a family historian and general history researcher, both cemeteries and obituaries are goldmines of info. Folks with these types of interests tend to favour time spent with the dearly departed.

This layout features the small rural cemetery where my family are buried. It's such a tranquil place with a huge garden behind the actual burial ground. The granite bench (put in by my family) that you can see in the bottom right is where I sit while I am visiting. The quiet is absolute and restorative. Rarely a vehicle goes by, only birdsong and the wind. Sigh. It restoreth my soul, as they say.

I was interested in playing with lines and stitches based on a layout I saw that used these elements. There are so many different bits in this that I couldn't list them.

The white crosses at some graves are indicators of war veterans.

 

 

Edited November 4 by Julie Magerka
added info

[Julie Magerka]

This is the Month of Remembrance, and I've been doing quite a bit of posting for the veterans and their families in my hometown. I write mini-bios of the veterans and post them on the local high school FB page to remind us of their duty and sacrifices. Longer bios appear in the local Legion newsletter from time to time.

There are a number of local "boys" who did not come home from the wars and are buried overseas. And all of them so young. One of the cemeteries that is the resting place of some of those lads is the one in this layout.

 

[Corrie Kinkel]

15 hours ago, Julie Magerka said:

This is the Month of Remembrance, and I've been doing quite a bit of posting for the veterans and their families in my hometown. I write mini-bios of the veterans and post them on the local high school FB page to remind us of their duty and sacrifices. Longer bios appear in the local Legion newsletter from time to time.

There are a number of local "boys" who did not come home from the wars and are buried overseas. And all of them so young. One of the cemeteries that is the resting place of some of those lads is the one in this layout.

 

Julie I wonder: are there local lads from your town that are buried in the Netherlands as well? We have some very big cemeteries of Canadian and American soldiers.

[Julie Magerka]

4 hours ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

Julie I wonder: are there local lads from your town that are buried in the Netherlands as well? We have some very big cemeteries of Canadian and American soldiers.

Yes, I believe there are a few in Netherlands as well as in Belgium, France, England, and Middle East. I don't have their names right now.

[Corrie Kinkel]

 I suddenly realized that when visiting the States in 2022 we went on a daytrip from Seattle with the ferry to Bainbridge Island and visited the museum there about the Suquamish people. Next to the museum was their burial ground where still burials take place. There are a couple of totem poles and a lot of American flags. It also is the burial place of Chief Sealth who died in 1866. He traded lands for perpetual fishing rights in the Puget Sound because the Suquamish where fishermen. On those lands is now the city of Seattle, which is named in his honor. 

Although not a Dutch cemetery I have visited an interesting one. We were there on a rather humid day with low visibility, which made for a gloomy atmosphere. My youngest granddaughter didn't liked it all which provoked her older sister to tell stories over bodies rising from their graves😕. 

[Michele]

10 hours ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

My youngest granddaughter didn't liked it all which provoked her older sister to tell stories over bodies rising from their graves😕. 

It's always the older siblings that torture the younger ones. Being the youngest in my family, I can attest to that!

[Art Kuiper]

On 11/5/2024 at 2:57 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

 I suddenly realized that when visiting the States in 2022 we went on a daytrip from Seattle with the ferry to Bainbridge Island and visited the museum there about the Suquamish people. Next to the museum was their burial ground where still burials take place. There are a couple of totem poles and a lot of American flags. It also is the burial place of Chief Sealth who died in 1866. He traded lands for perpetual fishing rights in the Puget Sound because the Suquamish where fishermen. On those lands is now the city of Seattle, which is named in his honor. 

Although not a Dutch emetery I have visited an interesting one. We were there on a rather humid day with low visibility, which made for a gloomy atmosphere. My youngest granddaughter didn't liked it all which provoked her older sister to tell stories over bodies rising from their graves😕. 

 Corrie, I love your recognition of the Squamish First Nation. In the modern world they are now headquartered in North Vancouver, British Columbia and there is a town nearby called Squamish, but the road signs on the way to the town say 'Sk̲wx̲wú7mesh'. I did not know that their traditional territory went so far south. Well done on the image.

[Art Kuiper]

In a recent visit to Halifax, we visited a cemetery that has victims of the Titanic disaster buried there. It got me interested in learning more about how the city and the people of Halifax stepped up to help. Halifax was only 800 miles from where the Titanic sank, so ships based there were used to find survivors and recover victims. It warms my heart to read that people are so willing to help others when disaster strikes. This is true everywhere in the world. 

[Corrie Kinkel]

19 hours ago, Art Kuiper said:

 Corrie, I love your recognition of the Squamish First Nation. In the modern world they are now headquartered in North Vancouver, British Columbia and there is a town nearby called Squamish, but the road signs on the way to the town say 'Sk̲wx̲wú7mesh'. I did not know that their traditional territory went so far south. Well done on the image.

Art when I'm visiting my daughter and when we are going on a short roadtrip I love to visit museums or sites about the indigenous people and learn more about the different tribes and how they lived.

[Julie Magerka]

I did another layout for cemeteries. This one is an early settler burial ground for those early folks who lived along the Thames River in the area of Chatham, Ontario. In 1959, many of the markers had been vandalized or had fallen into the river. So an effort was made to retrieve and rehabilitate them and place them in a row. That's how they stand today. Ontario history of settlement is not that early, 18th or 19th century. Not like Europe or elsewhere.

This cemetery is named for an early family who donated land for burials, as was the custom back then.

 

 

[Ann Seeber]

12 hours ago, Julie Magerka said:

I did another layout for cemeteries. This one is an early settler burial ground for those early folks who lived along the Thames River in the area of Chatham, Ontario. In 1959, many of the markers had been vandalized or had fallen into the river. So an effort was made to retrieve and rehabilitate them and place them in a row. That's how they stand today. Ontario history of settlement is not that early, 18th or 19th century. Not like Europe or elsewhere.

This cemetery is named for an early family who donated land for burials, as was the custom back then.

 

 

Very attractive, Julie. May I ask what size canvas you started with; the proportions here are unusual, but excellent for a horizontal photo. Are you still using aA's supplies? I have yet to tackle unzipping her huge bundle! LOL 

[Julie Magerka]

2 hours ago, Ann Seeber said:

Very attractive, Julie. May I ask what size canvas you started with; the proportions here are unusual, but excellent for a horizontal photo. Are you still using aA's supplies? I have yet to tackle unzipping her huge bundle! LOL 

My canvas was 3600x1900 b/c the photo was horizontal. I am using aA's supplies a lot  b/c I can't help myself! I got more of her art with a recent sale she had.

[Ann Seeber]

51 minutes ago, Julie Magerka said:

My canvas was 3600x1900 b/c the photo was horizontal. I am using aA's supplies a lot  b/c I can't help myself! I got more of her art with a recent sale she had.

Gosh, I have to get to that package. It's intimidating because there are so many zips!

[Corrie Kinkel]

8 hours ago, Julie Magerka said:

My canvas was 3600x1900 b/c the photo was horizontal. I am using aA's supplies a lot  b/c I can't help myself! I got more of her art with a recent sale she had.

I like her art very much and am using it frequently too but I haven't bought anything in the recent sale. My budget for things related to scrapbook is dwindling fast and I suspect Carole will probably have something for Black Friday. Your layout is fantastic!

[Julie Magerka]

3 hours ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

I like her art very much and am using it frequently too but I haven't bought anything in the recent sale. My budget for things related to scrapbook is dwindling fast and I suspect Carole will probably have something for Black Friday. Your layout is fantastic!

My budget is almost non-existent now. I have to resist and desist!

[Julie Magerka]

11 hours ago, Ann Seeber said:

Gosh, I have to get to that package. It's intimidating because there are so many zips!

It takes a bit of time to unzip and organize into folders, but it's so much fun to explore!

[Ann Seeber]

Speaking of cemeteries, I have to share this...