Pioneer Cemetery, Santa Cruz, CA

This cemetery is special to me for several reasons. It's one of the first cemeteries where I felt the presences of many different beings: trees spirits, unsettled spirits, guardians and guides and unexplainable things. Here I had my first experience of the air turning frigid around me on a hot summers day. I felt the heavy gaze of watchers who we cannot see, warning me not to stray from the path. To others this might sound a bit cheesy, but to me they are real experiences and I know I'm not the only one to have them. Especially in this place.

The cemetery itself is in seriously disrepair. It's obvious that transients bed there on a regular basis: whisky bottles and drug paraphernalia litter the grounds. At least half of the graves are desecrated and broken, either by the natural turnings of the earth (earthquakes) or by deliberate human actions. Every time I visit I am struck with sadness at it's state. And yet there are the other things that bring a smile to my face. Giant guardian trees. A headstone for a woman named Joy that is hidden beneath and behind a truly enormous cedar tree.

I have to wonder what it would look like if people actually gave a damn about the graveyard. It's obvious that the main promenade was gorgeous in some distant past. I visited it again in July and discovered that sometime recently a woman was buried there. So maybe there is hope that people will be motivated to restore it to it's previous beauty. I certainly hope for it.

Ocean Shores Resort, Ocean Shores WA

Paul and I took an RV trip to Ocean Shores in July. Since the public campground was closed, we randomly picked another place and ended up at a pretty place just outside Ocean Shores. The sites were quite private and shady, just the way we like it. As we drove around checking it out, I saw a sign back from the road that said "Pioneer Cemetery." Of course this made me laugh and settled the matter of whether or not to stay there. Paul's beginning to think he can't take me anywhere without finding a graveyard close by. Thank goodness he loves me with all my quirks.

Pioneer cemeteries are just that: the places where the pioneers of an area buried their dead. I find it interesting that many are still used today and are an option available for those not wanting to be in a modern memorial garden or cemetery. There were very few graves in this cemetery, mostly belonging to people who passed quite some time ago, mostly Native Americans who lived in the area. It was a quiet and neglected sort of place, not exactly welcoming to the living. Then again, I visited on a particularly dark and gloomy day, when the fog was rolling in off the Pacific Ocean, so maybe that influenced my thoughts and feelings about the place. I only stayed a short while, enjoying the sound of rain dripping from the enormous and obviously guardian tree, before finding my way back to a strong cup of Scottish Breakfast tea to warm me up.