Table

I went for a walk in the woods and came across this table. In the woods. A long, looooong way away from any houses. With a bag on it.

Yep.

I was actually in the woods behind the former Second State Hospital for the Insane, which has been razed and is now the site of a Wal-Mart. (I always joke that it has the same clientele, only with less interesting architecture.) I was looking for a purported cemetary on the grounds that has some historical info that I'm interested in.

I've always felt very strongly about the old hospital. For one, it was a ginormous building, and extremely creepy at that, with all its Gothic architecture and dark, stone walls. Old, creepy buildings make my inner goth happy. :) Also, I feel a connection to the patients. Being (1.) an opinionated woman who can't seem to smile and look pretty and not speak until I'm spoken to, and (2.) also suffering from moderate depression (see #1,) I probably would have been labeled "insane" in the days before anti-depressants and women's rights. It happened to a lot of women who were considered to be "difficult" by their families, and my husband would be glad to tell anyone who will listen that I am, indeed, a difficult one. I'm not sure if he would have had me locked up, but I'm really glad not to be living in an era when that sort of thing happened all the time.

I wanted to find the old State Hospital Cemetary, to read the dates and gather info because I'm a nerd like that. Unfortunately, it got too dark before I got far enough into the woods to find it, but I did come across a lot of strange things -- ruins of old houses and farm equipment, gates that go to nothing, furniture sitting out in the middle of the woods... It was an interesting hike, just finding these things and wondering what stories the trees could tell if they could talk. I probably don't want to know. Nah, who am I kidding? I love local history, no matter how creepy. I would love to know!

The old asylum both fascinates me and terrifies me at the same time. Someone should write a book about it. Someone who isn't me... but I would love to be a proofreader/test audience if anybody's interested. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller.... Bueller...

Sunrise, Sunset

We have been having some really beautiful skies lately! Too bad there's no rain to be found... but I don't want to complain too much because I don't want to jinx the weather for the Black Walnut Festival in Spencer this weekend.

Because it's "Nut Time," things are definitely nuts around Casa de Chaos (my house.) There is so much going on right now -- everyone's off in totally different directions and I feel like I'm just caught in the middle. By week's end, the house will be full of guests for the Festival, and we'll all be running around like crazy trying to get to parades, activities, car shows, art shows, and football games. Luckily, I have been able to find a few quiet moments to sneak out and catch some nice photos.

The bottom photo was taken from the top of "Cemetary Hill," near where I live in Spencer. I was rushing home after helping to build my kids' school float for the Black Walnut Festival Parade. I had been running around all day trying to get insurance paperwork together and trying to get my son Joseph to a dentist because he had a toothache, and hadn't even had time to eat something all day -- let alone get quiet enough to actually feel relaxed for a moment.

Then I noticed the sunset. It was gorgeous! So I pulled the car over in the quietest place I know -- the old cemetary -- climbed up to the top of the highest point, parked myself beside an old tree, and watched the sun set for a few minutes. I was there maybe 15 minutes, tops, but it was so nice just to have that little micro-vacation in the middle of a busy day. The calming sounds of the wind, birds, and occasional traffic... the gorgeous purples and reds and golds in the sky... the perfect temperature of the evening air after a hot day... it was so nice!

I'm going to have to make this a regular part of my day. 15 minutes of sanity ... I can do that.

The top photo was taken from school. You can tell I took it from behind a window because the glass did weird things to the sun in the photo. Still, it was a gorgeous sunrise this morning and I couldn't pass up a photo op.

Elk Fork Lake

Elk Fork Lake is a weird place. It's a man-made lake, and relatively new, I think. It's strange because the area was flooded, leaving all these trees poking up out of the water. It's eerie, sort of reminiscent of the cypress knobs sticking up out of the swamps in Louisiana.

Apparently, the trees make for some killer fishing, though. The fishermen were out en force Sunday, despite the heat, and they were catching fish left and right.

Hello, Winter!