Graceland

No, not Elvis' Graceland. LOL! My Graceland! You may recall that in the past, I may have mentioned my appreciation of funerals and old cemeteries. Well, I don't think I shared with you my favorite grave on earth (so far at least). I know I've mentioned my brother's love of visiting old cemeteries when we traveled in the summer with my parents. Well, Graceland in Chicago, Ill. is my favorite. It's home to quite a few relatives including my great-grandmother whom I was lucky enough to know for 11 years.

As children we drove to Chicago quite often and many times my great-grandmother (from now on referred to as Grandma) would have my aunt or mom drive us out to Graceland to neaten the grave sites, planting flowers and/or bulbs. The site where my grandmother, who was great-grandma's daughter, and my mom's mother was buried, had an old Victorian woven wire bench where Grandma would sit and think or pray (it now resides at my brother's house). We'd spend hours there, walking around after cleaning up the graves. As a result, the cemetery was never creepy or spooky. Rather, it was just part of life and I loved the wonderful assortment of grave site statuary and mausoleums!  The history in this place is amazing. It's a who's who of Chicago through the decades, Louis Henri Sullivan, Marshall Field, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe as well as many other architects and a load of mayors.

This is Mies van der Rohe's grave. Gives new meaning to "less is more".

My favorite spot however, is Eternal Silence. Seen below, courtesy of the official website of Graceland.

In person, it's a bit daunting since it must stand 10 - 12 or more feet (3.05 m - 3.66 m) tall. The black stone background is even higher. However, once you get used to it, it simply looked so calm and silent, waiting peacefully. Do go to the links and read about the statue and the cemetery...there's a lot of fascinating history there.

You may wonder what brought this on. Well, a few days ago I dropped into Chocolate and Marmalade Tea's blog by Michelle. She had a post on the black eye she'd received. Well, I couldn't resist commiserating with her since I had the same very recent experience and she was nice enough to leave a comment on my blog! Today I stopped by her blog and she had a wonderful idea for old window frames and botanical prints. While I was there, I visited her profile and found she had a former blog on the paranormal called Xenonormal and my memory just went off on this tangent. Who knows what goes on in my mind....

Anyway, this is were my mind strayed today. Hope you enjoyed the tour.