Time Off

Mom, dad and I decided we needed some time off after so many deaths this year. So last month we packed our bags and headed to southern Ohio and Kentucky.  Stops along the way included: Georgetown, OH (would LOVE to live there sometime!) where we drove by U.S. Grant's childhood school house and childhood home; Ripley, OH, where we looked around in an antique store that was in an old piano factory building. We also watched a little boy chase his older brother who was chasing their little white puppy.  We got to see inside a private house that was right by the Ohio river (which was the highlight of the vacation for me).  From there, we went to Maysville, KY and got stuck driving around in squares due to all the one way streets. Lexington, KY was our next destination where we drove past Mary Todd Lincoln's childhood home, and visited the Lexington cemetery.

Look at that porch!

Old homes.  Swoon. (Yes, I swoon over old buildings.)

Dad and mom with the wonderful couple who took us on a tour of their home. (Love the exterior color scheme!)

Lexington, KY cemetary

This tree is very large!  It is estimated to have been around since the signing of the 

United States Constitution!

I was walking around and saw something I'd never seen before: Confederate flags instead of the normal American flags. 

 I walked over for a closer look.  The last names read Morgan; I wondered if they were any relation to the famous John Morgan, leader of Morgan's Raiders.  I looked at the stones behind the first ones and guess who I found . . .

The man himself.

Mom, dad and I moved on to another section of the cemetery.  There were over one thousand of these white markers.

Cemeteries can give a person many mixed emotions.  That day, mine were a combination of silence, gratitude, thankfulness, and sorrow.