A Lovely Day on the Island

went to visit my dad again today. It was a beautiful day, and we decided to go to the small cemetery. I really like old cemeteries, and I sort of started a weird project. I'm trying to take pictures of my MINI at every cemetery I can find. Anyway, we started taking a walk and looking at the gravestones. The cemetery is at the end of a little dirt road, and it is very secluded. The oldest gravestones were from the 1880's. A lot of markers were made from cement, and they were illegible due to erosion.
We started talking about how we had absolutely no physical history in this country . No graves to visit, no trace of our family history. We are the first ones to come here. In Holland, it is very expensive to be buried. Land is at a premium. When you bury someone, a gravesite holds ~5 people, and after 20 years, they are exhumed. The gravesite is then re-rented (for lack of a better word.) My dad said he never saw his father's grave, and he has no idea what happened after the grave was re-used. He assumes that he was cremated and then buried in a communal grave with other people. My dad at least has a picture of the gravestone.
We took a little tour, and my dad filled me in on some of the Island personalities and families that are buried there. There is the former Island Fire Chief who fought in WWII and the man from the electric company that no one liked. There are a lot of Johnsons buried there. It looked like the apples didn't fall far from the tree! There are several roads named after them on the Island.
It is definitely a peaceful place. There are dandelions blooming everywhere, and some graves had lavender plants that were thriving in the brown grass. Bees were buzzing in their flowers, and we watched a dragonfly flit around and eat things (I'm not sure what he was dining on exactly.)
I will sleep well tonight.