Blooming Grove Cemetery, Polk County Georgia

Despite all my grumbling and whining (all of which was actually half-hearted and good-natured), I enjoyed the morning of work with the cemetery committee more than I've enjoyed anything for a long time.  I'm always happy to be outside in the sunshine, but before the morning was over I also felt a sense of belonging, of being a part of a community, which is something I've felt very rarely in my life.  It was a good feeling.

It didn't hurt that sense of belonging to find these markers for my great-great-grandparents.  I knew they were buried here, but had never been here before.  Their daughter, Fannie, was my grandmother's mother. 

It's a wonderful old church -- long abandoned.  This was a 'before' photo.  Both the mess around the big tree and around the iris patch were cleared during the day.

Another 'before' photo, early morning before work began.  A neighbor had volunteered to mow it earlier in the week, so all we had to do was fine-tuning.

This whole corner was cleaned out -- saplings and overgrowth.

Lots of brush and tree trimmings were hauled to the curb, where the county will pick them up.

I loved the idea that after all these years somebody keeps flowers blooming where this infant was buried in 1938.

After -- they tell me this cemetery hasn't looked this good for a long time!

I love the Ben Franklin quote: "Show me your cemeteries and I will tell you what kind of people you have".

We only worked until noon or so, but of course had to eat lunch, stand around and talk genealogy and ghost-hunting for awhile.  I got home with plenty of time to head to Sherwin-Williams and get some paint for the new trim (and the rest of the woodwork).  I was bemoaning the fact that I'd missed the 30% off sale last weekend, and he told me they were having a 40% off sale starting this Friday -- so you know I'll be stopping there on my way home from work Friday!  Got the first coat of primer on the trim.  It didn't go on very evenly so I'll have to sand smooth and coat again tomorrow.  But, that's ok.  It'll be ready for Jeff to cut and install whenever he makes it by here again.