Walking in the rain again

I called Maxine this morning about the Oldsmobile I want to buy from her. She said she's decided to accept my offer and sell me the car. The only problem is that she has yet to locate the title, but will have it by Wednesday she says.

This means my Jeep's days are limited. She seems to be complaining to me as I drive her around Council Grove running errands.

"Don't leave me!"

"What about going off-road?"

"How could you replace me? What does that slutty Cutlass have that I don't?"

All of a sudden, Cutlass sounds like a dirty word. Cut-lassss. It's all making me feel like a 40-something man who divorces his wife of many years to get married to some young thing that just got out of college. Oh, the guilt.

I keep pointing out that she's too high-maintenance for me, that I need something is less demanding. But she isn't having any of it.

I went for a walk in the cold, cold rain today. At one point I was walking by the city cemetary and noticed a name on a stone.

Walsh. Gordon Walsh. I'd known him from around town. He'd passed away while I was in Washington.

I crossed the chain fence and paid my respects. It was still light out, sort of, so I read each headstone as I walked out through the front of the graveyard. Many of them were from the late 19th century, and many of those had collapsed or been broken. The weather had not been kind to their inscriptions. One was really old, a woman who'd lived through the Civil War. The only word about her I could really make out was her first name: Caroline.

I want to know more about the people buried there. Many of the stones had detailed descriptions of the people they alone remembered today. It would just take a bit of gentle brushing, a few rubbings and some careful concentration to find out a great deal about the people that built this town.

In other news, my Snapshot of Council Grove project, as I've dubbed it for now, is gaining some momentum. I've been talking it over with different community members and many of them have sounded really supportive. I think I can really make it happen.

I'm thinking I should do the photography on the Sunday of Wah-Shun-Gah Days, you know, the day nothing really happens but lots of Council Grove people want something to do that doesn't require money or anything crazy. Thoughts?