I See Dead People.

Oh MAN what a cool cemetery that was!

Just across the street and up the hill from my house is an old Oregon pioneer cemetery. Nora, Lucy and I went for a walk through it today.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw several "Dahlens" -- a family name from a few generations back, and many of them were old timers who settled here and in the Silverton/Canby area. I have no idea if they're related, or if that's the Smith/Johnson name of Norway.

The reason I went up there was because my neighbor Andrea and I were talking and for some reason I mentioned that I have been having really weird, very vivid dreams ever since we moved into the house. Andrea said she did too (she lives literally at the foot of the cemetery), and thought for sure all that cosmic energy from the cemetery was the cause.

She may not be from California, but she lived there long enough to pick up the vibe.

There's something really cool about walking through an old cemetery. You see dates, you do the math, you see what was important to the people.

"Robert C. Johnson, Served in WWI"

"David R. Charleston, Woodsman"

Woodsman?

OK.

Then there are the ones simply marked "BABY".

I get choked up, and keep going. I see the Savage family plot, and two of the 5 markers are for babies or infants who died before they were a year old.

What heartbreak.

I decided to leave the cemetery before I started openly bawling for these people that I never knew. I didn't have any Kleenex.

So we headed out, and North, where I saw a large stand of trees. A PARK!

I headed for the park, and realized it's just 4 blocks from our house. It has the school that Nora will go to someday. It's an old, massive brick structure that probably has asbestos in the walls. But it's beautiful.

And the park!

There's one thing the Northwest does better than Colorado: It grows MASSIVE trees. The Doug Fir, Western Red Cedar and other giants can grow over 100 feet tall, and when you walk through that park, where they've obviously left a beautiful stand of these tall trees that stretch skyward, with just a foot path and a playground in the middle, well, I felt oddly at peace. I love forests, and any stretch of trees together just make me happy I guess.

Once we got home, Nora was asleep, so I wheeled her into the house (see picture), and here she is, still asleep in her Fantastic Ride.