The Book of Love, Avondale Cemetery
My daughter wants to grow up to be a pirate. When I planned our annual August vacation to visit my parents in Michigan, my mom suggested we make a road trip into Canada to see The Pirates of Penzance at the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario.
Of course, I promptly jumped on the internet to check if Stratford had a cemetery worth visiting.
Avondale Cemetery is lovely. (It will be the Cemetery of the Week tomorrow.) The cemetery rises from the road to a high flat spot that overlooks a cornfield which seemed to stretch off into space. While my dad waited in the air-conditioned Buick and my daughter sat in the grass under an old pine tree to read a book about befriending unicorns, I poked around with my camera, trying to sum the place up in one perfect image.
The photo above was the last one I took before we had to run back into town to pick my mother up from her visit to the theater museum. I was drawn to this headstone because of its shape. Books aren’t rare in graveyards, but they are uncommon. I don’t remember ever seeing one standing up like this one. I like the crease on its spine and the grooves that indicate the pages. I like its size and its heft, its permanence.
I especially like that Evelyn survived Harold for 32 years, but she chose to be reunited with him in the end. I wondered what stories the real book of their love would tell.
Cemetery of the Week #72: Avondale Cemetery, Stratford, Ontario, Canada
On the upper right hand side of your blog you have a phrase that says “Member of the Graveyard Rabbits Association”. I love graveyards and I love rabbits (I have a rabbitry) so how do I join this intriguing society of enlightened people?
P.S. Good luck to your daughter regarding her new career choice! It’s comforting to know that little kids still dream.
If you click on the gold Graveyard Rabbits logo in the right column of the blog, that will take you to the Graveyard Rabbits blog. From there, click on the link on the righthand side to join — or you can go directly to http://join-gyra.blogspot.com/. They collect an amazing number of cemetery bloggers.
I’m not sure the pirate aspiration will last much longer for my daughter, but I’m fully supporting her as long as it does.
Thank you! You’re the best!
I have never seen a headstone like this! Love it – thanks for sharing! Headstones do tell a story. I am glad that your daughter like theater also – good luck!
Isn’t that lovely? I would love to have a book for my monument, wouldn’t you?
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