During many early morning trips to Oakdale Cemetery in our neighborhood by Bob, Janet and Gracie, we saw a nearly endless series of blossoming trees and bushes, mostly camelias which bloom all winter and into early spring.
I was not able to get photos of our many wild animal encounters. We saw a beautiful, healthy adult red fox loping across the grave sites; flocks of ibises which are normally seen in salt water estuaries and not this far inland; fur on the ground evidencing a fight between a racoon and some other fierce animal; and the mostly chewed hind leg of a whitetail deer.
The photo of Pembroke Jones' grave marker is to show the burial site of a former wealthy citizen of Wilmington, NC, for whom the common phrase "Keeping up with the Joneses" originated.
The photo of Henry Bacon's grave marker is to show the burial site of the architect who designed the Abraham Lincoln Memorial in Washington, NC.
The photo of David Brinkley's grave marker is to show the burial site of one half of the famous TV news reporter team of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley in the 1960's.
I also don't have photos of two more important citizens buried in Oakdale, but Janet and I have often walked past the site of the man for whom McRae Peak on Grandfather Mountain is named; and the man for whom Kenan Football Stadium on the UNC Chapel Hill campus is named.
And, as you can see, I love to look at and photograph big, old, moss and ivy covered live oak trees.
