Stories

Since I STILL won't be sleeping outdoors, instead after dinner I donned sandals and rain gear and went for a walk. The logistics of inflating my car tire in the rain prevented a walk in town, so I headed off down our road, past the sheep and llamas and goats. And remembered the cemetery. I have a "thing" for cemeteries. Mt. Hope is one of my favorite places in Rochester. In Newfoundland, I got waylaid by cemeteries again and again (and especially enjoyed finding graves bearing names I was familiar with from GBS songs). I can kill hours in cemeteries with little trouble. Yet somehow, Mancos' Cedar Grove Cemetery hasn't exerted much pull on me.

I discovered many of its stories tonight. There were horses on some of the stones. One had a jockey statue in front of it. I see a lot of horses around town, but never thought much about it. It makes me realize how little I know about this place. It doesn't warrant a write-up in any of my guidebooks, and I really don't know what it's about. There seems to be a relatively high infant mortality rate. But also a lot of residents who live to be extremely old. If you're a guy here, you seem to have a better chance of outliving your wife than you would elsewhere. And a noticeable number of couples both died in the same year. Coincidence, or the rigors of mountain life (and driving)? Oddly, a great many of the tombstones were new, even with dates of death in the 1930s and before. Was the cemetery moved? Did a stonemason come to town? Maybe folks who couldn't afford tombstones during the Depression finally put things right in recent years. These things pique my curiosity about this place and its people. I saw one stone with the name Wetherill--the family that discoverd Mesa Verde. One told the story of an uncle who was born in 1859 in Alabama and shot in 1894 at (over?) a mine. Perhaps the most interesting tombstone commemorated a couple born in the 1850s, with a pictures of a mountain, a cabin, and a covered wagon. No indication where they came from or why.

This hits on what intrigues me about Mancos. Why is anyone here? You could do worse, yes, but what would make you stop here? Driving around the state this week, I was struck by how much more attractive many of the towns I saw were. Ouray is a superlative, but Buena Vista, Saguache, Pagosa Springs, even Gunnison...All were more charming, better equipped, more likeable. Especially in the case of some of the admin staff here, who are intelligent, educated, worldly folks...I always wonder what on earth they're doing here. And I don't know. The obvious answer is to find out. I've been here nearly a month, and the only establishments I've entered in town are the grocery store, the Conoco station, and the post office. Granted, there's not a WHOLE lot else. The library is moving and will be closed for most of my time here. But I've never been to the Columbine, the local bar; or the Millwood, the restaurant; or the bakery, founded by the guy who used to run this place. I've never entered the galleries on Main Street, or walked in the residential sections. I do think about staying at the motel every time I return from days off. My own stale-smoke-smelling, Brady Bunch-era room has a great deal of charm. But of course, paying for a room in Mancos would be ludicrous. I do need to get out there, though. I'm here for 11 weeks, and almost 4 of them are already gone. I haven't even been to the health food store! (at least not when it's been open)

Mesa Verde was hazy and blue tonight. For a brief time, when I worked at City, I was taking pictures of the Cutler steeple every afternoon when I took the mail for a walk. It was an expensive proposition with a film camera, but for the couple of weeks I did it, I got some neat shots and different expressions. I could do the same with Mesa Verde. It's always there, and yet it changes every day, often in the most beguiling ways. I may well miss it when I leave.

Speaking of missing, I was reading Bob Hallett's blog, and he mentioned a radio program (or "acoustical film") about Newfoundland history, specifically discussing the lasting trauma caused by the decimation of a generation at the Battle of Beaumont Hamel nearly a century ago. This stuff intrigues me. I don't know what sort of income I'll have when I get back home, but I hope I'll be able to ring in 2011 in St. John's. Many have asked how I'll survive a year without seeing Great Big Sea play. I don't know. It also seems like a hopelessly long time before I'll be able to go to Newfoundland again. I want to go for New Year's because 1) St. John's is a city that knows how to throw a party 2) I'd like to see the place all dressed up for Christmas and 3) I want to go to the museums. St. John's has a number of excellent museums, but I've never been to a single one of them. The Rooms, the Geo Centre, the Fluvarium, the Newfoundland Railway Museum--all sound really good, but in the summer, exploring the streets and parks, and watching ships in the harbour are much too compelling to turn my back on for indoor pursuits. I suspect that sitting on the water will be much easier to resist in December, and I might see the Rooms at last.