jere7my | I remember mori

I visited Mount Auburn on September 25th, sans camera, and was kicking myself so much that I returned on the 30th. They've been restocking the grounds with appropriate wildlife of the mid-19th century, and the place is overrun with frogs, each one flinging itself into the pond with a strangled "Mreep!" at my approach. ("Seen any toads?" one caretaker called to me. "We put 1500 American toads in here in May, but I haven't seen 'em.") On my first visit, I saw two wild turkeys, hundreds of puffball fungi, and a baby turtle the size of a muffin-top poking its beak up to eat algae in Willow Pond; on my second I saw an adult turtle and literally dozens of bull- and green frogs. No toads.

Like I said, there were a lot of frogs. I like this second one a lot, with his legs just hangin' out at right angles behind him.

There was a whole carpet of puffball fungi near the Dell.

These are whirligig beetles, clustered together in the first photo for protection. When they are alarmed, they all begin whirling about, making a noise like sizzling bacon.

I followed this painted turtle for about ten minutes as he disappeared and reappeared in Halcyon Lake.

Somewhat blurry dragonfly on some sort of seed pod.

A patch of Thachers.

The ridiculously elaborate tomb of Lorenzo Maynard, son of the founder of Maynard, MA.

Rose on rose granite.

W. French Smith was an analytical chemist who apparently liked geometry. Tucked away in the ivy behind his monument was this tiny tetrahedral monument to Inez Smith. A daughter? Wife? [Edit: Daughter. She died at age 7.]

The sphinx.

Many of the 19th-century tombs have these little crosses where a doorknob would be. Hidden behind them is the keyhole. Ghoul protection?

Some of the tombs contained furniture, which I found extremely creepy. Somehow, a 1985-era Hobgoblin Happy Meal toy ended up on the table in this one.

I found this inscription intriguing. Benjamin Franklin Pitman was born in Hawaiʻi 107 years before it became a state, the son of High Chiefess Kinoʻoleoliliha (whose grandfather advised Kamehameha) and Honolulu businessman Benjamin Pitman. Pitman returned to Massachusetts after his wife's death, bringing their children with him.