Beach Treasure: A Host of Angels

I had a rather nice day today. It was cold and blustery, the sky was spitting occasional raindrops from gray clouds but blue sky took up at least have the space above and so I decided to brave a walk. Tired of walking down the same streets, I drove across town, parked in a neighborhood across main street and wandered.

I ended up in the end at a small cemetery that I'd noticed tucked away in an industrial area, and always forgotten to check out. Mainly because it didn't look particularly interesting from the road as I drove by it from time to time. But it turns out that the part you can see from the road is just the bottom of an "L", the vertical part of the "L" goes back off the road between some pastures and wild land to one side and county buildings to the other.

Much to my surprise it was really beautiful back there. Full of lots of deer, who watched me without much concern, and lots of quail who scurried like little wind up toys whenever I got too close to their covies. And also full of lots and lots of angels! My favorites!

A lot of angels in U.S. cememteries - at least the smaller local ones - are young cherubs. This one looks a bit older and wiser.

Here's one wrapped in garlands. Fake garlands, but pretty nontheless.

Some of the angels had pieces broken off - arms or hands or wings. This poor stone person - nothing left but his or her feet!

An unusual find, a boy angel.

This family had three angels in a row.

I love her chubby little feet.

Here's her "sister", missing a wing. Look at the beautiful detail on her collar and sleeve.

The youngest in the row of cherubs looks a bit more contemporary in design. I didn't check the dates on stones. I usually spend more time, but it was getting darker and threatening to rain, so I'll have to go back again on a sunnier day. She might be a bit different than her older siblings, but she doesn't appear to be self conscious about her diminutive cuteness.

I like tree branches and fading light behind her. She had a broken wing but someone fixed it for her.

This is just a praying girl figure, but she looks angelic, doesn't she? She reminds me of a children's version of a Virgin de Guadalupe.

Not all the angels were atop the stones. This one was tucked into the corner of a plot. She's very loyal, staying nearby even though she's stuck in a bed of stones and weeds.