Adventures through Photography: Sacramento Sunday - Farmer's Market & Old City Cemetery Visits

It occurred to me today as I was driving to the farmer's market, that Sundays are my only guaranteed day off and that I should try to make the most of them. I don't always do that, to be honest. Some Sundays I am so tired or whatever, that I can barely drag myself out of bed, let alone take my mom to church, clean my house, or venture out into the wider world.

But I really want to change that....and I'm thinking this blog and my trusty camera(s) might be the motivation I need.

Luckily, as I had these thoughts, my camera was close at hand so I decided to introduce a new feature (YES! My blog now has features!!) and call it Sacramento Sunday. Each Sunday, I'm going to try to venture into a different part of Sacramento and take some photos and tell a story. It might (hopefully) not always be in Sacramento. But since it will always start and end in Sacramento, I think the name can hold up no matter in what part of Nor Cal I end up.

Today's Sunday venture begins under what we here in the Sacto area call the W-X freeway. Each Sunday year round, there is a huge farmer's market there. I'm not sure if the produce can still be considered organic with the carbon monoxide levels that must come from the freeway, but you can't beat having the shelter of Highway 50 to keep out the hot sun or rain!

One can pretty much find anything at this particular market..including fresh oysters from the Bay Area, fresh fish from a local sustainable fish ranch, beef, poultry, pond plants, and of course all the usual features.

The produce is beautiful, fresh, and abundant...

Huge, juicy blackberries

I'm sensing a color theme here...

So many tomatoes! I bought huge ones, not these

Hey look! A's colors!

So much fruit to choose from. But if fruit and veggies aren't what you're after, there are things like lavender...

Breads...

Herbs (both potted and cut)...

Flowers...

And of course people watching... You can see the most interesting people when you just open your eyes.

After I made my purchases, I decided to drive over to the historical City Cemetery. I love a good cemetery. I'm not saying that with any disrespect (although I have disrespected a cemetery or two in my time - evidence forthcoming). Cemeteries are beautiful, peaceful places filled with art and flowers. I like them.

Her sad expression is understandable I think. She's beautiful nonetheless.

I'm grateful for modern medicine. There are far too many small graves in old cemeteries.

I liked that this teacher's students thought so much of her as to erect this beautiful monument.

So here is some evidence of my past disrespect of this particular cemetery. A long time ago I decided to make a calendar for the love of my life who was living in New Zealand. My friend and I went to various lovely spots in Sacramento and took photos of me for the calendar. Look familiar??

Ummm, yeah. Well... *cough* That's actually not the most disrespectful thing I've ever done in a cemetery either. Moving on...

A good illustration of the different levels of decay in the old cemetery

I like that there are so many different classes, so to speak, of gravesites interspersed in this cemetery. There are many famous Sacramentans buried in huge vaults. Some not so famous, but obviously wealthy families...

...are buried directly across the pathway from the most humble of burial sites...

There are, of course, many war dead also buried here. Today I took the time to pay attention to gravestones in one of the war cemeteries and was surprised that there were war dead from many, many different states buried here in Sacramento. The picture above shows headstones for people from Washington, Colorado, Idaho, and California (background). I also saw many stones from Nebraska, New Jersey, Missouri, New York, etc. Many of them were engraved "Span/Amer War"

A flag for our soldiers.

In addition to the beautiful artwork...

There was a profusion of beautiful flowers!

And a dragonfly and monarch butterfly that seemed to be following me around.

CEMETERY FUN FACT:

The original cemetery extended much further than the present day cemetery, which is bordered by Broadway. This street was actually built over existing graves since the city didn't want to spare the expense or time of moving all of the deceased.

Hmmm...that's not really fun, is it? Kinda creepy really. Again, moving on...we'll end on a more positive note. My purchases from the farmer's market:

I got romaine lettuce, two kinds of peaches (I'm making cobbler tomorrow), black plums, white nectarines, japanese eggplant, yellow and red baby onions, avocados, squash blossoms, aged peppercorn cheese, and heirloom tomatoes. I used the tomatoes and avocados in the chicken tacos I made for dinner tonight.

Yay me!