Faces come out of the rain...

My dad continues to be dazzled by what is available on the internet.

I told him about my project to walk home from Allendale and he asked me if it would be possible for me to swing through the cemetery in New Salem, Michigan.  That is where most of his mother's side of the family is buried.  It is also the location of the church where his parents were wed and where he was baptized.

I printed off the records/map of where name redacted were buried and he was simply amazed.

You darned betchya I can swing through that cemetery.  Every day with my parents is a gift.

Dad is 92 and does not buy green bananas.  I figured, "Heck, New Salem is not that far away.  I can drive over there after our shift of elder-care, take pictures and have them developed before our next elder-care shift."

Stained glass
You don't get the pictures of the grave stones.  You get pictures of the stained glass.

Photo of altar.  Note the boy angel holding the candle on the left side of the altar (as seen from the pews) and the girl angle holding the candle on the right side.

Then next five photos are of the 6' tall stained glass windows around the altar.

Christ in the center...no surprise there.

Now starting from the left-rear of the worship space

The four foot choir-loft railing suggests that these windows are easily 12' tall.  St Isidor with a plow.  There is a pun buried in the window...North Dorr is just east of New Salem...is-a-door, get it.

St Margaret (of Scotland?)

St Wendelin with sheep.  Farm community, don't ya know.

St Aloysius Gonzaga patron saint of basketball

Along the right side from the front

St Rose of Lima

St Christopher

St Barbara patron saint of artillery and armor

St Anthony patron saint of lost things

Not bad for a little, country church with a seating capacity of 72.  I wonder how many pails of milk those farmers had to sell to pay for all of those windows.

Just how "country"?

This is the hamlet of New Salem.  I counted 28 driveways.  That is a small town by Michigan standards.

The trip there

Another stop my dad asked me to make was in North Dorr (pronounced "North Door").

People in North Dorr have an odd sense of humor; they call themselves "Door Knobs".  I stopped at the general store and it was like stepping back into time.  They left the price of gas at 99 cents a gallon .and. the background music was that group with Jim Morrison as the lead singer.  Yeah, that group...

And then my truck would not start.  It has a hot-start problem.  I think the A/C compressor clutch seizes up and stalls out the engine.  Starts fine when it is cool.

So I flirted with the pretty girl behind the counter a little bit.  She had painted her nails three different colors.  I asked her if she had run out of polish and she took the ribbing good naturedly.  Then I cracked the hood of the truck and went for a walk.

The truck started just fine when I came back, even if they were still playing The Doors.