Civitan Park and Mt. Gur Cemetery

Civitan Park is at the corner of Bodenhamer and Nelson in Kernersville, NC.  It is a wide open space, with tennis courts, volleyball court, a shelter, a baseball field, and a track that travels around the baseball field.

The playground equipment has plenty of fun slides.  The monkey bars... well, I'm not sure they're really monkey bars.  Definitely not for small kids, built more for older kids... or a weight lifter.  No swings, or rock climbing walls here... but for a quick day at the park, really the slides are enough. 

These pretty crape myrtle are by the tennis courts...

Unexpected Hot Pink at the Foot of the Forest by soulenergy

While the girls continued their fun on the slides, I took a stroll up to the woods surrounding the park.  I found this really pretty, unusual bloom right on the edge.
     Usually, I can put in google keywords and scroll through the images until I can figure out what it is I'm looking at. This beautiful bloom, high in the sky amid the trees on the outskirts of a forest... I just can't figure it out. Google "tree pink tendril flower pods"... the closest I can come is the Samanea saman, also known as a Rain Tree or Monkey Pod Tree, but that is a tropical tree and probably not supposed to be here in North Carolina. NC has beautiful weather and hot summers, but tropical, we are not. I wonder if it's a hybrid of trees, because while the bloom looks like the Rain Tree, the pod does not. Whatever it is, it is beautiful, bright pink and cheerful among the solid green of the rest of it's world. It gives my soul energy.

As I explored the edge of the forest, I realized the Mt. Gur Cemetery set just beyond the Civitan Park.  I love strolling through cemeteries, especially old ones.    Mt. Gur was organized in 1894, and there are many headstones dated prior to that.

What a magnificent entrance into the cemetery!  These beautiful pink crape myrtle line both sides of the drive.  How it must comfort the families and friends of the deceased to know their loved one has such beauty surrounding them. 



At the end of the tree-lined entrance stand these two brick columns, donated to the cemetery in 1964.



It is such a special thing to read inscriptions of the loved ones.  This headstone honoring Mrs. Blanche Rumley is so sweet.  "It's wonderful how much He loves me."

I wonder if those were her last words?

And this one, for Gypsie Bowman Norman, simply "Our Mama".

Justice by soulenergy

A beautiful plot for the Justice Family. The first family member was buried at Mt. Gur  in 1914.  There is a stone bench  with a stately tree nearby, perfect for thought, contemplating, and remembering.








And as we cross back across the field of Civitan Park, I look forward and see this beautiful sight.

Breathe Out the Sky by soul energy

Tree, gather up my thoughts
like the clouds in your branches.
Draw up my soul
like the waters in your root.

In the arteries of your trunk
bring me together.
Through your leaves
breathe out the sky.
- J. Daniel Beaudry, Breath


All the best, Jessica