Hobbs Chapel Cemetery

Hobbs Chapel CemeteryWhen you live in the land of skinny pine and palm trees, you forget how impressive the big trees of the Midwest are. I’ve taken photos in the Hobbs Chapel Cemetery before, but I can’t lay my hands on them just this minute.

What caught my eye Sunday, though was not the gravestones, it was the big tree dominating the cemetery.

Chapel completed in 1892, burned in 1993

Hobbs Chapel CemeteryMissourian photographer Fred Lynch had a photo of the church in his July 15, 2013, blog. I’m not sure, but the skinny tree in one of the photos taken by One-Shot Frony in 1935 might be this one.

 

Thinking About the Swimming Pool

Capaha Park pavilion construction 07-31-2014When I did a piece about a new pavilion being constructed on the hill overlooking what used to be the Capaha Park Swimming Pool, I quoted a Missourian story that said the structure should arrive in April and be installed in May or June.

So far as I can see, some footers have been poured, but the site otherwise looks the same as it did in April. Looks like someone blew that June deadline.

Glad to see the trees are still there

Capaha Park pavilion construction 07-31-2014When Friend Shari and I walked around the park waiting for the band concert to begin, we talked about how the big trees give a feeling of permanence to the park. My worry, I said, is that many of them may be nearing end of life. Old McKendree Chapel used to be surrounded by big trees, but they have gradually died off or been hit by lightning.

I miss the splashing and laughter

Capaha Park pavilion construction 07-31-2014I can’t sit on that hill, though, without thinking about the missing pool, the laughter and splashing, the smell of chlorine and the prickle of sunburns. Here are three accounts former lifeguards wrote when the pool was marked for demolition.