In which I have not learned from my past unpreparedness

Before I left for Springfield on Thursday morning, where I was to get my fingerprints taken, I thought, "Maybe I should take my camera with me."

"Nah," I then thought, "it's supposed to rain."  So I left, taking the things I thought I might need but leaving my camera in my room.

When I was nearly to the storefront where the fingerprint place was, in a part of Springfield I'd never been before, I saw on my left a small cemetery with oldish stones surrounded by a carpet of fallen leaves.  Right next to it was a much larger one, with an impressive tower in the center.  On the left on the way there means on the right on the way back, and on the right means it's easy to turn in.  I filed this information away and continued to my appointment.

Once it was finished (those new digital fingerprints are so easy compared to the old way) and I'd gotten a pumpkin pie Coolata at Dunkin Donuts, I made my way back to the cemeteries.  The first I came to was the larger, Hillcrest Park as the signs named it; once inside the gates it was easy to see that this was a cemetery in the new style, with no visible stones.  Maybe there were some in the back, but all I saw was trees, that big tower, and some Canada geese.  It would have been a lovely park, but as a cemetery it was a disappointment.  The disappointment was allayed by the fact that I knew there was a better one just next door.

Had I actually brought my camera along, I likely would have spent much longer at Maplewood cemetery.  At least I had my camera phone.  Even if I'd had the real camera, I don't think the pictures would really do justice to the atmosphere; though it was off a decent sized road it was quiet, and with the thick accumulation of leaves it seemed obvious that no one had been hanging out there recently, making it a little oasis.  Unfortunately those leaves also meant that I nearly tripped over a small marker that had been all but hidden.  Of course I apologized, and was more careful afterward.

Maplewood hadn't come up in my research on old cemeteries in the area ("old" in this case meaning with graves from the colonial or Revolutionary period); the oldest graves I saw were from the mid-19th century, which is not too shabby. 

According to the Internet, Maplewood is now controlled by Hillcrest Park next door.  The cemetery is in fairly good condition overall; the grass wasn't too tall, and there weren't any toppled stones.  It's even possible the leaves had been cleaned up sometime before my visit, because they've been coming down like nobody's business recently, and I'm sure that accumulation could have happened in a few days, if not overnight.  Unfortunately, the leaves covered the place where it was safe to drive, and since I couldn't back out (because I would have been backing out into traffic on a busy street) I had to make an educated guess and hope for the best. 

The two main takeaway lessons from this are:
1. Don't trust weather.com and
2. just take your camera, for Pete's sake.