I have always loved old tombstones. Okay, I admit, I'm a little macrabre! But then I love stones and rocks period! Around here people have kept old stone silos long after the farmhouse and old barn have disappeared and a new subdivision has risen. It is very cool to see these old relics in someone's yard. I'm kind of weird but when I go into an old decrepit place, I can see the beauty that once existed there. Kind of like looking at a beautiful old woman and recognizing the gorgeous young woman beneath the skin.

I remember going up to the top floor of an old building are offices were in. It had once been like a ballroom with a cavernous hall and adjacent bar area. I was totally mesmerized by it even with the pigeons flying about and the broken windows. The person I was with thought I was nuts when I said it was beautiful.

Regarding the last two pictures ... I am always amazed at the skill it takes to dry stack rocks to create a wall or in this case a fireplace. Has to be a lot harder than it looks!

Too cool!!

I love ruins. I've been to a few in Arizona and I travelled to Mexico to see some. Spent time at Palenque and it was OUT OF THIS WORLD!! There's a really cool one in the state of Oaxaca that has these huge stone tablets with pics of people on it that they think are of operations.

When I went to India I went to Elephanta Island. It's an amazing temple that monks carved into the mountain sometime around the 6th century AD. It's dedicated to Siva, the Hindu god of destruction. I put on a sari that day and felt very 'native'. The women at the front desk helped me get the sari 'just right'. I was the only westerner (white person) visiting the cave that day and a lot of the Indians were giving me curious looks. I stood gazing at some of the sculptures for a long time - such incredible love went into carving these images of Siva right into the inner rock. On the boat ride back this woman was talking to me about the temple and images and I was expecting to hear all about Siva when she pulls out a Bible! of all things, and starts to preach to me about Jesus!! I stopped her and said I was Catholic, knew all about Jesus, and she looked a bit surprised. I guess being in a sari, and maybe she saw the way I was looking at the images of Siva, made her think... who knows! It was very funny to me.

Oh, you're making miss my travelling years! There are no ruins here in Oz. The natives here were never 'civilized' enough to have a high culture - meaning one that built settlements. Though, there are petroglyphs and I love seeing those, too!

Cait

Here is a link that might be useful: Elephanta