Does anyone recognize this? It is the House of the Seven Gables, the inspiration for the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

When I think of Nathaniel Hawthorne, I actually think of a vacation back in 1999 when my mom, dad, sister, and I went east. We were in Concord where there is a little cemetery called Sleepy Hollow Cemetery with an area called "Authors Ridge." In that area Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, and Ralph Waldo Emerson and their families are buried there.

Mom, Suzi, and I took a walk up the path to see where all of these were buried. I was in the lead, and I met a couple of ladies taking pictures of the Louisa May Alcott plot. They had recently discovered that they were directly related to the family. We talked for a while, but soon we were joined by Mom and Suzi.

One of the Alcott ladies asked, "Are you related?" Of course, they meant related to the Alcotts, but Mom said, "Why, yes, we are." The other two ladies looked excited because they thought they had just been reunited with three living relatives. Mom said, "These are my two daughters." As the Alcott ladies lost their excitement, I explained what they had actually meant. We quickly went on to Hawthorne's gravesite.

This past July, Suzi and I went to another Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, but it was in Sleepy Hollow, NY, just north of Tarrytown, where Washington Irving spent his last years.

It may sound like I'm obsessed with famous dead people. I am in a way. There is something about being where a famous person lived, walked, and/or worked. I especially enjoy visiting authors' places. As an English teacher, I've read about many of them. Even though I don't have the talent any of them had, it just makes me inspired.

Coming soon--could it be Mark Twain? Edgar Allen Poe? Who knows?