Oh! that I could have died for Ireland.

Captain John Mitchell tomb, Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, SC

Late September of this year I received an email from a gentleman in Ireland who had found one of my cemetery photo albums online. He loved what he had found, but needed a photograph of a specific tomb. He'd gone through all of my pictures and not finding it, wondered if I would mind tracking it down at Magnolia Cemetery and taking the picture for him. He was writing a book about a Captain John Mitchell who had died on the parapet of Fort Sumter during the bombardment in 1864. The book was ready to go to press that Monday except for a blank spot that needed a picture of our hero's tomb.

Cool! A cemetery assignment. I tend to hang out at there anyway and Magnolia on upper Meeting Street is certainly a favorite. A friend who worked close to the area pre-scouted the location. It was important to feature the coping around the grave that was designed in the shape of the parapet at Fort Sumter where Captain Mitchell died.

"I willingly give my life for South Carolina; Oh! that I could have died for Ireland."

It was the day of the Lowcountry Heart Walk and as soon as I finished I went up, took the picture and emailed it to the author in the nick of time to get the book to his publisher. He wrote back thanking me and let me know he had made a $150 donation to my Heart Walk team in honor of his parents.

So many delightful connections have come about because of the internet and blogging. Give a shy girl a digital camera and a mouse and there is no telling what might happen. It makes me feel very fortunate that this all technological progress happened in my lifetime.

Okay kids. I had a peaceful day at worked but rushed home to meet a handyman who found the exact valve we needed to get my gas log fireplace working again. Bless him.