Safe

How the small rural town of Cullman, AL ended up with TWO monasteries is a mystery to me, but they are both wonderful Benedictine monasteries. Sacred Heart is the smaller of the two, and the only one of them that I've actually ever stayed at.

St. Bernard Abbey is the larger and also runs a fairly large preparatory school. After leaving Sacred Heart this afternoon, I stopped by St. Bernard's book store to pick up gifts for the family, and took a stroll through the cemetery there. It is beautiful and austere, quite unlike the beautiful warmth of Sacred Heart's cemetery.

The cemetery is enclosed with this incredible moss-covered stone wall. The contrast of the wall and smooth tree trunks caught my eye.