Month: October 2015

Weekly Photo Challenge: Treat, if You Dare!

If you enjoy being frightened, this will be a real treat because there’s no trick about it.

Below is a reprint of a true story I posted for Halloween in 2013.  Hope you enjoy it.

ghost sharp

Things That Go “Blink” in the Night!

I was really not upset, it was only a coincidence.  A very strange and disturbing coincidence.  That’s all it was.  What else could it be?  That’s what I told myself when “it” happened.

After my divorce I had been living in an apartment raising my sons that were almost grown at the time.  I’d been feeling that I wanted to buy my own home again and thought that taking care of a home  might help with the coming “empty nest syndrome” I was about to experience.  Of course that was before the housing bubble burst.  I began looking for something cozy and affordable and decided a small, older home in need of some TLC would be right up my ally.  A fixer-upper I could repair on weekends for my therapy instead of shopping would hopefully save me from being on a future episode of Hoarders.

I mentioned this idea to my oldest son who was a fan of shows that delve into paranormal activities whose response was “You’ll probably end up buying some haunted house.”  To which I just laughed and forgot about it, for the time being.  Within a few nights his words came back to haunt me, literally!

I dreamed I had bought a rather oddly shaped house that resembled a barn.  Very distinctive looking.  I kept looking at the house trying to decide where to place the garden in the front yard.  The dream began very nicely and I remember feeling so happy and excited as we were moving belongings and unpacking things inside the home with my two sons.  Then the dream changed.  It suddenly felt as if the entire aura of the home was different and not in a good way.  I was standing in one of the rooms by myself when all of a sudden the light went out for a few seconds then on again for a few more seconds then off again by itself.  As the light show continued I remember thinking “My son was right!  I had indeed purchased a haunted house!”

I awoke with a start!

The next morning I told my son about the disturbing dream I had that I felt was due to his off the cuff comment.  Then I forgot about it, or so I thought.

Months later going over yet another real estate magazine before going to sleep, my blood ran cold!  There before my very eyes looked to be the haunted house of my dreams!  At the exact moment I came to this realization, the lamp in my room suddenly went out.  I thought our power went out, but found the digital clock still showing the time.  I was about to get up to check the bulb when it came right back on again only to go out again in the same continued pattern of the haunted room of my dreams!  The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and I broke out in goosebumps on that warm evening made worse because I knew I was home alone and the clock showed it was almost midnight, the witching hour!  It continued in this pattern til I pulled myself together and unplugged the lamp thinking rationally that it must be a short or a loose bulb, but what a coincidence that it started when it did.  After a while I managed to fall asleep.

ghosts in window

The next morning I told my son what had happened so we got the lamp to test it out after I found that the bulb was not loose.  The light turned on immediately and stayed on.  There was nothing wrong that we could see.  No short that could be found.  I began to feel very unnerved again.  That light had worked perfectly before that evening and has continued to be problem free ever since.

ghost bouncing

How or why this happened, I do not know.  A mere coincidence?  A playful poltergeist?  You be the judge!

 

Daily Prompt: Imaginary Friend

TA – DA!

That was the name of my imaginary friend.  And she was a legend in her time.

EVERYONE talked about Tada, my friends and family and sometimes even strangers asked me if she existed.  They just wanted to see what I would say so they could laugh at me I guess.

I never really ever had an imaginary friend like some do, but her existence began at a very young age as a defense against my mother’s sarcastic wit.  I was forever trying to perform and my acts were always accompanied by me yelling “Ta-da,” very dramatically.  One day my mother quips up “Tada, who’s Tada?”  To which I answered “she’s my friend.”  Then I had to describe her as I threw out answers off the top of my three-year-old head in response to my mother who was barraging me with questions, thinking she was funny.  I remember being angry with her sarcasm so I kept it up as long as she did.  A trait I had to continue to this very day in my relationship with her.

Later on my younger sister would ask me about Tada and I would tell all kinds of funny or strange stories to keep her amused and laughing.  She would tell others about it, our friends or kids she knew in school, but I didn’t.  Those were the strangers who asked about Tada that I mentioned earlier.

The death of Tada kind of suits this Halloween time some celebrate.

When I was about 11 I told everyone that Tada had sadly passed away and I was to have a funeral for her that afternoon in the local cemetery. Yeah, you heard right.  I was so sick of people asking me about her I finally had to kill her!  I took an old doll of mine that was really messed up anyway, and wrapped it in a shroud and went with my sister and some friends to that cemetery where I proceeded to desecrate the hallowed grounds by holding a mock funeral for dear little plastic Tada, whose existence served me well for about 8 years of my life.  I did it in the back some place and actually buried the doll and left it.

I sometimes imagine someone finding the body of Tada and thinking “WTF” as the kids say now.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Connected

And disconnected.

People are supposed to be connected to their parents.  My father disconnected his family when I was a teenager and I never saw him again.

These are pictures I found of me and my dad in happier times.  Connected times.

My dad raced stock cars and worked in a gas station.
Back when yards were organic.
Loved swimming most of my life.
What went up, did fall down.
Dad smoking his Chesterfields.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Happy Place

OctHiddenLakeGardensFall 117Hidden Lake Gardens in Tipton Michigan is the happiest place I know of, no matter what the season.  I have loved nature since I was a small child.  Plants, animals, smells, the feeling I get just walking with the breeze on my face, everything about outdoors!

Fall is an especially beautiful time to me and I wanted to share some of this with you.  Take care and God bless!

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There are so many creatures you will find if you keep your eyes open and your camera ready.

Some pests we need
wildlife is precious
Click on the thumbnail below for additional information on Hidden Lake Gardens.
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Po’ Girl Wanders, Change

Finally in my apartment.

When I was growing up, I never heard of apartment living and we were quite poor.   Sorry, po’!  My parents seldom held jobs and we lived with or with the help from the few relatives we had at the time.  Most are no longer living and since both my parents are considered only children, I have no Aunts and Uncles to speak of.  This makes me a lonely soul even to this day, especially after losing my po’ sister or sweat sister, as she called herself.

So I have just moved into a subsidized apartment in a small town out in the country and it’s OK.  I’m counting my blessings.  After the last number of years I’ve had, I am blessed not to be homeless.  There have already been a number of things that don’t thrill me but I can imagine many places much worse than this.  I have already seen some deer and turkey buzzards flying when I look out my window which faces a woods.  Not thrilled when I see them all lined up in the trees out there casing my place.  I thought of this view as a blessing until I really looked around and see that my view is also the employee parking lot and the pick up, drop off for residents.  So evenings or weekends are less congested but there are still people going past my window smoking, which is bad when my window happens to be opened, as well a car drives past with exhaust just a few feet away.  It is still way less traveled than the road that I was living on in the big city which was used as a shortcut by many from one major road to another.  Didn’t know this until I moved in.  These are the secrets they keep from you when you are house shopping.

Always do your homework when you are about the make this kind of investment.  I no longer consider buying a home any kind of investment, but instead a gross risk to your very future.  They don’t advertise that you are gambling every time you purchase a home because for the last 50 years or so, this was not the case.  Unfortunately our government has allowed all kinds of corrupt and risky behavior from our major banks and corporations that always make money for a few at the expense of the rest of us.  This is our own fault.  All politicians need money to be re-elected each year and hence owe certain people favors once they are elected.  It’s disgusting and shameful, but they also own all the major media corporations in America and can put any kind of spin they wish to their corrupt practices.  They pay people to think up excuses for their unfair trade agreements and other unfair manipulation of our society that puts so many American citizens out of work and some out on the street, especially our put upon veterans.

Much like when I lived in my condo for many years, I have the woods as my view, not other houses.  I pray that I will be happy here and still plan on moving on when the time is right.  I plan on looking at property in the upper peninsula next year if there are any potential fixer uppers unless I really love it here and don’t think the gamble and all the hard work would be worth more freedom.  You are not free to decorate or do much of anything creative living as a tenant.  The trade-off for being helped when you need it, hopefully.  Sometimes they do not come when you need them and in my own home I was free to make sure any problem was taken care immediately.  I knew how to fix most things and could hire someone who would show up right away.  Landlords aren’t always so accommodating.  Again, still counting my blessings, especially since I am so tired after a lifetime of hard work and much stress doing everything myself, even when I was married.

This is the view that greets me most mornings.


This was my previous view:


I am finally just letting myself relax from the life of stress I once knew. I’m not saying it has not been hectic having to let my home go to foreclosure and some of my belongings that are just too old to care about even though they are still in working order. Some stuff I left behind such as two 32″ tube TVs that no one wanted and I can’t blame them. I have donated most of what I couldn’t sell in my last yard sale. I did leave all my working appliances and let the bank know this when I mailed them my keys because they told me that they won’t meet me at the home so I can give them to someone.

The bank rep suggested that I leave the keys under a mat or somewhere outside the home and I told him I could not do this because there are many people in my area that would see me do this and they could access the property instead.  Still cannot figure out why they would ask me to do this instead of meeting with one of them at the home.  There is a lot to remember of what to disconnect or shut off and what to turn for my new home.  I also had to get cable for the first time in 15 years, even though I did not really want it so I went with basic cable for the internet service.  There are absolutely NO local connections that can be found when you do the “air” search for antenna.  This is what happens when you move to the boonies.  At least I didn’t have to get a giant dish as some of my friends did that live way out in the country by themselves.

So when I got a little closer to the deer I sawOctMiscHiddenLakeGarden 017
I this is what I found! OctMiscHiddenLakeGarden 202