This is Halloween!

 

Happy Halloween friends!

 Saturday 9: This Haunted House (1964)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here. (be warned ..it's an awful song)

1) Loretta Lynn wrote this song to help her cope with the sudden death of her friend, Patsy Cline. When they first met, Patsy was already a star and she helped Loretta become established. Did you more recently advise or receive advice?     Advise

2) She sings that Patsy's is the face she sees when she turns out the light. Do you remember who or what you were thinking about when you fell asleep last night?          Yes I do 3) Loretta maintains her TN ranch is haunted. She says "the moaning woman" is a harmless apparition, dressed in white. Do you believe in ghosts?                   Nope.

"For the living know that they will die,but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten.   Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished;   never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun."
Ecclesiastes

4) Loretta Lynn's ranch is now open to the public. In addition to horseback riding, fishing and camping, Loretta's ranch features shops that sell locally-sourced jams, jellies and sauces, as well as Loretta Lynn CDs and "Coal Miner's Daughter" glassware and t-shirts. Have you ever brought home an edible souvenir? Or do you prefer to remember your trips with something more lasting, like a coffee mug or t-shirt?  I don't like clutter and it ends up being clutter.  Clutter is chaos. 

5) According to Reader's Digest, The Exorcist is the scariest movie of all time. Have you seen it, and if so, did it scare you?  I think movies like that are junk.
6) Which do you find spookier: haunted houses or cemeteries? Neither are spooky. 

7) What's the most recent Halloween costume you wore? None
8) When you were a kid, did you trade your Halloween candy with siblings or friends?  No
9) Random question: You meet your very friendly new neighbor. She invites you over for a "get acquainted" cup of coffee tomorrow afternoon and you accept. Then you learn that she was once on trial for an axe murder ... but acquitted. Would you still go over to her house?
Get the town up in arms and run her out of town like in this short movie clip (lighten up folks)

Cold, Windy Friday

 

Wind is howling tonight as Zeta  barrels on out to sea. Seas are rough and high and rain has fallen steadily all day long.  Saturday will be a chilly Halloween. I am not sure if kids will be out or not.

 Here are some photos for a chilly Friday....

Darkening autumn skies are beautiful

Rich orange is all over the place

Cranes lift boats in and out of the water.Woods are right on the bay here.

The yard is ablaze with color

Autumn skies are the prettiest of all

The fish are yellow, orange and white.. and match fall perfectly.

Cool autumn attitude with the Famous Anonymous

Water out front reflects a lot

See you tomorrow .....

On a Wet, Cold Halloween Night(Updated)

Autumn is now in steady motion, moving forward toward Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Are you ready for them? We need some fun, don't we?

To answer what seems to be a common question:  1.Yes I have written quite a few books. And 2.. the following story is true and happened to me at about age 9 or so. Question 3.. no  you cannot know the titles because they are ghost written by me and I sign a non disclosure contract. Yes, they are published books.

This painting is by Tom Shropshire and captures the feelings of Halloween very well I think. Every neighborhood had a house that was considered creepy or forbidding and kids were afraid to trick or treat there.. yet they did!

One particular Victorian house in our neighborhood had one light eerily glowing down the long central hallway. The front double doors' glass panes allowed a complete look down that long corridor by the side of the stairs just to the left of the parlor.  It lead back into the kitchen as all the hallways in our neighborhood did. On the wall by the stairs was a stained glass window just as in my own house but, everything here seemed frightening to us. The sameness didn't seem to matter.

 No one ever seemed to be home yet curtains blew in the wind, leaves seemed to rustle extra loudly in the yard and the sound of an owl could always be heard there at night. From time to time you could see someone moving across the window in the upper floors. As you walked up the stairs to the porch  to ring the old fashioned twisty door bell key the wooden boards creaked badly. The brring, brring sound of the doorbell key never brought a soul to the door and none of us ever  saw anyone come in or out of that house.

No one bothered us one cold, wet and windy Halloween night when we circled  round to the backyard through the rusty swinging wrought iron gate.  

  The backyard was filled with trees and vines that may have been lovely in summer but now, on that windy,wet, cold night it seemed forbidding, dangerous, ominous.  Hanging vine became long fingers entwining in  hair as we passed by.  I remember almost screaming but I kept quiet for fear of discovery .    Mr. owl was settled up in a drooping old oak hooting forlornly at us as we moved through the little winding path to a gazebo which housed a single solitary pumpkin with flickering candle inside. It's twisted smile grimaced at us as we stood gawking with wide eyes.

We whispered to one another about that pumpkin  and its owner when all of a sudden the back door slammed with a ferocious bang that sent us running for our lives to the street out front.

The next spring I paid more attention to that yard as it could be seen easily from another friends bedroom window. It was lovely and filled  with flowering trees and bushes. But on that one night, it had been the scariest place on earth.

 

Reading Part Deux

 Welcome to Tuesday 4! Thank you for your participation in keeping the meme alive in remembrance of Toni Taddeo. 

 Let's continue with Reading this week, shall we?
1.Kindle or hard cover/paper back?  I have a  Barnes and Noble Nook that  a very good friend gave to me as a wonderful gift a few years back.  It's very nice and  it's gotten a lot of use, but  I do prefer books I can hold.  I am thinking of buying a Kindle since Nook is now obsolete and no longer being manufactured and nothing more can be downloaded for it.

2 Have you read a series like Harry Potter and if so which series and what did you think of the stories? Can you recommend them and why? I have not read Harry Potter but I might.  I have read the Little House on the Prairie series and highly recommend it for the history and a good view of the thinking of pioneers of the time. It is  good for adults and well as children. As an adult I recommend you pay attention to how things were done and the attitudes of the time which were thoroughly American but very different from today's mentality..  Don't discount this as nothing more than a children's book series. 

3.Do you have a library, book shelves etc in your home?  My office is a library lined with book shelves and cases. It is going to get a couple more cases very soon actually .

4.Is there a book you just really disliked ? Why did you dislike it?

At the moment I can't think of the book's name but it was from the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery and had a ridiculously bad ending. It was as if she got sick of writing and ended the book any old way. Now, I've done that myself in ghost writing.  I've done about 6 novels now and when I got bored and couldn't come up with a good wrap up, I just wrote some really goofy stuff to make myself laugh. Of course I don't send that to the publisher. But what this does is lighten the mood and clear my head.  Sometimes you just need a good laugh and I find myself laughing to tears over the ludicrous endings  I write. But in this  particular Montgomery book from the Anne series, the ending was just a total waste of time. It was so awful I threw the paperback on the floor!

I'll be back tomorrow which some might consider a threat. 

A Halloween Sunday Stealing Fest

Sunday stealing is here again. Join in here. It is fun. 

"Hi! I'm your host Bev Sykes of the blog "Funny the World". . Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!"

  1. What is your favorite spooky song? This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas". Though I haven't seen the movie, I have heard the song.

2. What do you want etched on your tombstone?  "If I don't answer,leave a message"
3. Who is your favorite horror movie villain. I don't watch horror so I don't know of any.
4. Have you ever seen a ghost?     No, and don't believe in them.
5. Do you prefer gore, thrillers or supernatural movies? None of those unless you mean like detective thriller or sci-fi thriller... I like those.
6. What is your favorite scary book? Never read a scary book.. but some regular books are scary bad  writing and  plots!..heheh
7. Have you ever had a tarot card reading? 

Was it accurate? Never have done that.
8. Are you superstitious? No.
9. Have you ever used a voodoo doll? No, that's just creepy and awful.
10. Have you ever participated in a seance? No. The dead cannot speak to the living at all.
11. Have you ever heard voices when no one was around except you? Yes, from outside in the street!
12. What is your favorite Halloween candy? I don't eat candy so I  would prefer nuts or potato chips. I hand out bags of chips for Halloween.
13. What was your most memorable Halloween costume? I had a Marhta Washington dress my mother sewed for me.
14. Do you like going through haunted houses (not real ones)? No. No interest in it.
15. If someone dared you to spend the night in a haunted house (a real one) would you do it? No, it doesn't interest me either.

 

Light.. Sat 9

 

 

 

Happy Weekend friends. I hope you are having a good weekend. The weather man tells us we will have a ton of rain this week. It's Friday as I write this and rainy today as well.  Hurricane Epsilon is just off the coast . Joining with Saturday 9.
  Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here  I had never heard this song or of the singer until now. I listened to a few seconds of the song. Maybe you will enjoy it more than I did.

 1) This song was inspired by a young Ellie Goulding's fear of the dark. What scared you when you were a kid?
My brother. He was old enough to be my father. He would pretend to be a monster and chase me through the house. While I laughed, I was really very frightened by it. I thought he really did become an evil monster. I was just too little to know real from fake.  So when I see people scaring kids and chasing them, I know that even if they are laughing, its simple their  nerves making them laugh and scream and they are really very afraid.    Don't do it! It is cruel.
 
2) She thinks back to the room where her brother and sister slept and she felt safe. Did you share a room when you were growing up?
Yes. I shared a room with my maternal grandmother until I was about 12.  She was my roomie and pal. I got my own room when I was around 12.

3) Ellie Goulding grew up in public housing and worked her way through the University of Kent in Canterbury. Back in those days, her favorite job was theater usher because it offered her the perk of seeing plays for free. What's the most recent "freebie" you scored? (This includes a buy one/get one deal, extra points on your credit card, etc.)
 Nothing I can think of and frankly most of the time nothing is free. You are paying for it in some way or other.
4) Even though today she is an international music star, Ellie still lives modestly. She describes herself as "still in university mode," and limits herself to $10/day for lunch. Where do you economize?

recent photo of woods

I economize by not buying paper towels which I find too expensive and wasteful. I use rags and bar mops.

5) Ellie has proclaimed herself "a cat lady" and often posts pictures of her cats to her Instagram account. What's the most recent photo you took? I took a photo of the woods in the back yard. You can click it to see it full size.

6) Ellie appeared on Sesame Street. She, Elmo and Abby thanked clouds for raindrops, lakes, and the water we drink. Would you be thankful for a little rain this weekend?    It is raining as I write this (Friday morning) but I don't know if I am grateful for it or not. We've had a lot of rain and next week is going to be very rainy.

7) In 2011, the year "Lights" was a hit, Prince William married Kate Middleton. Ellie not only attended the wedding, she sang Elton John's "Your Song" for the couple's first dance. Tell us a song that reminds you of a romance in your life.  

I suppose the song Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by the Platters, though I never had  a "song" with anyone.
 
8) Also in 2011, AT&T abandoned their attempt to buy T-Mobile. Which company is your cell phone carrier? Are you happy with them?
Google Fi.  It is a very good system.

9) Random question: What recent experience made you feel old?
I never feel old. I always feel the same as I did when much younger. I know more, have more wisdom but, I don't feel "old" and never have. Not sure when that might happen either.

See you tomorrow!   

Autumn Photos on Friday

Friday!  Did your week also fly by quickly?   Friday has become the day of photos and watching the sky.  I am especially fond of Fridays in Autumn and it's promise of rest, and a beautiful  cool or chilly weekend.

Autumn comes in many colors... a few of my photos animated

Salt Marsh aglow in orange, gold and green. The bay is in the background.

Sunset over the bay

Beginning of autumn changes on the bay

The woods by the Creek

The Blue Atlantic hardly changes at all even in autumn

Phragmites turns from green to golden wheat color

 

See you tomorrow...

The Essential Blogger

Bloggers come and go. Some delete their old blogs, sadly, since people do go back to re-read or at

Love..Give.. Serve

least I do! But when bloggers stop blogging there is a void, a hole in the world.

Some leave because they think they have nothing to say. I even will leave off posting for want of things to say rather than just post a picture, photo... poem, something and that's a shame. It's a shame because I have always realized that whatever you say or do not say in the case of just a picture, you are reaching someone and saying exactly what they need to hear that day.

Sharing yourself on Blogger or whatever you use is a way of serving, helping, giving... loving others and your words or pictures are precious thoughts that are needed in a world that is increasingly being torn apart socially. Social distancing has been in the works for years with buying online, anti-social behavior of others being off putting, etc.   But when you say, "Today I sat outside just enjoying nature" or "Today I am doing nothing at all!"  You give permission to others to just enjoy a day without guilt.    If you share your music, your singing, your thoughts, your photos you are serving.
 I wrote a list for this or that.. I prayed.. I did a study.. I drew pictures. You can open up a new world for someone else. Here is a photo from long ago.. Here is what we ate, this is where we went. Yes, you open up worlds.

Every single blogger I know gives something important. When they are gone, we lose a lot. I still think of Bloggers gone for a long, long time now. They impacted my life!

Blogging gives you a chance to share with others all over the world. You give a view of your little corner of the world to a huge and diverse audience and I find that at least one person publishes something every single day that is needed, helpful or downright life saving and uplifting.

So when you think you have nothing to say.. just log in and say.. Hi Everyone.. Have a good day or just post a picture that is pretty or inspirational or even sad. It doesn't matter because you will reach someone and be speaking/ministering directly to them and their needs.. You never know but you are on this planet for a reason.. you specifically. Your gifts, talents, words, attitudes, situation in life can be invaluable to others.   Sometimes, just letting people hear of your mundane daily life is encouraging to someone. It can be life saving.  I know I am going to try much harder to give, serve and share with you all.

Keep blogging my friends.. you are necessary in this world.

Reading...

 Welcome to Tuesday 4 in memory of it's founder, our friend Toni Taddeo..

1. How do you relax in the evening after dinner? I will have a hot cup of tea or decaf  coffee and watch some Midsomer Murders on Youtube.
   
2. Do you read in bed? What kind of books do you read? I used to but now it hurts my back so I read in a chair. At night I like to read mysteries, like Agatha Christie or The Lord Peter Wimsey series.
   
3. Do you have a list of books you look forward to reading? Yes, the Miss Read series.
   
4. What is the best book you've ever read and why?  I think it is between 2 books: David Copperfield and A Christmas Carol. I love the ambiance of the times. I love A Christmas Carol for the story of a man finding his humanity and throwing away his bitter spirit.
   
   

Literary Pearls.. Storm in the Village

Monday, another week already under way with autumn's chilly weather settling in for the duration.

I have not done literary pearls for a bit.. I hope they are helpful to you. If you try the MIss Read series, let me know how you like it! It is lovely autumn/winter reading . This time I made a graphic hoping it would make this easier to read.

Sunday Stealing

Hey! Happy Weekend. Hope its a nice one for you. 

Time for Sunday Stealing with questions from Peachristy

1. What kinds of things do you like to write?    Notes on things I listen to or read.  I have ghost written a few novels but I don't enjoy it much.
2. What is your favorite genre of movie?   Disaster movies like "Tornado".
3. Your favorite song?    There are just too many to list.
4. During what situation do your eyes shine the brightest?   I suppose when I understand something very well and have an ah ha moment.
5. Summer or Winter?    Both have their charms and I think we appreciate one because of the other.
6. What do you do when you are angry? 

Think things over, get over it.
7. Sleep with lights on or off ?    Lights off! 

8. Are you ok with eating alone in a restaurant?    I have done it,  but I prefer not to.
9. Texting or calling?     Texting.
10. What’s your favorite thing about yourself?    Self control.
11. How do you act when you’re scared?     It varies depending on the situation..
12. When you look at the sky do you first look at the moon, or the stars?   Whatever is in front of my eyes when I first look up.
13. Do you approach strangers when you are lost?     I have, yes but rather not.
14. Tea or Coffee? Both
15. With sugar? Milk? Lemon? Anything else?

No sugar in coffee or tea.  I put milk in my tea and plain powdered Coffee Mate in my coffee. Right now my coffee is Pumpkin Spice by Dunkin Donuts (made at home). I do put Ceylon Cinnamon in my coffee from time to time and sometimes nutmeg.
 

 

 

Vision ... Sat 9

Hello, hello! A rainy day as I write this.. getting it ready for Saturday. I am told Saturday will be
sunny though. But there is something very cozy about cold rainy days in autumn. I spent the day nursing a breakfast cup of Pumpkin spice coffee. Reheating it from time to time until I was nearly finished and then a fruit fly dove into it and I had to throw it out. Now, I realize he probably didn't really pollute the coffee, poor little soul. and things like that do not bother me as far as drinking go but I figured it was a good excuse to finally let the cup go down the drain.

Saturday is Sat 9 and I have answered the questions with pretty boring answers actually.But here we go, though I warn you I am loaded for bear today.....

Saturday 9: Vision of Love (1990)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) The lyrics refer to "sweet destiny." Do you believe in destiny?
Absolutely not. Destiny denies free will.  I am not superstitious really. 

2) This week's artist, Mariah Carey, has something to fall back on. She studied cosmetology and worked as a hair sweeper in a salon. When you get your hair cut, do you socialize with the stylist?
I don't use a stylist for hair cutting. I cut it myself if and when I want to. As a kid .. very young.. I hung around my aunties hair salon and watched her cutting hair for hours on end. I can do a semi-competent job even on myself. Nothing glorious.. just okay. So, no since I am my own stylist, I do not talk to myself whilst cutting my hair.
 
3) She isn't likely to turn to cosmetology any time soon. Mariah is currently on the best seller list with her autobiography, The Meaning of Mariah Carey. Was the last book you finished fiction or non-fiction?
Non Fiction.   I am on my millioneth read of Mesillat Yesharim (Path of the Righteous).

4) So far, more than 800 people have reviewed Mariah's book on Amazon. Do you review products/services online?
No, I don't and I do not buy online at all. I want to patronize small shops . No, I did not buy the above book online but in my local bookstore.

5) When she was a high school student, she was nicknamed "Mirage" because she skipped class so often. Did you ever play hooky?
No I never did. I wanted an education.

6) Mariah doesn't apologize for spoiling her dogs, who have been known to travel by limo. Do you know anyone who treats their pets like people?
Many people treat their dogs better than they treat other people, and even their own children. Yes, I know people whose animals pee all over the house but they scream at their kids for spilling some milk.. sad, pathetic, evil.
7) In 1990, the year this song was popular, Martina Navratilova won the Wimbledon Women's Singles Tournament. How's your tennis game?
Non existent. I was okay in high school but nothing special.
8) Also in 1990, Pope John Paul II toured Mexico. Have you ever visited our neighbor south of the border?
No. Is that when they picked up the pacha mama  idol nonsense?

9) Random question(s): There are Gofundme campaigns for many purposes. Have you ever solicited funds online? Would you?
No and very doubtful I would.

Friday Photos

I hope your week has gone well.  It always ends well for me with some nice photos even on a rainy day like today.    

My feelings about politics in one picture

 I enjoy visiting around to see everyone's lovely pictures.

Here are some photos of mine that you can click to see full size.

 

Sun over the Atlantic  taken by the Famous Anonymous Kid

Annie