Does it make me a loser if I confess that the nuclear testing in North Korea along with their declaration that “any agression” from the US will be taken as an act of war is making me feel really unsettled?
Is it actually true, the old tales that New Zealand is the safest place in the event of a nuclear war because of the air currents and whatnot? Because I think I could really like living in New Zealand…
This month’s Blogging for Books challenge is to write a ghost story or about a time you were really scared. This story from long ago is a bit of both.
When I was in Girl Guides (Canadian equivalent to Girl Scouts), we used to go camping every year. Camping was a joke really, because I was used to tents, the great outdoors, a long walk to a bathroom, and all that sort of thing from camping with my father. Camping with the guides meant sleeping in a large cabin with a kitchen and electricity and washrooms and all that. You know – not exactly roughing it.
There were actually several cabins in the area. They were all relatively similar, except for one. It was called Sleepy Hollow (how fitting) and it was rumored to be haunted.
We never really believed it. But at the same time, we did. Deep down we did because we were young and we believed anything. We used to hike past it and we would all whisper to each other “stories” we had heard – all about the crazy woman who had killed a bunch of campers, then herself. Supposedly it was her ghost that lurked inside Sleepy Hollow.
Sleepy Hollow was a brown and white striped cabin, large, and run-down, compared to all the other well-kept cabins. I still don’t really know why no one ever took care of it. Maybe the adults believed it too. The windows were grimy and inside, everything was covered in dust. Those of us who were really brave (or who just didn’t want to be called “chicken”) would sneak up to the window to peek inside.
One girl even climbed halfway up the rotting staircase before being called back down by the leaders.
One evening, just a little before sunset, a small group of us set out on a hike to work towards one of our merit badges. We wound up standing in front of Sleepy Hollow, debating whether we really believed or whether it was all nonsense.
As the sun dipped low behind the clouds, and a bit of fog drifted down near the lake in back, we tiptoed closer and rubbed at the dirty windows. We pressed our clean noses to the filthy glass, our breath steaming up to block our view. We told stories once again, each trying to “up” the other as it got darker. My heart had risen into my skull, judging by the sounds of its beating so close in my eardrums.
Just as it was getting to a point where it was hard to see inside due to the lack of light, one girl (I believe her name was Tracy) let out a scream. All of us jumped. We crowded closer as she whispered, “Something moved inside!”
We squinted. We tried desperately to see. Another girl started pleading to go back to our own camp before it got too dark to get back. We began to brush it off as Tracy’s imagination and agreed to return.
“Oh my God!” I said suddenly.
Everyone’s attention snapped back to the large room inside. “Something IS moving!” someone else said.
And something was. Something way in the back of the empty, rotting, so-called haunted cabin was moving slowly. And it looked like maybe, just maybe it was moving this way.
Have you ever heard seven girls between the ages of 12 and 15 scream at once? It’s beyond horror movie material. We nearly trampled each other as we shrieked and shoved and turned to run from the house. We hit the path and none of us looked back.
None except me. I ran, but before I reached the turn for our cabin, I turned to look over my shoulder. If it had been a movie, or a Stephen King novel I would have seen a ghostly woman wave her arms at us from the front door. In a movie, I definitely would have tripped over tree roots or a rock or my own feet as I turned and seen a beast lunging towards me. But this isn’t fiction. This is reality.
What I saw when I turned was just an old, neglected run-down house. I saw a cabin that hadn’t been used in so long it was collecting horror stories as quickly as it was collecting cobwebs.
I also saw a tree across the path from the cabin. The wind that had brought the fog in to settle over the water had started to pick up a bit and the tree was swaying ever so slightly. Slowing down, just a little, I noticed that the lower branches were being picked up by the hazy reflection in the window – the same window we had just been peering into.
It suddenly dawned on me… That wasn’t a witch or a goblin or a ghostly figure we had seen in the house. It was just the badly reflected image of the tree blowing in the breeze. There was no haunting going on in there. It was just nature helping out a collective of hyperactive imaginations in some silly, hyperventilating adolescent girls.
No ghost. Phew.
But my heart raced anyway and blood rushed in my ears.
No ghost.
But I ran anyway.
You know… just in case.
Thanksgiving is technically tomorrow but a lot of people – including us – celebrate on the Sunday. We went to George’s parents’ house for dinner. While there, we ingested:
Wine
Roast turkey
Baked ham
Pigeon peas and rice (so, SO good)
Squash
Mixed steamed vegetables
Stuffing
Cranberries
Tea
Pumpkin pie (made from fresh pumpkin)
You’d think that would last me until tomorrow, but I just polished off a bowl of the peas and rice and a slice of my own ham that I baked last night. Good snack. It reminds me of the times when my dad and I would make turkey sandwiches around 11 pm on Thanksgiving Sunday, mine being made with a bit of stuffing and cranberry sauce too.
I love food. Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!
If Breanna doesn’t stop waking up at HolyCrapO’Clock for hours on end I’m going to post her on eBay. For some reason I only dozed lightly after I went to bed until about 3:15. Then Breanna woke up at 3:30 or so, and kept me up until about 6 am. Then Hayley and Breanna both got up at 7.
If I could just hook up my coffee maker to an IV, I’d be fine. Either that or I might feign an illness just so I can check into a hospital and get some sleep.
Do any of you know that song Down By the Bay? Alligator Al used to sing it on Mr Dressup when I was a kid and now there’s an episode of Little Bear that has it too. It goes like so:
Down by the bay
Where the watermelons grow
Back to my home
I dare not go
For if I do
My mama would say:Did you ever see a bear
With his tail in the air?
Down by the bay!
The last part changes each time with some sort of rhyme. Tonight at bath time Hayley and I were coming up with new ones so she could practice the concept of rhyming. So we had things like:
Did you ever see a cat
Wearing a hat?
Down by the bay
Did you ever see a dog
Jump on a log?
Down by the bay
And so on. Until Hayley belted out:
Did you ever see a seagull
Doing an eagle?
Down by the bay!
And poor Hayley couldn’t understand why I absolutely could not stop laughing hysterically.
I can’t believe that it’s Thanksgiving weekend already. I thought it was next week. Then again, I won’t complain about having to eat lots of turkey a bit earlier than expected. My stomach can’t wait for Sunday.
Did you know it’s Love Thursday today?
Sometimes love is being pulled around for a wagon ride with your sister. It’s even better when you’re being pulled around in that wagon by a really good (unpictured) friend, especially when that friend is only six years old and thinks it’s incredibly fun to pull a 4-year-old and a baby around the yard.
And sometimes love is having a very beautiful girl who giggles behind a very silly mask.
Last night was so much better. Of course, when you have a little over four hours of sleep in two days, it’s hard to imagine it being any worse, you know?
Although I appreciated all the concerned advice about just going to bed early, that just really wasn’t an option. If it had been any other show, I might have done it but we were talking about LOST here. LOST! I have never missed an episode and I won’t do it willingly. To miss it I’d have to be in the hospital or something. Even when I had just given birth to Breanna on a Sunday and just came home from the hospital on a Tuesday, I still watched Lost the next night, screwed up sleep rhythms be damned. The thing is, you can’t miss it or you are completely screwed (I’m trying to avoid making a pun about being lost if you miss Lost).
I would have taped it but our VCR is kind of old and it’s not reliable for taping. Sometimes it records fine, other times it doesn’t record any audio, and sometimes it goes back and forth. Very exciting, but no. And we don’t have a PVR – I know, we’re SO behind the times! The only solution was to suck it up and watch it.
It was fine though, really. I was pretty awake by the time it came on. That’s the other thing – I tend to get a second wind in the evening. That’s how I stay up past 11 or 12 on a regular night as it is. What actually woke me up was doing the dishes before supper. I hadn’t done them in the early afternoon like I normally do because I was so damn tired and spaced out. Then I decided that even though I was just grilling burgers for supper, I couldn’t do it until I cleaned up a bit, so I forced myself to start the dishes. It ended up re-energizing me, which is a little horrifying to think about since I hate washing dishes so very much. It worked though.
And it was worth it! I’m not going to spoil anything for those of you who actually do have PVRs or a VCR that doesn’t have a personality disorder, but it was a great episode! I would have liked it if they had done a two-hour show from 8-10 so that we could have gotten more info packed into one night, but I’ll settle for what I got. Now I’m already looking forward to next week!
It finished at 10 and by 10:05 I was in bed with the covers pulled up. I fell asleep immediately (no kidding) and Breanna woke me briefly at 10:45 for some milk and again at 4:30. Then I slept until George left for work at … I don’t even know, 6:15? 6:30?
All that matters to me is that I actually got some SLEEP and the two times Breanna woke up were easy and fast, and I had no trouble getting back to sleep each time. Thank god, because I honestly don’t know how I would have gotten through another sucky night. It’s amazing how good it feels to get to sleep for eight hours even if it’s interrupted twice.
Now I’m going to use some of this energy to take a shower and do some housework. How very exciting.
I’m curious about something. I’m wondering how many people still use their regular phone company service and how many are using VOIP now? We made the switch awhile ago after we realized that a local company was offering a three-bundle package where we could have VOIP, high speed internet, and cable for the same cost as our phone was costing us. I was a little concerned at first because I had heard that sometimes VOIP results in dropped calls and lower quality, but I’m starting to think those are rumors started by the phone companies who don’t want you to leave because we’ve had no trouble with our new phone service at all.
I must admit that I enjoy sticking it to the phone company; I don’t know what it’s like in other places around the world but Bell Canada took a little too much enjoyment in charging high prices with minimal service just because it used to be a monopoly. Now it’s not anymore and you know, I’ve gotten a postcard from Bell and three telephone calls trying to “win” me back. Forget it. They charge SO much for the basic phone and then practically ask for your kidney if you want the extras. Our much more affordable phone service (we use Videotron) comes with a voice mail free of charge and we pay a “whopping” two bucks for call waiting and caller ID.
There’s no way in hell that I’m dropping the VOIP experience to go back to Bell.
Pardon the title. It’s just that I’m feeling a little bit like a zombie today. On Monday I went to bed at about 11:30 or so, fell asleep around midnight, and was then woken up by 2 am by Breanna. She proceeded to keep me up the rest of the night until I finally got to doze sporadically (five to ten minutes at a time) from 6 am until 8 am. I dragged myself through yesterday.
Last night I got to bed at a little past 11 and although I was tired, my brain was busy thinking about some stuff I’m working on so I didn’t fall asleep until about midnight again. Cue Breanna at 2 am once again. She kept me up all night AGAIN.
I am delirious. I have had about half the sleep in two days that doctors recommend for one night of sleep. Four hours in two days. Plus fitful dozing, I’m sure that makes a huge difference, NOT.
I slept better when Breanna was a brand new newborn. It’s not her fault, it’s her damned teeth, but it’s killing me anyway. At some point last night I clenched my teeth and implored her to LIE DOWN and GO TO SLEEP. She did at least put her head down on my stomach for awhile, even though I knew she was still awake based on the way that she kept opening and closing her tiny fist.
I’ve warned her that tonight she has got to let me sleep or I’m locking myself in the bathroom and sleeping in the tub. I have to somehow prop my eyelids open long enough to watch the season premiere of Lost tonight but at 10 pm when it finishes, I think I’ll be crawling down the hall to bed.
I’ve had two cups of coffee which is usually my limit but I am seriously considering a third cup or maybe a cup of tea after lunch just so I can survive the day.