Hello people! Hope your weekend was filled with fun!
I just finished NaNoWriMo last week. I didn’t post much in the month of November as I was working on that. But for this month I’m letting those writings settle and then I’ll get to the much-needed editing.
For this month I thought I’d do a little something different. Did you know December is not only the month for Christmas and Boxing Day? I mean there are a slew of things out there that are celebrated this month!
Take yesterday for example. Yesterday was December 1. Did you know it was also Eat a Red Apple Day? No? Neither did I! See what I mean. There are lots of other things to celebrate in famous December.
I thought it would be fun to write a post every day this month about all the different things that are celebrated in December. It could be a teaching, fun, all month celebration! And, you don’t even have to buy presents! Yea!
So let’s see what else was celebrated yesterday.
December 1:
World Aids Day ~~ I think we’ve all heard of this worthy day.
Day With (out) Art ~~ this is a tie in with World Aids Day. Began on December 1, 1989 as the national day of action and mourning in response to the AIDS crisis.
Eat A Red Apple Day ~~ Yum! I can do this one easily as I love apples.
Bifocal At The Monitor Liberation Day ~~ Oh man, I need to celebrate this one! I actually have two pair of glasses. Bifocals for when I drive and do other things. Regular glasses for working on the computer. Now you know my secret!
As for today we have celebrations! Take your pick or enjoy all of them.
December 2:
Coats for Kids Day ~~ Now this is the kind of day we could all celebrate by donating a child’s winter coat for charity. We would like to have all the children warm this winter!
Abolition of Slavery Day ~~ To quote the official website (which you can find when you click on the day) The focus of this day is on eradicating contemporary forms of slavery, such as trafficking in persons, sexual exploitation, the worst forms of child labor, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.
Special Education Day ~~ Special Education Day, the national holiday listed in Chase’s Calendar of events, began in 2005. That year marked the 30th anniversary of the IDEA–the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
I also found out that today is:
Hand Washing Awareness week ~ first week in December
National Fritter Day ~~ a fritter is usually a fruit or vegetable shallow fried in batter.
So go give a kids coat to your favorite charity and eat a fritter for me.
I’ll be back tomorrow with some more! (PS….You could buy me a present if you wanted, my address is……….) hahaha!
Hello everyone! Hope all those who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday enjoyed their day! Today is leftover day for most of you. I love leftovers from Thanksgiving, plus it gives me a day off from cooking. 😉
I’m not even going to mention that crazy thing called Black Friday. Okay I did mention it, but only in passing. Now let’s get into the fun stuff!
I finished NaNoWriMo on Tuesday, a whole 4 days early! Whew! I didn’t post much on my project this year as I did last. I’m sorry about that, but it was a bit emotional as it was autobiographical in nature. Some of it was very difficult to write so for now I’m leaving it off here. Maybe as I edit and refine the wording more I’ll post some snippets. If any of you are interested that is.
For right now it’s Friday and you all know what that means! Well besides the weekend coming. Friday Fictioneer time! On with the show!
THE CHALLENGE:
Write a one hundred word story that has a beginning, middle and an end. (No one will be ostracized for going a few words over the count.)
THE KEY:
Make every word count.
If you want to read more stories based from the same photo go visit our supreme hostess Rochelle Wisoff-Fields blog and feast till you burst. (Sorry still in Thanksgiving mode)
Copyright – Ted Strutz
Genre: Mystery (99 words)
She came out of the ladies’ room smiling. Her lucky day she thought, no waiting line and her husband surprised her with a mystery cruise on their vacation.
Her smile wavered, disappeared as she looked at the empty boat. Where was everyone? It was eerily quiet as the boat slowly made its way over the water, empty, hollow.
She ran to where she had left her family. Nothing, all the tables empty, no sign of life but her own. From the seat peeked out a colorful brochure.
“Take a cruise into the Bermuda Triangle. A trip of a lifetime.”
I know that now that I am in Canada we have already had our Thanksgiving. But being American I still honor Thanksgiving in my heart here in November also. So to all of you who are celebrating Thanksgiving today, have a wonderful holiday! Eat much, stay safe and give out lots of hugs and smiles.
Also Hanukkah is today so to those who are celebrating that, Happy Hanukkah to you! With the same wish, many smiles and hugs given and received.
Many have done posts on what you are thankful for. So I thought I would do one also. I’ll try to keep it short and sweet so you can get back to eating. 🙂
Courtesy of Snoopy.com
I am grateful for being able to sit here and wish you all a happy giving day.
I am grateful that I finished NaNoWriMo, at least the 50k part.
I am grateful for being alive to sit and type all that I am grateful for.
I am grateful for my dog Sam and his nemesis the (stinkin’ cats) Notwen and Pouncer, for they bring me joy and laughter every day.
I am grateful for finding blogging a year and half ago, as I have met so many wonderful and talented people on here. I also have formed some strong and lasting friendships along the way and for that I cannot help but be grateful.
I am grateful for being able to write, speak and think the words that convey how grateful I am.
I am grateful to the people who made guest posts on my blog so I could indulge myself freely with NaNo. Thank you Liz, Mandy, Martin and of course Tiny. You four are amazing and make blogging fun with your giving hearts and minds.
I’m grateful for coffee, the nectar of the gods, for without my coffee every day I wouldn’t be able to function.
I’m grateful for my husband who went out every morning this month and bought me my Tim Horton coffee so I could get hyped up on their fragrant, steaming brew to write my quota of words for NaNo. He also let me off the hook for cooking a lot of nights. Now I’m ready to cook a good meal instead of soup and sandwich.
I’m grateful for the sunshine pouring through my window as it warms me on this cold frosty morning and makes these old bones ready to tackle another day.
And I’m grateful for all of you who read my attempts at writing and are always ready with a smile and a kind word. YOU are what makes this blogging venture so much fun! Thank you!
My good friend tiny over at tinylessonsblog wrote me a Haiku for my finish line at NaNo. She has already gotten her 50,000 word book done! Well for NaNo, Anyways, and it was her first year participating! Congrats to tiny! Next it’s time for editing and then more editing. 😉
Tiny is also a great Haiku writer. I love her little poems and her longer ones. She does what I can’t seem to do and I admire her greatly for it. Here is what she writes about herself.
About me (in no particular order): happy beach bum, former director, active world traveler, so-so wife/mother/grandmother, good friend, busy-enough management consultant, funny ENFP, reflective mentor, passionate dog owner, occasional poet, true music fan, pretty good cook, really poor blues (guitar) player, meditative thinker, and a decent leadership coach. And I forgot, I’m not a photographer, just a pretty creative illustrator. Based on this narrow but true profile, my blog will probably be… well, multi-faceted.
She is also pretty good taking photos of the wildlife around where she lives. The picture to go with her Haiku is one she took herself. Let’s give her a big welcome!
Good Friday people! Hope your week was a good one. Mine was super busy as I head into my final lap of NaNo.
I want to apologize for not visiting all the great writers on FF’s. I have been so busy with NaNo and personal stuff that I have neglected my reading in an almost criminal manner. Please know that once all this craziness is settled some in my life I will be back reading and commenting like I used to!
Now onto the Friday Fictioneers! Below is this week’s picture and as always Rochelle Wisoff-Fields is our gracious hostess. Please visit her blog and read her wonderful take on the picture, you’ll be glad you did. Once there and of course after you read her little story, go ahead and click on the little blue critter and read some other great stories. We have some of the finest writers in the blog world with us each week. Don’t believe me? Then go take a look! Just click on Rochelle’s name and off you go for an adventure!
THE CHALLENGE:
Write a one hundred word story that has a beginning, middle and an end. (No one will be ostracized for going a few words over the count.)
THE KEY:
Make every word count.
Copyright – Sean Fallon
Genre: Mystery (96 words)
“It amazes me the inventive ways some criminals have in disposing their victims.” Detective Reynolds muttered.
“We’ll have to chip off the plaster to get an ID.” Officer Tim stated.
“Wonder who he pissed off. He was a handsome guy, once.”
“Will always be now, after being dipped in plaster.” Officer Tim said as he eyed the victim.
“Dipping him in plaster was enough to kill the guy. Why cut him in pieces too?”
“Easy transport is my guess.”
“Someone has a sick sense of humor though.” Officer Tim pointed to the sign above the door.
Hello everyone. While I toil away at NaNoWriMo, fellow blogger Mandy Eve Barnett as come to my rescue once more with a guest post.
It’s actually an article she did in May, but it’s good advice on keeping up with your characters. Give her a read, she has lots of good advice.
Let’s get to know Mandy a little bit better shall we. (I completely stole this from her blog! )
A Canadian resident, Mandy Eve-Barnett has a wealth of experiences to draw from for her writing. She has lived in South Africa, England and Canada and the uniqueness of each continent left its essence within her. An avid reader her whole life, it wasn’t until she joined a local writing group, the Writers Foundation of Strathcona County, that the writing ‘bug’ gripped her. Now Mandy writes with an all-encompassing passion and is deeply involved with the foundation and its members. Writing in various genres, Mandy has been published in anthologies, on numerous websites and in the local newspaper as well as regularly blogging about her writing journey. She has successfully completed three National Novel Writing Month challenges in 2009, 2010 and 2012 with the subsequent volume of work resulting in three novels. September 2011 saw the launch of her first children’s book, Rumble’s First Scare and August 2012 her adult fantasy e-book, The Rython Kingdom was released on Smashwords and Amazon.ca & Amazon.co.uk. And now available through Create Space as a print version. Currently, she is editing a magical/fantasy children’s book, Ockleberries to the Rescue and has completed a collaboration for a ‘how to’ write your memoir workbook, Your Lifetime of Stories. Currently she is planning a romance novel for NaNoWriMo 2013.
So then, Mandy is a busy woman! Even though she is so busy, she has graciously volunteered to help me. I can be nothing but grateful. So please click on the title below and read some great advice. Take it away Mandy!
Good Monday everyone! Hope your weekend was terrific!
Now it’s a Monday, but never fear it will soon be over and then we then go toward another weekend. Yeah, I’m an optimist.
I would like you to meet my new Guest blogger, Martin Conterez, also known as TheMathMaster from The Hungry Dog’s Lair blog. He is a wonderful writer and blogger. Go visit him and read some of his work that he is posting from NaNoWriMo. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. (Psst….. He wouldn’t mind if you sent a bit of money to him either. Really just read this if you don’t believe me.) hahaha.
Martin and I love comments, so please feel free to make comments or ask questions or just to say hi!
Today Martin is going to be discussing exercise, and finding time for anything you love to do. Take it away Martin!
Image credit: junussyndicate on deviantArt
I rather like the title of Jackie’s blog, To Breathe is to Write. I like writing but I don’t know if I would take it that far. On the other hand I like to run, or exercising in general. I would like to paraphrase her title and say to breathe is to run. Now I get that it’s not for everyone and I respect that. Exercise in general is not for everybody, and that’s okay too. Just the same, writing is not for everyone.
But this post is not about what you enjoy doing or what you don’t enjoy doing. Today’s post is about making time for the things we want to do and whether or not we really want to do them. When I’m meeting new people and describing some of the things I like to do I inevitably mention running. What I get in return is almost always, in one form or another, “Oh I never have time to exercise. How do you find time for it?”
Usually I give the short answer of, “Oh I run at lunch.”, or something like that. But I often want to give them the long explanation. Today I present to you the story of four people and how they find time for exercise.
The first person is M. M works for a large organization. Her work weeks range in the 50-60 hour range. She is responsible for overseeing the work of more than 200 people. She finds herself on call after hours to assist with emergencies that may pop up around the world. M not only runs, but she bikes and hits the gym on a regular basis. During runs together I’ve seen her hit the blackberry for a fast response to an email and never break a stride. Despite being 20 years my senior, she can run circles around me and does so on a regular basis. She can find time to exercise.
Our second person is M’s direct supervisor, well call him J. J works similar hours and has to be as aware if not more aware of the issues. In addition J travels and does press interviews about the very subjects that are so critical to his organization’s duties. Even with days full of meetings he finds time to run on a daily basis.
Senior to J is his supervisor JJ. JJ is the equivalent of a CEO of a large international organization. She is ultimately responsible for the work of thousands of employees. She travels constantly and represents her organization worldwide in meetings with high level officials and to the press. A normal workweek is between 60 and 70 hours. She is known to clear on average 30 to 40 documents a day, while handling around 1000 new emails daily. JJ is reported to run around 80 miles a week and even took her vacation at a running camp.
If JJ is a CEO, then her boss P would be the founder and leader of a large conglomerate. Serving on several Boards of Directors and being CEO of a few too. In total he oversees the work of tens of thousands of people. Their work ultimately has an impact on millions worldwide. His work has him meeting with high level officials on a daily basis and I can’t even imagine what his Inbox looks like. A work week of 80 hours would probably be a slow one. In addition to a constant barrage of meetings he has to clear at least as many documents as JJ, if not more. He is in such a position that if he wanted he could have a driver for everywhere he goes, including to and from work. P bikes to work. I’m going to repeat that, P bikes to work.
Then there’s myself. I work 40 hours, never a minute more. I get all the major holidays, and some minor ones too. I come in at 8 and I leave by 5 with a generous lunch period. If the people I just described above can find time to exercise, then there is no reason that I can’t. I hate to break it to you, but there’s no reason that you can’t find the time either. There may be a host of reasons why you can’t exercise, but time isn’t one of them.
Now let’s take this a bit further. Let’s talk about priorities. Let’s say you want to write. “But Martin, I don’t have time to write.” Bullocks I say. If you really want to do something you will make the time. For that matter let’s say you want to do something, anything in general, write, exercise, get a dog, paint, jump out of burning planes, it could be anything. Ask yourself, “What is stopping me from doing it?” If the answer is time, then you’re lying to yourself. If it is something you want to do then you will find the time. If the people I’ve described above can find the time for something as trivial as exercise, then you can find the time to follow your passion and your desires. It’s all about priorities. Go out there and make the time. You might just be happy that you did.
Good Sunday to everyone. Hope your weekend was a blast. Monday is coming soon enough, so go enjoy what weekend you have left.
I’m just doing a quick update on my NaNo progress. Did great this past week. Lots and lots of words written. Just hope they make some sort of sense in the end. So far I have a total of 24,636 words. The biggest chunk of that was done this past week. Hoping this coming week is a good one, but I’m definitely slowing down. Wish me luck to keep my pace up.
As I did last week on this blog I’m going to be having some guest posts. I sent out a call for help in things to post and I’ve had some great responses. A big thank you goes out to all who have helped or are going to. Starting tomorrow I’ll have Michelle from Michelle at Play , she’s going to give you a great list for this coming holiday season.
Then later in the week look for another great post by Mandy from Mandyevebarnett’s Blog, and Liz from BigBodyBeautiful will be here with some more of her wonderful poetry. I’m sure you won’t want to miss that!
Also, maybe, I’ll have another snippet from my NaNo project for you this week. So lots of good things to look forward to!
Since I’m doing NaNo this month I’ve asked for help in doing my blog posts. I’ve had some awesome responses. Bloggers are the best people!
First up is Mandy Barnett from MandyEveBarnett’s Blog. She is going to help us with our writing. Mandy is a wonderful writer herself and has a great blog. Please give her a warm welcome! I am going to be bringing you something from Mandy every Wednesday this month.
Good Tuesday everyone! This is just a quick call out for help before I tackled today’s NaNo writings.
I need a bit of help on my blog here. If anyone is interested in writing a guest blog post please let me know! I’m just not sure if I will have the time with NaNo and personal stuff going on to blog as much as I want. So I’m asking for your help!
If you would like to help a fellow blogger out contact me at ……. jrpbooks (at) mail (dot) com
The topic can be pretty much anything! Humor would be great because I don’t do funny well. Poetry? Short stories? Help!!!!!
Thank you from the bottom of my writer’s heart. You guys are awesome!
Happy Monday everyone. Well at least as happy as a Monday can be. Got to make the best of things.
Thought I would give you a quick update on my NaNo writing and maybe a small, tiny little piece of what I’m doing. Won’t give you the genre just yet. Got to keep some mystery right?
Anyway Friday was Nov 1st and the start of NaNo. I got off to a terrible start due to some software glitches and other stuff I had to finish. So didn’t do too well word wise. Only 1374 the first day, although I did that in a little over an hour, so not too shabby. But I wasn’t happy.
Nov 2nd came and it was the weekend. I sat down and the words just would not come! My mind was a blank. Now quite often my mind is a blank but this was not good when I need to write 1667 words a day! That’s just to keep on target! So I’m a bit upset with myself, but go do a few other things and settle myself down. Come back to the computer and just write. Finally managed 1288 words before company showed up and blew me out of the water. Ugh.
I let the first few days go, figure I still have all month I will just have to be more disciplined. So Sunday I take my coffee in my office with Sam and close the door. I need quiet when I write so closed the door because the husband has to have the tv on full blast. Settle in my chair with my Tim’s coffee and just start writing. Didn’t stop till I had nothing left in me. Managed to do 2522 words! Yehaw!! Go me! With that my word count in back on track for the month and I am up to 4 chapters. Doing good so far.
So I did a bit of cruising the old web and found a pretty cool calendar you can print out for NaNo. It keeps track of your word count in easy chunks. So it doesn’t seem too overwhelming and quite doable. It’s at DavidSeah.com, David has a pretty cool blog also you might want to check out.
I have a huge cork board on my office wall and I pinned it up there. Looks nice and cheerful. Go take a look and print one out for yourself. You’re Welcome.
Anyway, I haven’t done my writing yet today for NaNo so I need to get moving. I’m doing good though, not yet noon here. Below is a tiny bit of what I wrote yesterday. Let me know what you think. See you all later!
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All of us kids were terrified of my dad. He had a bad temper and he was the one we got the worse beatings from. He didn’t shy away from using his fists or his feet. Don’t get me wrong. I loved my father very much. It was just he had a really short triggered temper. When I became older him and I had a few shouting matches. I believe I was the only one of his kids that ever did that. I was never punished for it either. I think in his way he respected me for standing up for myself. I suppose I will never know now that he’s dead. But I often think that is how it was.
I remember so vividly the first time he and I had a shouting match. I think I was about 14, maybe younger. It was summertime and I was trying to help my dad pack a small flatbed trailer for our two-week vacation. By then OB was well out of the picture. My other older brother S* was married and out of the house. It was just me, my sister and younger brother. We always spent summer vacations in upper Wisconsin. We rented a cabin from a family friend for two weeks that was right on a beautiful lake. Still, packing for a two-week vacation for five people generated a lot of stuff! We had to take our own bedding, towels, clothes and of course lots of other stuff Mom thought was important.
So I was helping him try to fit everything in this small trailer. My dad was never the most patient of men. His fuse was short and quick. Things were not fitting like he wanted. Too many boxes and not enough room. He lost his temper and just started yelling at me.
“Why the hell is there so much shit?!” He yelled.
“How is so much shit needed for two freakin’ weeks!? It won’t all fit in this freakin’ damn trailer!” Dad screams at me as he throws a small box toward me.
I think I was so stunned that he would throw something at me when all I was trying to do is help that I just lost all common sense for a minute.
“What are you yelling at me for?!” I screamed right back.
“I didn’t pack the darn stuff! All I am trying to do is help!” I yelled, then promptly started crying and stomped toward the back door of the house.
I was so mad and so scared at the same time because I yelled back at him, I just wanted to go to my room and have a good cry. As I went through the back door into the kitchen, my mom asked what all the yelling was about.
“Dad just lost it because he says there is too much stuff to pack on the trailer and it won’t fit. So he started yelling at me and it’s not my fault!” I told her then went to my bedroom and sat on my bed.
I remember thinking, ‘I’ll be damned if I’ll help him anymore. He can just yell and scream at someone else. I’ve had enough! Mom packed the boxes not me! Yell at her why don’t you’! I of course never said these things out loud, I figured I was already in enough trouble just by yelling back at him. No one yelled back at my dad, except mom. Not any of us kids that was for sure. Unless you wanted a good beating. I really thought that was what I was going to get once he came back into the house. I was in for a surprise though.
I was sitting on my bed trying really hard not to cry and scared to death. I felt for sure I was in for a beating. Okay, not a beating since Dad stopped hitting us girls when we turned teenagers. He told us we were young ladies then and ladies didn’t get hit by men. But believe me his yelling was enough to scare the crap out of you. So I felt even IF he didn’t hit me I was in for a some classic Dad yelling. I heard him come in the house and say something to my mom. They talked for a few minutes and then I heard him walking toward my room. Oh shit, here it comes. I braced myself.
“You okay?” Dad asked from the doorway of my room.
“I guess.”
“I’m sorry I yelled at you. Come help me finish so we can get going.” My dad said as he held out his hand.
I hesitated for a moment. I couldn’t believe my ears. Dad apologized? To me? For yelling? Wow! He never apologized! Not even to mom that I have ever heard. I had a witness too! My sister was in the room sitting on her bed, her eyes were big and she was as quiet as a mouse. We both felt for sure I was going to be punished for daring to yell at dad. And he came and apologized!
That was a moment in my history I will never forget. I dared to stand up for myself for the first time and I won! It wasn’t the last time me and dad shouted at each other. But each time I did it was justified. It must have been because I was never punished for it. It also was not the first time he apologized to me either. It didn’t happen often, but it did happen.
The rest of the packing went fairly smoothly and we set off for our vacation. But I was looked at kind of in awe for a few days from my siblings. I yelled back at dad and came out of it the victor. It didn’t last long, but hey I lived through it.
Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you are all ready for the little monsters that will come a-knocking. Since this is the first Halloween in our new home I’m not sure how many we will have this year. I put that into the husband’s hands. I will be busy writing as I’m so far behind schedule, it’s scary! (Not to mention kids terrify me on the best of days!)
I wanted to finish the serial story I have been writing and of course other things got in the way. Yesterday I spent most of the day dealing with insurance people, government people, bank people and doctors. By the time I was done I was ready to either collapse or kill someone. Justified homicide I say!
I certainly was in no frame of mind to write. So I let it go and tried to relax. But I did promise a Halloween story and I’m here to deliver! As for the rest of “On the Run”, I will get to that if it kills me, which it might as tomorrow is the start of NaNoWriMo and I’m not missing that!
Okay, enough of my whining. Let me set up the story.
Way back in January of this year I wrote about Abe. He is my resident ghost and has been with me throughout my life, well since I was about 5. He’s moved with me wherever I went. It’s a true story and if you haven’t read it you can do so here. (My life with Abe)
I also wrote about growing up in a very haunted house. We all saw things that couldn’t be explained away. We felt things too. You can read that post here. (The Haunting of Home)
Now I’m going to tell you about the poltergeist we had living with us. Now I don’t know if it was the same spirit we all felt that I talked about in The Haunting of Home, but I do know it was a special kind of scary for us kids. The story will explain why.
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crazy-frankenstein.com
Our house was a two-story duplex. One family living upstairs, my family living down. It had a scary dank basement and a dusty, dry attic. It was an old house. The closest we could figure it was built somewhere in the very early 1900’s or maybe even as early as the 1890’s.
We knew about ghosts in the house. After all we had all heard them, even the adults admitted hearing something. We saw shadows, heard footsteps, even the odd sounds now and then. I probably heard and saw more than anyone else. I think I’m more ‘in tune’ with the spirit world.
Everyone that lived in that house did not like to go to the basement. It gave off an evil aura. But I’m not going to write about that again. What I want to tell you about is the poltergeist.
We had an old fashion walk in pantry in the house. The kind that had a door and was like another room. In fact it was another room. It was lined with shelves and cupboards and had a window on the opposite wall of the door. A small window, but at least it lets in some light.
It was of course right off the kitchen. On the other side of the kitchen and pantry were a bathroom and a bedroom. The bedroom was where my little brother slept. My bedroom that I shared with my sister was on the opposite side of the house.
One night we all heard banging and crashing in the kitchen. It was the middle of the night and it was loud! We all got up, me, my sister and my parents. We went into the kitchen and my mom turned on the light. The pantry door was open and there were flour and sugar all over the kitchen!
I mean it was tossed all over the table and the floor. The pantry was also a mess. My mother screamed my little brother’s name and she stomped toward his room. He was the only one that wasn’t in the room.
She found him sound asleep! She had to shake him hard to get him to wake up. I remember being so scared. But I also remember thinking my little brother didn’t do that. There was no way he would have incurred my parents wrath that way. It was too stupid even for him to do.
My parents were known to have tempers. Both of them. Back then there wasn’t the no spanking thing there is today. We not only got spanked. We got beat if we did something wrong! My dad would use his fist on the boys. My mom would too but I was usually her favorite target. Not that night though.
They thought my little brother was the culprit and he was only pretending to be asleep. I could see he didn’t do it. Even that young I thought he should be covered in flour and there wasn’t any in his room or on him.
I remember my mom made us clean up that kitchen and pantry before we could go back to bed. I believe it was a Friday night, because I remember thinking that it was a good thing we didn’t have school in the morning.
When this happened, me and my brother were fairly young. I was probably around 9 or ten, him a few years younger. We were close back then and I asked him in a whisper while we were cleaning if he did it. He swore to me he didn’t and I believed him.
So the day goes on as usual and we all get ready for bed. I was a little freaked out going to bed that night. I had never heard of poltergeist yet. I knew about ghosts, sure, but not this particular kind. By definition a poltergeist is:
Poltergeist, a troublesome spirit or ghost that manifests itself by moving and influencing objects
Yeah, that pretty much says it all.
Wikipedia also says this: Single poltergeist cases often range in duration from a few hours to several months.
Our poltergeist didn’t last months, but it lasted along enough to have the whole family on edge and me and my poor brother walking on eggshells. Why me?
Because our resident poltergeist made another appearance. This time I got blamed. Yeah, lucky me.
It happened a few weeks after the first incidence. We didn’t know it happened until we got up one morning. Again, the kitchen and pantry was filled with flour, sugar and cereal. Also powdered milk. Anything that could make a mess was on the floor, shelves and walls. No one heard a sound this time. We all slept through it all. That in itself was rather creepy. How could all this be done without noise?
The reason I was blamed? My mom figured my brother could not be so stupid as to do it twice. So it had to be me! Crazy right? Not to her.
I swore and cried that I didn’t do it! Because I didn’t! Hell I certainly wasn’t that stupid! And I certainly didn’t want a damn beating! So much for certainties.
It was months before it happened one more time. My dad had put a lock on the pantry door for at night. Since nothing had happened for quite some time he felt it had to have been one of us kids. Then that one last time happened.
The pantry door was locked. We were all asleep and we heard noises coming from the kitchen. So we all run out there and the kitchen is a mess! Again! The pantry door was wide open and the shelves were full of flour and sugar. Then as I was standing in the doorway while everyone else is in the kitchen blaming one another for the mess, I feel a cold breeze go by me. I mean it was icy. It gave me goose bumps.
We cleaned up the kitchen once more and my parents felt certain it was still one of us kids! How we got the lock opened? Well they weren’t quite sure about that, but they were determined it had to be us. I believe we were all grounded for a while. As none of us did it, no one would confess.
From what I can remember it never happened again and no one would talk about it. They didn’t want to talk about it. And they like burying their heads in the sand when it came to things they didn’t want to discuss.
As for me. Oh yeah I remember. I’ll never forget that cold, icy breeze.
Life, Love & Strength 