Ghosts?

During the week leading up to Halloween I become sufficiently spooked watching everything and anything on TV that has to do with ghosts. I enjoy getting the creeps from such shows as, "Scariest Places on Earth," "Haunted Hotels" and "Ghost Hunters," just to name a few.

I tune in for amusement. It's fun to think that there may still be some mysteries in this world that can't be explained by science or logic.

My family has experienced something we can't explain but are happy to share with anyone foolish enough to wind up in our clutches. We tell our stories, offer the evidence, and shoot down whatever theory may be presented. No one has been able to explain what has shown up in our photos. I can only give the facts and will let you draw your own conclusions. Prepare to be spooked.

My dad died a few months before my sister's wedding. His absence was heavy on the minds of all who attended, especially as my nephew escorted her down the aisle. When we developed our pictures, some were dotted with bright circles of light in varying sizes. They weren't dust particles or some kind of glare.

Paranormal investigators call them, "orbs." One of these orbs floated right above my sister's head as she walked back down the aisle with her new husband.

Since then these bright, perfect circles of light have appeared from time to time in photos we've taken of significant events. We've never had them show up before my dad's death. But now, despite different locations, different times of day, even with different cameras, the orbs appear.

The truth is, I don't want to know what they are. Let me go on believing that "there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy" and that maybe love really does conquer all. Even death.

(I can't post any of our photos at the moment. I'll have to add them some time tomorrow. Sorry 'bout that!)

Whatever Happened To...?

I was thinking about the good ole days in Taylorland when we would stay up way too late in GC chat because it was just too much fun to leave. We made friends there. When GC shut down, some of us met at a closed blog for a while. For different reasons, people started to peel off, getting back to their lives.

So I was wondering if anyone has heard from any of those regulars that don't show up anywhere anymore? I'm also nostalgic for a few posters from GC who weren't necessarily friends of mine, but who used to contribute a lot to the conversation there. Here's my list (in alph order). Tell me if you have any news about them. Add to the list, if you like:

basenji
DebSays
E!!!!
OhKay!
squeebee
six (6)
soultrain
texan
tojo
wompuss

P.S. Look what I found when I did a google image search for "Gray Charles."
http://www.zazzle.com/graycharles

Swept Out To Sea

You may remember that we were planning to buy a beach house (with another couple) that we could rent out and use ourselves when it was empty. I haven't written an update because my heart is broken. It looks like it's not going to happen.

Here are some photos I took in August of one of our favorite houses:

A lovely woman owns this house and filled it with photos of her kids and grand kids enjoying the beach throughout the years. She was sad about selling the house. Sweet.

Her house is down there somewhere in the wake of Hurricane Ike:

I contacted our real estate agent just to check in and make sure he was OK, but all I got in return was a short e-mail telling me their office is closed until further notice. And as far as I know, officials aren't letting anyone except residents on the island.

So I don't even know if that house is still standing. I don't know if the owner is OK. We've heard terrible stories about people who chose to ride out the hurricane and were last heard from on their cell phones, saying that the water was rising and the roads were impassible.

Another area we looked at:

We drove up and down the streets, parked the car and took a look at the beach.

Outside one adorable little house, I said to Greg, "Let's make an offer right now!" I wasn't completely serious and in the end, we wound up crossing this area off the list because (as you can see in the above photo) the beach itself was kind of small. But here's that area now:



Yeah, it's that famous photo of the one house left standing. That's the main road we drove down as we looked for street signs, trying to locate specific houses.

I'm sad for me, of course, but it pales in comparison to how I feel for those people on Bolivar Peninsula. I think about the people we met on our little jaunts down there- the smiling women at the real estate office, the friendly home owners, the waitresses who served our food- and I wonder what they lost in the Hurricane. I wonder if they're among the missing.

So I've avoided writing about this because I can barely comprehend it. My folder still sits here on my desk holding pictures of the houses we liked. I can't bring myself to throw it away, as if keeping the photos and all of my little notes will make the devastation less real.

Analytics

I installed a tracker on my blog months ago but, no need to worry, I don't know what any of it means! The only reason I decided to use one was because I was curious to see how many people come here in a day. You can't tell by the comments.

It's surprising how many people pop into my blog from all over the world. Look at the list: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Singapore, Italy, Brazil, Belgium, Mexico, India, Trinidad, Tobago, France, Puerto Rico, Germany, Philippines and Spain.

The number of daily hits and the list of countries they come from is about all I can make sense of. I'm not a very serious blogger, so the rest of it doesn't matter to me anyway.

But I have become self-conscious when I visit other blogs. I know that some of my favorite bloggers keep track of who stops by, when and how often. Frankly it's annoying. Nobody needs to track me. I'm harmless. I have no hidden agendas. But I know you'll do it anyway so I feel I have to explain my computer habits.

This drives my kids crazy. They say it slows down the computer, but I like to open up everything that I want to take care of at one time and then work my way down the list. In other words, I've been known to have 10-20 (!) websites, blogs and e-mails open at the same time. I get a big, hot cup of coffee and get to work, starting at the top and working my way down.

I know! It's weird and it's wrong, but I get satisfaction out of closing the last page (is that what you call it?) and knowing that I'm done online. So if I seem to be lingering at your blog for an hour or so, I'm not actually there. Your blog is waiting in line for my attention.

Another thing I do is refresh, refresh, refresh if I leave a comment somewhere. I've just got to know if someone responded to me! So you may sit back and wonder why I'm so obsessed with your blog that I visited ten times that day, when in reality, I'm just obsessed with myself. (ha) I worry too much about being misunderstood, so I have to keep up with how people react to my comments.

So, in a nutshell, Yes-I have a tracker but I don't know how to use it. And Yes-I know you're tracking me even though it's useless information (I'm not up to anything!).