I'm a liberal pagan living in West, Texas. Yes. That West, Texas.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

NO SMOKING...

Jadedj's comment about smoke made me remember my other ghost..
When I first moved into my little house on Walnut, the guy that had lived there before me had lived there for years and was a very heavy smoker..he died in the house, in my bedroom from various old age ailments. Before I moved in they had to remove the carpet, scrub the walls, put kilz on it and then put 3 coats of paint on the walls..as a non-smoker I can smell a match, a wiff of smoke 1/2 a block away..I moved in the house during cool weather..fall I think..yes..Sept. So I kept the windows and the door open...fresh air and all that shit..(before allergies decided that was bad mojo)..every morning about 3-4 I'd hear a match strike and smell smoke.. I thought what the fuck?..I'd get up turn on lights, look all over the house, out in the yard, thinking it was a neighbor..nothing..this went on every night..I even complained to Edda who lived in the big house up front..she laughed and said the guy that had lived there always got up in the middle of the night and smoked a cigarette and then would go back to bed..had mentioned it to her because his dr had told him to quit. So one morning when I heard the match and smelled the smoke I said 'you know..I hate the smell of smoke and you're making my sleep miserable, do you think you could go somewhere else and do that?'...It never happened again..so me and ghosts and cigarette smoke..is there a link? Maybe 'the boy' said lets fuck with her..and you blow smoke in her face every night..see how she likes it now... only the shadow knows ..

ghosts, spooks, spirits, the living dead?

No, I'm not talking about the republican's running for the Presidency.I'm talking about my run in's with folks from the other side...I think...
When I lived in Portland, Oregon I was a single mother with two young boys..at the time we moved into the house David and Thom were 2 and 3.. I had been looking for  a place that I could share with two other waitress's..one with a daughter about 6 and one with no kids. We found this 4 story old house that had at one time been a single family home..over the years it had been sold, rented out and had become a sort of boarding house..it had so many bedrooms and bathrooms I have lost count..winding stairways and an attic with a commode in the middle of the room..It had rooms that to my way of thinking had no reason to be there but I'm sure back in the 1800's there was a reason for it..it was scheduled to be razed in about a year so we were more or less allowed to rent it for $50 a month to be caretakers..this was spring of 1968. We all moved in and things were 'just perfect,' Everyone had their own bedroom..there was so many rooms you could always find a place to get away from everyone else, if you wanted privacy. I had the bedroom that was off the stairs and off of my bedroom was a room we called the sun room. It actually looked a lot like this room, but it was finished and had benches along the windows..it got direct sun..and because of the shape of the windows it had no curtains..This room should have been the warmest room in the house..it was the coldest..you could see your breath when you went in it..I had planned on using it to keep my books and read and draw...had to wear coat and gloves to stay in there..so it wasn't used..it's funny that no one thought it was strange..just well, can't use that room. The boys and my room mates daughter was the one that brought our invisible room mate to our attention..They often talked about their friend that had a cough and didn't like us smoking in the house..We just figured they didn't like it and was using him to get us to quit smoking. Then the ashtrays started appearing in the front yard..furniture would be moved around..rearranged actually.. When we asked the kids they said 'the boy' didn't like smoking and he wanted the furniture the way it was when he lived there..OK.....So we said why doesn't 'the boy' like smoking? They said he was sick and he coughed all the time and the smoke made it worse. So we quit smoking in the house..we also learned to leave the furniture where he liked it..Then things got a little weird..I was in the downstairs shower getting ready for work and  had my radio sitting on a ledge by the shower..blasting rock and roll...click...off..I turned it back on, got back in the shower and click...off...then it came back on but you could hear it going thru stations until it was on classical music and then it stopped..I got out of the shower and said 'now you stop that, leave my radio alone'....and it went back thru the stations and back on rock and roll. The boys and Rosemary's baby(we called her that so much that I have forgotten her real name) were always telling us stories about 'the boy'..he went to school..a big boys school is what David (oldest) said..but he had to quit going to school because he was so sick...By then I'm thinking I need to talk to the people that rented us the house..a rental agency. So I went to see them and the lady was pretty evasive at first, denying knowing what the hell I was talking about..finally she admitted that back in the late 1800's the family that had build the home had several kids but the oldest had  some sort of lung disease, had to drop out of university and eventually died..in that damn freezing sunroom..We were getting close to the having to move out of the house because they were going to raze it so we figured we'd just stay there and move when we were supposed to. 
One day while the kids were playing in the front yard with our 2 half husky/half wolf dogs, Simon and Garfunkel I took a bunch of pictures..when I got them developed we were shocked to see that there were curtains in the window in each picture and someone standing in the window watching the kids play.. holyfuckme..So we started packing up and started moving out..This did not make 'the boy' happy...he liked having David and Thom there..Rosemary and her baby had moved back home and the other roommate had already moved ..So it was just the 3 of us..'The boy' was starting to be destructive. He would unpack boxes, toss things around..and we could see shapes of him everywhere..like his anger made him stronger..we would have to pack a box and move it out of the house..Finally the last day I had to go down to the cellar and get some old trunks that I had been collecting..must have been 4-5 of them..The boy was shoving  things around, appearing all over the place and you could actually feel him in the room...Fuck it says I ..and left the trunks and got the fuck out of Dodge...Ghost? Spirit? Spook? Only the shadow knows..


Monday, October 26, 2015

FOOTBALL........SUCKS. BUT ABBY HAD A GREAT BIRTHDAY

 Grandpa helping Abby open presents.. Jennifer made that tutu dress...well she made the tutu and attached it to a Peppa pig shirt.
 Abby and Laura(Jamie's best friend) Abby is a ham.
 The birthday party was held at Pikasso's..where there is a huge room full of ceramics items, like dragons, Disney characters, plates, cups, dolphins, dogs, etc. and you buy the one you like and then you paint it and then they cook it and glaze it.It's really cool and the kids had a great time..Had a chocolate cake decorated for Peppa Pig and all sorts of other foods, sandwiches, veggie platter and fruit platter..drinks..
 Abby, her daddy and Olivia..(who dressed herself)
 Grandpa and his girls..
 Jamie and the girls.
 Nana and the hambone.
 Nana and Olivia.
 Abby painting her bird..least I think it was a bird..
 Jamie, Abby, Zac, my step Grandson Scotty, Ava and Scotty's girlfriend Laurie.
 Jamie and Abby..who every time she opened it she said 'look everybody'...
 she got a ton of clothes and toys..almost everything was Peppa Pig or Frozen.
 see the little pink tackle box I got her to go with her fishing pole..her daddy takes her fishing out at his place.

 the great trailer/van for Peppa Pig..it is so cool.
 out like a light after a big day..with her little kitty and Dr McStuffin's little lamb.
oh, and while all this was happening? the cowboys lost to the giants.....

still rainy Monday......