This Mother’s Day I received a note from one of my sons’ that offered me a different perspective on Mother’s Day this year. It made me stop and realize that the gift of being a mom is something my children gave me. And rather than be the recipient of the gratitude and love, I needed…
Bloody Mary Worth
I was in third grade, walking home from school with a bunch of girls – they were the popular girls, and I was the tagalong. They told me about a sleep-over they’d had at one of their homes where all the girls went into the bathroom together, turned off the lights, lit a small candle,…
My Grandson’s Friends
Many of you have already been introduced to Ophelia Julien, a dear friend of mine and the author of the wonderful (and scary) Bridgeton Park Cemetery Series. Ophelia just released her newest book in the series – Dream Him Dead: #7 (A Bridgeton Park Cemetery). So, to help promote her new book and to treat…
Saying Goodbye
The statistics on the repercussion of the Covid19 shutdowns are just starting to hit the news cycles. Reports on mental health issues, especially with teenagers, are staggering. We’ve all had friends and acquaintances who owned small businesses or rental properties who are suffering financially. But I believe one of the hardest things we are going…
Creepy Roads, Take Me Home
There are a couple of rules that you should follow when you’re going to build something. One, don’t build a housing development on an old graveyard, and two, don’t build a highway on an ancient Native American burial ground. The Pocahontas Parkway near Richmond, Virginia has a reputation for being very active. But it’s not…
New Year Superstitions
My wonderful mother-in-law was from Scotland and every New Year’s she would remind us that the first person to enter her house on New Year’s Day needed to be a tall, dark, and handsome man bearing a small gift. Luckily for her, she had two dark-haired, handsome sons. The superstition is called “first footing” and…
Pukwudgies
Pukwudgies – one of those words that freak out my spellcheck and also sound suspiciously like a type of candy. I had never heard of them until the Astonishing Legends podcast included them in one of their episodes. The Algonquin Indian tribe believes them to be a North American version of a gnome or fairy….
Halloween and A Blue Moon
Because tomorrow is Halloween and, on top of that, we are going to have a full, blue moon, I thought we needed some good old-fashioned ghost stories today. Let me start by explaining that scary things have been happening in my house. I wake up in the morning and things that had been on tables…
House Hunting
When I’ve gone house-hunting, I generally look for a couple of things – closets and places to put “stuff”, a nice kitchen with lots of lights, and a place for the Christmas tree. Everything beyond that is kind of secondary. Of course, I haven’t been house-hunting for about thirty years, so maybe my expectations will…
Guardian Ghosts
Well, maybe the title ought to be Guardian Angels. Problem is, I’m not too sure these ghosts were angels, but they sure acted like them. I’m writing about this particular subject because a lot of stories have recently come my way that seems to indicate that some of the ghosts around us are here to…