Rustling leaves under the rake
Aroma of pie in the oven to bake
Change in the wind, brisk on my face
Leaves skip the street - running a race
Pumpkins and gourds, the Sun's tilted rays
School bells and scarecrows, much shorter days
Hello to Fall that came so fast
Goodbye to Summer, a season of past
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
One of My Favorite Poems
Hello, Bloggers!
Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there.
Being a mom is a wonderful and challenging job. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, but there are definitely times when I can identify with the lady in the Calgon commercial! "Calgon, take me away!"
In honor of Mother's Day, I thought I would share one of my favorite poems. I found this little plaque at a garage sale many years ago. I only paid 25 cents for it, but it is one of my most valued "treasures" in my home. I read it whenever I am "out of sorts" about how to handle the latest "phase" Daniel is going through (ha). It goes like this:
Oh give me patience
When wee hands
Tug at me
With their small demands
And give me gentle
And smiling eyes
Keep my lips
From hasty replies
And let not weariness,
Confusion, or noise
Obscure my vision
Of life's fleeting joys
So when, in years to come
My house is still
No bitter memories
It's room may fill
I just Love that!
Love,
Diane
Friday, April 27, 2007
The History of Scrabble
Hello Bloggers!
Tonight I thought I would write about one of my favorite games, Scrabble! I am a true game lover, almost any kind of game. As far back as I can remember I have loved to play games. I think sometimes people consider me to be competitive, but I don't. I do my best at whatever I'm playing, but I don't care who wins. Some of my favorite games include Dominoes, Dice (10,000), Rummikub, Backgammon, Chess, 7 card Rummy, Trivial Pursuit, Scene It DVD game, Taboo... the list goes on and on. (I'm really no good at Trivial Pursuit or Backgammon but I still love to play) I think I literally own most every game you can buy. Sadly, my son did not inherit this same passion, so... many games I have bought are still like new and covered with dust in my basement. :) I can't bring myself to let them go. The games that aren't played often enough to reserve a spot upstairs, are cast to the basement where I have (and I'm not kidding) a WHOLE WALL in my laundry room, with five standing storage units that each have five shelves, AND an entire closet PACKED with all of my games. I still have a few from when I was little. (I even still have my Candy Land game - call me slightly sentimental! Or maybe just plain "mental" ha ha)
In the "word games" category I like Taboo and Scattergories, but Scrabble has to be my favorite. The game has a perfect mix of chance and skill. You never know what letters you will draw, but your strategic placement of the tiles can score big points and win you the game.
Recently some family members and I have been having online Scrabble "tournaments" through email. It's a great way to play a game with someone far away. You receive an email when it's your turn and make your play at your leisure. It's nice because you don't have an impatient opponent sitting across the table from you, with a scowl on their face, waiting forever for you to think of a word. (which often happens in Scrabble) --- In fact come to think of it, Chess would be another great email game --- since it takes a long time to make your move --- You can sit and think at your computer, on your own time, for as long as you like and everyone has fun!
I decided to go to the official Scrabble website today and they had a whole page about the history of Scrabble. I found it very interesting, so I thought I would copy and paste it into a blog to share with the rest of you. I have also included the web address. They have some skill building exercises you can play, give it a whirl!
SCRABBLE 101
The story of SCRABBLE is a classic example of American innovation and perseverance.
Who invented SCRABBLE?
During the Great Depression, an out-of-work architect named Alfred Mosher Butts decided to invent a board game. He did some market research and concluded that games fall into three categories: number games, such as dice and bingo; move games, such as chess and checkers; and word games, such as anagrams. Butts wanted to create a game that combined the vocabulary skills of crossword puzzles and anagrams, with the additional element of chance. The game was originally named Lexico, but Butts eventually decided to call the game "Criss-Cross Words."
How did he do it?
Butts studied the front page of The New York Times to calculate how often each of the 26 letters of the English language was used. He discovered that vowels appear far more often than consonants, with E being the most frequently used vowel. After figuring out frequency of use, Butts assigned different point values to each letter and decided how many of each letter would be included in the game. The letter S posed a problem. While it's frequently used, Butts decided to include only four S's in the game, hoping to limit the use of plurals. After all, he didn't want the game to be too easy! Butts got it just right. His basic cryptographic analysis of our language and his original tile distribution have remained valid for almost three generations and for billions of games played. The boards for the first Criss-Cross Words game were hand drawn with his architectural drafting equipment, reproduced by blueprinting and pasted on folding checkerboards. The tiles were similarly hand-lettered, then glued to quarter-inch balsa and cut to match the squares on the board.
Then What?
Butts' first attempts to sell his game to established game manufacturers were failures, but he didn't give up. He and his partner, game-loving entrepreneur James Brunot, refined the rules and design of the game, and renamed it SCRABBLE. The name, which means "to grope frantically," was trademarked in 1948. The first SCRABBLE "factory" was an abandoned schoolhouse in Dodgington, Connecticut, where Brunot and friends turned out 12 games an hour. The letters were stamped on wooden tiles one at a time. Later, boards, boxes and tiles were made elsewhere and sent to the factory for assembly and shipping. The first four years were a struggle. In 1949, the Brunot's made 2,400 sets and lost $450. As so often happens in the game business, SCRABBLE plugged along, gaining slow but steady popularity among a comparative handful of consumers. Then in the early 1950s, as legend has it, the president of Macy's discovered the game on vacation, and ordered some for his store. Within a year, everyone "had to have one," and SCRABBLE sets were being rationed to stores around the country. In 1952, the Brunots realized they could no longer make the games fast enough to meet the growing interest. They licensed Selchow and Righter Company, a well-known game manufacturer founded in 1867, to market and distribute the games in the United States and Canada. Even Selchow and Righter had to step up production to meet the overwhelming demand for the SCRABBLE game. As stories about it appeared in national newspapers, magazines and on television, it seemed that everybody had to have a set immediately. In 1972, Selchow and Righter purchased the trademark SCRABBLE from Brunot, thereby giving them the exclusive rights to all SCRABBLE Brand products and entertainment services in the United States and Canada.
Here is the web address: http://www.hasbro.com/scrabble/home.cfm
Check it out when you can!
Tonight I thought I would write about one of my favorite games, Scrabble! I am a true game lover, almost any kind of game. As far back as I can remember I have loved to play games. I think sometimes people consider me to be competitive, but I don't. I do my best at whatever I'm playing, but I don't care who wins. Some of my favorite games include Dominoes, Dice (10,000), Rummikub, Backgammon, Chess, 7 card Rummy, Trivial Pursuit, Scene It DVD game, Taboo... the list goes on and on. (I'm really no good at Trivial Pursuit or Backgammon but I still love to play) I think I literally own most every game you can buy. Sadly, my son did not inherit this same passion, so... many games I have bought are still like new and covered with dust in my basement. :) I can't bring myself to let them go. The games that aren't played often enough to reserve a spot upstairs, are cast to the basement where I have (and I'm not kidding) a WHOLE WALL in my laundry room, with five standing storage units that each have five shelves, AND an entire closet PACKED with all of my games. I still have a few from when I was little. (I even still have my Candy Land game - call me slightly sentimental! Or maybe just plain "mental" ha ha)
In the "word games" category I like Taboo and Scattergories, but Scrabble has to be my favorite. The game has a perfect mix of chance and skill. You never know what letters you will draw, but your strategic placement of the tiles can score big points and win you the game.
Recently some family members and I have been having online Scrabble "tournaments" through email. It's a great way to play a game with someone far away. You receive an email when it's your turn and make your play at your leisure. It's nice because you don't have an impatient opponent sitting across the table from you, with a scowl on their face, waiting forever for you to think of a word. (which often happens in Scrabble) --- In fact come to think of it, Chess would be another great email game --- since it takes a long time to make your move --- You can sit and think at your computer, on your own time, for as long as you like and everyone has fun!
I decided to go to the official Scrabble website today and they had a whole page about the history of Scrabble. I found it very interesting, so I thought I would copy and paste it into a blog to share with the rest of you. I have also included the web address. They have some skill building exercises you can play, give it a whirl!
SCRABBLE 101
The story of SCRABBLE is a classic example of American innovation and perseverance.
Who invented SCRABBLE?
During the Great Depression, an out-of-work architect named Alfred Mosher Butts decided to invent a board game. He did some market research and concluded that games fall into three categories: number games, such as dice and bingo; move games, such as chess and checkers; and word games, such as anagrams. Butts wanted to create a game that combined the vocabulary skills of crossword puzzles and anagrams, with the additional element of chance. The game was originally named Lexico, but Butts eventually decided to call the game "Criss-Cross Words."
How did he do it?
Butts studied the front page of The New York Times to calculate how often each of the 26 letters of the English language was used. He discovered that vowels appear far more often than consonants, with E being the most frequently used vowel. After figuring out frequency of use, Butts assigned different point values to each letter and decided how many of each letter would be included in the game. The letter S posed a problem. While it's frequently used, Butts decided to include only four S's in the game, hoping to limit the use of plurals. After all, he didn't want the game to be too easy! Butts got it just right. His basic cryptographic analysis of our language and his original tile distribution have remained valid for almost three generations and for billions of games played. The boards for the first Criss-Cross Words game were hand drawn with his architectural drafting equipment, reproduced by blueprinting and pasted on folding checkerboards. The tiles were similarly hand-lettered, then glued to quarter-inch balsa and cut to match the squares on the board.
Then What?
Butts' first attempts to sell his game to established game manufacturers were failures, but he didn't give up. He and his partner, game-loving entrepreneur James Brunot, refined the rules and design of the game, and renamed it SCRABBLE. The name, which means "to grope frantically," was trademarked in 1948. The first SCRABBLE "factory" was an abandoned schoolhouse in Dodgington, Connecticut, where Brunot and friends turned out 12 games an hour. The letters were stamped on wooden tiles one at a time. Later, boards, boxes and tiles were made elsewhere and sent to the factory for assembly and shipping. The first four years were a struggle. In 1949, the Brunot's made 2,400 sets and lost $450. As so often happens in the game business, SCRABBLE plugged along, gaining slow but steady popularity among a comparative handful of consumers. Then in the early 1950s, as legend has it, the president of Macy's discovered the game on vacation, and ordered some for his store. Within a year, everyone "had to have one," and SCRABBLE sets were being rationed to stores around the country. In 1952, the Brunots realized they could no longer make the games fast enough to meet the growing interest. They licensed Selchow and Righter Company, a well-known game manufacturer founded in 1867, to market and distribute the games in the United States and Canada. Even Selchow and Righter had to step up production to meet the overwhelming demand for the SCRABBLE game. As stories about it appeared in national newspapers, magazines and on television, it seemed that everybody had to have a set immediately. In 1972, Selchow and Righter purchased the trademark SCRABBLE from Brunot, thereby giving them the exclusive rights to all SCRABBLE Brand products and entertainment services in the United States and Canada.
Here is the web address: http://www.hasbro.com/scrabble/home.cfm
Check it out when you can!
Also, the site where you can set up an online game of Scrabble through email is http://Scrabulous.com
What are your favorite games???
That's all for tonight! Happy Scrabbling!
Love,
Diane
Love,
Diane
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Bobby
Tonight I thought I would write a movie review! Maybe I will do that every so often, since I watch a lot of movies. This was a good one.
Well as coincidence would have it, lately the thought has crossed my mind; I wonder what ever happened to Emilio Estevez? I don't particularly know why I wondered about him, maybe I was watching Breakfast Club (one of my favorite movies) and realized I hadn't seen him in any movies lately. Well, tonight I got a surprising answer to my question.
Emilio Estevez wrote and directed the movie Bobby. I didn't know anything about this movie when I rented it. I hadn't seen the trailers on TV. I rented it because it has an all-star cast, I love Anthony Hopkins, he's in it, so I figured it must be good. Until the ending credits I didn't realize Emilio was the writer and producer.
I read a little about it on the web. It took Emilio seven years to get the movie made. He had a terrible case of writer's block and couldn't get past page 30 of the script for years. His brother Charlie inspired/convinced him to finish. Emilio had a hard time coming up with funding for the movie and said that he had to sell his artwork and other material items just to have enough money to fund this picture.
The movie follows 22 characters, all having separate story lines, who were all at the Ambassador Hotel the night Robert Kennedy was shot. All the characters are real actors, however Robert Kennedy is portrayed by himself, using actual video footage.
Many of the reviews I have read aren't so good, claiming that the movie has irrelevant story lines and is boring. Or that Emilio had good intentions, but the movie fell flat in spots. (I don't always agree with the reviews I read)
I don't think this movie is so much about Robert Kennedy's assassination as it is about human nature and it represents how even very different people, from very different walks of life, can all hope for and want the same things in this world. This is the perfect point to convey to the audience since that was exactly what Robert Kennedy as a presidential candidate represented and stood for.
I found all of the characters interesting, and Anthony Hopkins of course was wonderful. I was interested to find out what would happen to each of them and what their common link would be. I read that the storyline/character Ashton Kutcher plays (a hippie smoking pot and dropping acid) was not necessary to the movie. I disagree... that was the time of the hippies! You can't very well make a movie about that time, and portray the different walks of life without including the hippies! ha. Plus it added a little humor to the story.
If you have time rent the movie (only available at Blockbuster Video, it's an exclusive!) and let me know what you think. And be sure to watch the Special Features on the DVD, there is an interview with Emilio and other cast members and some very interesting movie trivia about the famous hotel.
I would never make it as a movie critic! I know how I feel about something, but have a hard time putting it into words like they can. So let me just wrap it up by saying that I give it two thumbs up and I say WAY TO GO EMILIO!! Even if no one else thinks so!
Here is a link to an interview with Emilio about making the movie, which is very interesting: http://www.cbc.ca/cp/entertainment/060914/e091458.html
And here is a link to watch the movie trailer. (When you get to the page you have to scroll down to see it)
See you next time! Diane
Thursday, March 22, 2007
The World Bird Sanctuary
Hello fellow bloggers~
Tonight I thought I would write about a truly amazing place here in St. Louis that I don't think many people are aware of.
One really nice day, I think last October or November, Marc and I took a drive out to Lone Elk Park, (located in Valley Park - close to our Six Flags) which for those of you who don't know, is a drive-thru park where you can get up close and personal with buffalo, elk, deer etc... I haven't been there in several years, and Marc had never been before, so I was really hoping he would actually get to see a buffalo, since sometimes you can drive through and not see any.
I got lucky the last time I had gone and actually got to see a small herd (I checked... groups of American bison are called "herd", but just FYI, old world buffalo are called a "gang" or "obstinacy", http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/about/faqs/animals/names.htm tee hee. An interesting page to read about what different groups of animals are called) Anyhoo, in the small herd that I saw, I even got to witness a mother bison weaning her baby. He kept trying to nurse and she kept kicking him away as the herd roamed the field. Poor guy. It was cute, and rare to see, but I did feel bad for him.
On my trip with Marc we saw a buck, but unfortunately not one buffalo. So needless to say I was very disappointed on the drive out of the park. As we were exiting, I noticed something new since my last visit. There was a sign on a little turn off that read "World Bird Sanctuary, Birds of Prey". Our curiosity made us turn down the little tree-covered gravel road and I am so glad we did. This place doesn't look like much from the main road but it is definitely something to see.
I absolutely LOVE owls. I have always been fascinated with them since I was a very little child. (That would be back in the '70's, which if you can remember, owls were commonly used in home decor and in jewelry then. Once a lady visited our home when I was probably three or four and I remember she had the big beehive hairdo, a brown turtleneck shirt and this GIANT owl necklace made of brown wooden beads with orange jewels making up the eyes. I remember being absolutely mesmerized by that necklace for hours while she was in our home) :-)
The World Bird Sanctuary has the largest collection of uncaged owls I have ever seen. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of owls, and you can literally stand just a foot or two away from them. They also have Eagles, Hawks, Falcons, Buzzards, Vultures, Condors, also some rare types of Crows, Ravens, Pelicans, Storks, Parrots, Chickens, and others. They have a few reptiles, snakes and turtles, but really it's an "all bird zoo".
What I liked about this place is that the cages for the birds were large and the birds got to be out of their cages every day. The place was kept clean and the people working there were very knowledgeable about the birds they worked with. What really captured me was how close I could get to the birds. I could have spent the whole day there just looking at the owls.
Below I have included a link to my photosite where you can look at some pictures I took when we visited. I have included the website link to the World Bird Sanctuary. Please check it out. They have pictures of many of their birds along with personality descriptions of each. It's kind of fun to read about each one's different little attitude. They are non-for-profit and save a lot of injured birds from the wild each year in their on-site hospital. And to top it off it's free (although they do appreciate donations) I can't wait to go back and take Daniel (he was in school the time I went) I also included the link to Lone Elk Park.
What is your favorite bird? Do you have any funny or interesting bird stories to tell? Is this a place you might like to see?
My photo site http://dwilson898.photosite.com/ (I have several albums there, you have to click on the Bird Sanctuary album)
World Bird Sactuary website http://www.worldbirdsanctuary.org/
Also, here is the site for Lone Elk Park where you can see bison. They link to the World Bird Sanctuary at the bottom of the page. http://www.stlouisco.com/parks/LoneElk.html
Tonight I thought I would write about a truly amazing place here in St. Louis that I don't think many people are aware of.
One really nice day, I think last October or November, Marc and I took a drive out to Lone Elk Park, (located in Valley Park - close to our Six Flags) which for those of you who don't know, is a drive-thru park where you can get up close and personal with buffalo, elk, deer etc... I haven't been there in several years, and Marc had never been before, so I was really hoping he would actually get to see a buffalo, since sometimes you can drive through and not see any.
I got lucky the last time I had gone and actually got to see a small herd (I checked... groups of American bison are called "herd", but just FYI, old world buffalo are called a "gang" or "obstinacy", http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/about/faqs/animals/names.htm tee hee. An interesting page to read about what different groups of animals are called) Anyhoo, in the small herd that I saw, I even got to witness a mother bison weaning her baby. He kept trying to nurse and she kept kicking him away as the herd roamed the field. Poor guy. It was cute, and rare to see, but I did feel bad for him.
On my trip with Marc we saw a buck, but unfortunately not one buffalo. So needless to say I was very disappointed on the drive out of the park. As we were exiting, I noticed something new since my last visit. There was a sign on a little turn off that read "World Bird Sanctuary, Birds of Prey". Our curiosity made us turn down the little tree-covered gravel road and I am so glad we did. This place doesn't look like much from the main road but it is definitely something to see.
I absolutely LOVE owls. I have always been fascinated with them since I was a very little child. (That would be back in the '70's, which if you can remember, owls were commonly used in home decor and in jewelry then. Once a lady visited our home when I was probably three or four and I remember she had the big beehive hairdo, a brown turtleneck shirt and this GIANT owl necklace made of brown wooden beads with orange jewels making up the eyes. I remember being absolutely mesmerized by that necklace for hours while she was in our home) :-)
The World Bird Sanctuary has the largest collection of uncaged owls I have ever seen. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of owls, and you can literally stand just a foot or two away from them. They also have Eagles, Hawks, Falcons, Buzzards, Vultures, Condors, also some rare types of Crows, Ravens, Pelicans, Storks, Parrots, Chickens, and others. They have a few reptiles, snakes and turtles, but really it's an "all bird zoo".
What I liked about this place is that the cages for the birds were large and the birds got to be out of their cages every day. The place was kept clean and the people working there were very knowledgeable about the birds they worked with. What really captured me was how close I could get to the birds. I could have spent the whole day there just looking at the owls.
Below I have included a link to my photosite where you can look at some pictures I took when we visited. I have included the website link to the World Bird Sanctuary. Please check it out. They have pictures of many of their birds along with personality descriptions of each. It's kind of fun to read about each one's different little attitude. They are non-for-profit and save a lot of injured birds from the wild each year in their on-site hospital. And to top it off it's free (although they do appreciate donations) I can't wait to go back and take Daniel (he was in school the time I went) I also included the link to Lone Elk Park.
What is your favorite bird? Do you have any funny or interesting bird stories to tell? Is this a place you might like to see?
My photo site http://dwilson898.photosite.com/ (I have several albums there, you have to click on the Bird Sanctuary album)
World Bird Sactuary website http://www.worldbirdsanctuary.org/
Also, here is the site for Lone Elk Park where you can see bison. They link to the World Bird Sanctuary at the bottom of the page. http://www.stlouisco.com/parks/LoneElk.html
Sunday, March 18, 2007
The Dream Dictionary - What do you dream about?
Hi Bloggers!
Tonight I thought I would write about one of my most favorite and used books of all time... "The Dream Dictionary". You will always find it next to my bed and it is worn, tattered and falling apart. (the sign of a very loved book) This book was published in 1990 (when I bought it) and I believe has since been revised and renamed "The New Dream Dictionary". I can't say enough about this book. If you can remember your dreams when you wake up and if you have any interest in finding their meaning, buy this book.
Several years back I began having a very traumatic recurring nightmare about a monstrous tornado coming for me. In my dream I can always see this horrible thing coming and I can't get away... or get the phone to work to call for help... etc. It's really scary and I would always wake up or the dream would change to something else just before the tornado hit. I was having the dream several times a week which inspired me to research dreams.
I went to the bookstore (I didn't have the Internet then) and bought a book called the "Dream Dictionary". I looked through many, many books before choosing this one, because most of the dream books out there say your dreams are predictions... they are kind of like the psychic shows on late at night, cheesy. Finally, I happened across "The Dream Dictionary" and it was the only one at that time that actually defined and explained what your dreams meant or represented.
The book is actually set up like a dictionary and although mostly I use it for entertainment and to satisfy my curiosity, it has also been very helpful to me at times regarding insight into myself and my concerns and thoughts, and what I need to work on or deal with.
Lately I have been having a recurring dream where I am lost in a bad area of town and being chased by bad people I don't know, and I can't find my way out.
With this book I can look up the key words of my dream (town, lost, chased, bad people) First the book defines the main meaning of each word and then each word's definition is broken down into different ways that I might of dreamed (dreamt?) about them. That way you can take what applies to your specific dream, since all of it may not. (I will highlight in red what parts I believe apply to me)
For instance the main meaning of Town is One's relationship with society; one's sense of community; the mental and emotional environment in which one lives. Then there is a breakdown of keywords for how you dreamed about "town" such as home town, strange town, alone in a town, deserted town, lost in a town. I would refer to strange town which the book says represents a new or different attitude or way of life, and lost in a town which represents feeling uncertain regarding your place or direction.
(I guess not to keep you in suspense I will define my whole dream instead of just giving one example of town... ha ha)
Lost: lost in an unknown place; represents in a new area of experience, a new situation or period in your life.
Chased: We are pursued by what we have created with our thoughts, emotions, actions, or inaction. Something we are avoiding or feelings we are avoiding, such as fear of death, emotional pain, grief, etc.
and very interestingly my last key word was bad people so I went to people, which led me to roles where they list separately each kind or type of person, where I chose convict, since the people chasing me are thugs from a bad part of town so convict was the most fitting. Convict referred me to Captive or Prisoner and this definition was; represents emotions, anxieties and moods or ideas that "captivate" us, or act as a means of denying free expression to our own talents or well being. Something that is restraining us, fear of illness.
SO... VOILA! From these "clues" into my unconscious mind I can deduce that this dream would represent breast cancer and the way in which I am dealing (or actually not dealing) with it. It's kind of like solving your own mystery! I find this very interesting and also very helpful. I now know that I need to work more on facing and accepting this part of my life, which deep down I know I really totally haven't done. Which would also explain why this dream reoccurs continuously! ha. Maybe I can "get rid" of this bad dream by facing my fear.
I found the book to order online at: http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Dictionary-Guide-Dreams-Experiences/dp/0440208610/ref=ed_oe_p/102-8638577-5110544
I went online and read about the author, click here for his biography http://www.dreamhawk.com/tony-bio.htm
I also found this great site that discusses what dreams are and theories about dreams, click here http://science.howstuffworks.com/dream.htm and especially liked these pages from that site http://science.howstuffworks.com/dream6.htm which talks about what our dreams mean and http://science.howstuffworks.com/dream7.htm which talks about recurring dreams.
What kind of things do you dream about? Do you remember your dreams? Do you have a certain dream that stands out? Good night and sweet dreams!
Love, Diane
Tonight I thought I would write about one of my most favorite and used books of all time... "The Dream Dictionary". You will always find it next to my bed and it is worn, tattered and falling apart. (the sign of a very loved book) This book was published in 1990 (when I bought it) and I believe has since been revised and renamed "The New Dream Dictionary". I can't say enough about this book. If you can remember your dreams when you wake up and if you have any interest in finding their meaning, buy this book.
Several years back I began having a very traumatic recurring nightmare about a monstrous tornado coming for me. In my dream I can always see this horrible thing coming and I can't get away... or get the phone to work to call for help... etc. It's really scary and I would always wake up or the dream would change to something else just before the tornado hit. I was having the dream several times a week which inspired me to research dreams.
I went to the bookstore (I didn't have the Internet then) and bought a book called the "Dream Dictionary". I looked through many, many books before choosing this one, because most of the dream books out there say your dreams are predictions... they are kind of like the psychic shows on late at night, cheesy. Finally, I happened across "The Dream Dictionary" and it was the only one at that time that actually defined and explained what your dreams meant or represented.
The book is actually set up like a dictionary and although mostly I use it for entertainment and to satisfy my curiosity, it has also been very helpful to me at times regarding insight into myself and my concerns and thoughts, and what I need to work on or deal with.
Lately I have been having a recurring dream where I am lost in a bad area of town and being chased by bad people I don't know, and I can't find my way out.
With this book I can look up the key words of my dream (town, lost, chased, bad people) First the book defines the main meaning of each word and then each word's definition is broken down into different ways that I might of dreamed (dreamt?) about them. That way you can take what applies to your specific dream, since all of it may not. (I will highlight in red what parts I believe apply to me)
For instance the main meaning of Town is One's relationship with society; one's sense of community; the mental and emotional environment in which one lives. Then there is a breakdown of keywords for how you dreamed about "town" such as home town, strange town, alone in a town, deserted town, lost in a town. I would refer to strange town which the book says represents a new or different attitude or way of life, and lost in a town which represents feeling uncertain regarding your place or direction.
(I guess not to keep you in suspense I will define my whole dream instead of just giving one example of town... ha ha)
Lost: lost in an unknown place; represents in a new area of experience, a new situation or period in your life.
Chased: We are pursued by what we have created with our thoughts, emotions, actions, or inaction. Something we are avoiding or feelings we are avoiding, such as fear of death, emotional pain, grief, etc.
and very interestingly my last key word was bad people so I went to people, which led me to roles where they list separately each kind or type of person, where I chose convict, since the people chasing me are thugs from a bad part of town so convict was the most fitting. Convict referred me to Captive or Prisoner and this definition was; represents emotions, anxieties and moods or ideas that "captivate" us, or act as a means of denying free expression to our own talents or well being. Something that is restraining us, fear of illness.
SO... VOILA! From these "clues" into my unconscious mind I can deduce that this dream would represent breast cancer and the way in which I am dealing (or actually not dealing) with it. It's kind of like solving your own mystery! I find this very interesting and also very helpful. I now know that I need to work more on facing and accepting this part of my life, which deep down I know I really totally haven't done. Which would also explain why this dream reoccurs continuously! ha. Maybe I can "get rid" of this bad dream by facing my fear.
I found the book to order online at: http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Dictionary-Guide-Dreams-Experiences/dp/0440208610/ref=ed_oe_p/102-8638577-5110544
I went online and read about the author, click here for his biography http://www.dreamhawk.com/tony-bio.htm
I also found this great site that discusses what dreams are and theories about dreams, click here http://science.howstuffworks.com/dream.htm and especially liked these pages from that site http://science.howstuffworks.com/dream6.htm which talks about what our dreams mean and http://science.howstuffworks.com/dream7.htm which talks about recurring dreams.
What kind of things do you dream about? Do you remember your dreams? Do you have a certain dream that stands out? Good night and sweet dreams!
Love, Diane
Friday, March 16, 2007
American Hauntings - hmmm what do you think?
Hi all!
Tonight I watched the movie "An American Haunting" with Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland. It is a story about a haunting back in the early 1800's and claims to be based on true events.
I would give the movie a B- as far as scary movies go. It definately made me jump a few times (which knocks my rating up a grade level) I think that the movie was a little too long and some of the scenes were repetitive... I didn't care for how the movie ended at all, it was kind of a cheat so I almost gave it a C. However, this movie did get me thinking about Hauntings and paranormal events.
I like a good scary movie. My requirements are that it make me jump a few times, yell out, or look down and realize that I have been squeezing whatever is in my hand in fright or anticipation of what might happen next! I think it's hard to find a good scary movie. Most of them are cheesy and predictable and the acting is horrible. Three of my favorite movies from when I was a teen were The Amytiville Horror, The Changling with George C. Scott, and "Poltergeist" all dealing with haunted homes. Some more recent favorites of mine dealing with ghosts and/or the paranormal include White Noise, The Grudge, Final Destination, 13 Ghosts, Gothika, The Sixth Sense, Skeleton Key, Sleepy Hollow, and The Ring.
I did a little looking on the internet tonight regarding paranormal events and mostly found lots of out-of-focus pictures of alleged ghosts and some very strange stories. Then I decided to narrow my search to Missouri and Illinois and I found these two interesting/entertaining stories. I will copy and paste them below. See what you think...
MISSOURI:
Joplin
Devil's Promenade. Almost every night since 1866, a strange orange ball of light bounces along this road in an easterly direction. As the light moves through the air, it leaves behind luminous traces of dancing sparks. The light has been known to enter cars and buses, but paradoxically, dodges people chasing it. Loud noises also make it disappear. It has been called the Hornet Ghost Light, the Neosho Spook Light, and the Devil's Jack-O'-Lantern, but scientists who studied the phenomenon have never agreed about what causes it. In 1946, a study by the Army Corps of Engineers concluded the phenomenon was "a mysterious light of unknown origin." A 1983 investigation by the Ghost Research Society revealed the light is diamond-shaped, with a hollow center. Legend says it is the ghost of a pair of Quapaw Indian lovers, who committed suicide together. Others believe it is the lantern of a ghostly miner searching for his wife and children, who were abducted by Indians. (Devil's Promenade is in the village of Hornet, 11 miles southwest of Joplin. The area is near the borders of Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas. This tri-state region is known as the Spooksville Triangle. Follow I-44 west from Joplin. Just before the last exit at the Oklahoma border, turn south onto State Line Road. Devil's Promenade Road crosses State Line Road after about 4 miles. There is an abandoned Spooklight Museum at the site. From Neosho, follow Hwy 86 until it dead-ends before Hwy 43. Turn right and go 2 miles to the second road on the left. Turn left and go ¼ mile to Devil's Promenade. The light is visible from any point along a 2 mile stretch of the road here.)
ILLINOIS:
Chicago
Resurrection Cemetery. The ghost of a blonde, blue-eyed girl has haunted the district around this graveyard since 1939, five years after a young Polish girl was buried here. Mary Bregavy, or Resurrection Mary as she has come to be called, died in a car accident after an evening of dancing at the old O'Henry Ballroom (now the Willowbrook Ballroom). Sometimes, her glowing, faceless ghost is seen walking along the shoulder of the road, but most often, her white apparition is seen hitchhiking. Sometimes her aloof ghost even dances with a few young men at the ballroom and asks for a ride home. During renovations at the cemetery in the 1970s, sightings of her ghost reached a peak. In December 1977, a passing motorist saw Mary holding onto the bars of the cemetery gate. He called police, thinking a girl was trapped in the cemetery. Investigators found no one in the cemetery, but two bars in the gate were bent apart. Etched into the iron were two small handprints. Supervisors had the sections cut out to keep curiosity-seekers away, but embarrassed officials welded the pieces back in place a year later. Dozens of witnesses, including many taxi drivers, have seen Mary's ghost along the road. In 1989, a cab driver picked up a girl fitting Mary's description in front of the Old Willow Shopping Center. As they passed Resurrection Cemetery, the girl vanished from the front seat. (Resurrection Mary's ghost appears along Archer Avenue in south Chicago. Take I-294 to 95th Street. Follow 95th Street west to Roberts Road. Take Roberts Road north to Archer Avenue. Resurrection Cemetery, 7600 South Archer Avenue, Justice, IL 60458. Phone: 312-767-4644.)
Decatur
Investigator Cheri Mohr Drake, of the American Ghost Society, undertook an investigation of the Harrold House in Decatur, Illinois, while attending the recent Ghost Conference there. The house is located at 746 West Wood Street in Decatur. It belongs to Amy and Tim Patrick, who live there with their two small children. There are three known ghosts: a small boy, a woman who stands on the front porch, and a middle-aged man. The man is most likely Frank Harrold, who was involved in a scandal centering around a missing $25,000 from the local bank he worked for. After the money was discovered missing, Frank was found shot to death the next day at his farm in nearby Clinton, Illinois. The year was 1925. The case was ruled a suicide, but many suspected it was a murder. Amy Patrick thinks it is Frank's ghost trying to tell her he was murdered and had nothing to do with stealing the money. The investigation of the premises yielded several unexplainable photographs. More information on this case is available at http://www.prairieghosts.com/harrold.html
I found these stories very entertaining, I guess mainly because they are close by to us. I would love to go to Joplin one weekend and see if I saw the mysterious orange ball bouncing down that street! For my fellow bloggers in Illinois; Have you heard of either of the Illinois stories? I just don't know what I think about all of this... I don't think I believe it. I'm not sure. I guess I would have to see it to believe it. What do you think? Have you ever had a paranormal experience? Do you believe in these things? What are some of your favorite scary movies?
Diane
Tonight I watched the movie "An American Haunting" with Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland. It is a story about a haunting back in the early 1800's and claims to be based on true events.
I would give the movie a B- as far as scary movies go. It definately made me jump a few times (which knocks my rating up a grade level) I think that the movie was a little too long and some of the scenes were repetitive... I didn't care for how the movie ended at all, it was kind of a cheat so I almost gave it a C. However, this movie did get me thinking about Hauntings and paranormal events.
I like a good scary movie. My requirements are that it make me jump a few times, yell out, or look down and realize that I have been squeezing whatever is in my hand in fright or anticipation of what might happen next! I think it's hard to find a good scary movie. Most of them are cheesy and predictable and the acting is horrible. Three of my favorite movies from when I was a teen were The Amytiville Horror, The Changling with George C. Scott, and "Poltergeist" all dealing with haunted homes. Some more recent favorites of mine dealing with ghosts and/or the paranormal include White Noise, The Grudge, Final Destination, 13 Ghosts, Gothika, The Sixth Sense, Skeleton Key, Sleepy Hollow, and The Ring.
I did a little looking on the internet tonight regarding paranormal events and mostly found lots of out-of-focus pictures of alleged ghosts and some very strange stories. Then I decided to narrow my search to Missouri and Illinois and I found these two interesting/entertaining stories. I will copy and paste them below. See what you think...
MISSOURI:
Joplin
Devil's Promenade. Almost every night since 1866, a strange orange ball of light bounces along this road in an easterly direction. As the light moves through the air, it leaves behind luminous traces of dancing sparks. The light has been known to enter cars and buses, but paradoxically, dodges people chasing it. Loud noises also make it disappear. It has been called the Hornet Ghost Light, the Neosho Spook Light, and the Devil's Jack-O'-Lantern, but scientists who studied the phenomenon have never agreed about what causes it. In 1946, a study by the Army Corps of Engineers concluded the phenomenon was "a mysterious light of unknown origin." A 1983 investigation by the Ghost Research Society revealed the light is diamond-shaped, with a hollow center. Legend says it is the ghost of a pair of Quapaw Indian lovers, who committed suicide together. Others believe it is the lantern of a ghostly miner searching for his wife and children, who were abducted by Indians. (Devil's Promenade is in the village of Hornet, 11 miles southwest of Joplin. The area is near the borders of Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas. This tri-state region is known as the Spooksville Triangle. Follow I-44 west from Joplin. Just before the last exit at the Oklahoma border, turn south onto State Line Road. Devil's Promenade Road crosses State Line Road after about 4 miles. There is an abandoned Spooklight Museum at the site. From Neosho, follow Hwy 86 until it dead-ends before Hwy 43. Turn right and go 2 miles to the second road on the left. Turn left and go ¼ mile to Devil's Promenade. The light is visible from any point along a 2 mile stretch of the road here.)
ILLINOIS:
Chicago
Resurrection Cemetery. The ghost of a blonde, blue-eyed girl has haunted the district around this graveyard since 1939, five years after a young Polish girl was buried here. Mary Bregavy, or Resurrection Mary as she has come to be called, died in a car accident after an evening of dancing at the old O'Henry Ballroom (now the Willowbrook Ballroom). Sometimes, her glowing, faceless ghost is seen walking along the shoulder of the road, but most often, her white apparition is seen hitchhiking. Sometimes her aloof ghost even dances with a few young men at the ballroom and asks for a ride home. During renovations at the cemetery in the 1970s, sightings of her ghost reached a peak. In December 1977, a passing motorist saw Mary holding onto the bars of the cemetery gate. He called police, thinking a girl was trapped in the cemetery. Investigators found no one in the cemetery, but two bars in the gate were bent apart. Etched into the iron were two small handprints. Supervisors had the sections cut out to keep curiosity-seekers away, but embarrassed officials welded the pieces back in place a year later. Dozens of witnesses, including many taxi drivers, have seen Mary's ghost along the road. In 1989, a cab driver picked up a girl fitting Mary's description in front of the Old Willow Shopping Center. As they passed Resurrection Cemetery, the girl vanished from the front seat. (Resurrection Mary's ghost appears along Archer Avenue in south Chicago. Take I-294 to 95th Street. Follow 95th Street west to Roberts Road. Take Roberts Road north to Archer Avenue. Resurrection Cemetery, 7600 South Archer Avenue, Justice, IL 60458. Phone: 312-767-4644.)
Decatur
Investigator Cheri Mohr Drake, of the American Ghost Society, undertook an investigation of the Harrold House in Decatur, Illinois, while attending the recent Ghost Conference there. The house is located at 746 West Wood Street in Decatur. It belongs to Amy and Tim Patrick, who live there with their two small children. There are three known ghosts: a small boy, a woman who stands on the front porch, and a middle-aged man. The man is most likely Frank Harrold, who was involved in a scandal centering around a missing $25,000 from the local bank he worked for. After the money was discovered missing, Frank was found shot to death the next day at his farm in nearby Clinton, Illinois. The year was 1925. The case was ruled a suicide, but many suspected it was a murder. Amy Patrick thinks it is Frank's ghost trying to tell her he was murdered and had nothing to do with stealing the money. The investigation of the premises yielded several unexplainable photographs. More information on this case is available at http://www.prairieghosts.com/harrold.html
I found these stories very entertaining, I guess mainly because they are close by to us. I would love to go to Joplin one weekend and see if I saw the mysterious orange ball bouncing down that street! For my fellow bloggers in Illinois; Have you heard of either of the Illinois stories? I just don't know what I think about all of this... I don't think I believe it. I'm not sure. I guess I would have to see it to believe it. What do you think? Have you ever had a paranormal experience? Do you believe in these things? What are some of your favorite scary movies?
Diane
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