For Those Who Believe, No Proof Is Necessary. For Those Who Do Not Believe, No Proof Is Possible. ~Edgar Cayce
The Landon House has no electricity on during the tours. It is all done by candlelight. So what you are seeing in the photos above is absolutely not a light glow from the windows.
Writing has always been a passion of mine, but one I kept tucked away for reasons that aren't worth mentioning. But now the time is right, and with the support of my wonderful husband, friends, and family my dream is going to come true.
Although writing of ghosts, hauntings, and the paranormal wasn't my first genre choice, I do have a connection to the subject. I grew up in "visited houses" all my life - at least that's what my mom tells me. Which was fine with me because I could always use another playmate. Having transparent friends growing up never hurt anyone - look how I turned out! But seriously, we do have some women in our family that I like to refer to as "sensitives". So being pulled to write the books feels like the right thing to do.
I am currently working on a book about paranormal activity in Frederick County, Maryland. If all goes well it will be released late 2007.
My next venture will be to write about Wheeling, WV, and it's paranormal history. This will include all of the surrounding upper Ohio Valley area. I have a personal connection to Wheeling since it is my hometown, and I will have the ongoing support of my family and friends.
Both books will not only include documented historical hauntings of famous places and buildings, but cemeteries, businesses, and private homes as well. If you are from either of the two mentioned cities, and you have a story to tell please feel free to contact me. I am open to write about all types of paranormal events.
Other books to come HOPEFULLY will be Harpers Ferry, WV, and the south-eastern area of Pennsylvania.
One story at a time.
*~NOTE~*
I DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE USE OF THE OUIJA BOARD, NOR WILL I PARTICIPATE IN A SEANCE. BOTH OF THESE AREAS ARE POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS, AND CAN INVITE THE UNWANTED.
Oh, and I have a relentless addiction to Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies.
Breath deep
The gathering gloom
Watch lights fade
From every room
Bedsitter people
Look back and lament
Another day's useless
Energy spent
Impassioned lovers
Wrestle as one
Lonely man cries for love
And has none
New mother picks up
And suckles her son
Senior citizens
Wish they were young
Cold hearted orb
That rules the night
Removes the colours
From our sight
Red is gray and Yellow white
But we decide which is right
And
Which is an illusion
~Moody Blues~
Who I'd like to meet: Whomever is in my parents attic.
These are only two of the nine existing segments of Rob Sevin's video diary from his stay at the Historical and Haunted Landon House in Urbana, Maryland. The rest can be found by searching Rob Sevin on YouTube.
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~There Is No Such Thing As Coincidence~
Truly Haunted - Paranormal Writer's Friend Space (Top 24)
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An old saying says “You can not dig yourself out of a hole”. You may not be able to dig yourself out of a hole, but given the right motivation you can propel yourself out like a rocket and reach new heights never before thought possible.
I hope that you have a great weekend and a great week to come.
Sometimes we try to make a change but we don't really feel like we are doing anything different. We sometimes feel as though what we are doing really doesn't even matter to anyone.
I can tell you something! What you are doing matters!! You matter!! I know that sometimes change is hard, but if you stay on the right path, it will take you to some really wonderful places.
We are all searching for a peace and tranquility in our lives. Peace means different things to different people. It could mean lying in the sun by the pool, or hiking though the woods, or it could mean finding that beautiful place and being there when no one else is around.
The peace and tranquility that we seek is not really found in any special place at any special time. It is just a state of mind that we put ourselves in when we find such place and such times.
That said, don’t you think that we could also find peace and tranquility in other places and other times? I think that it is possible, and it just takes a little brain power on our part, but it can be done.
I hope that you have a great weekend, and a very peaceful, tranquil week.
Sometimes in life it seems as though we are caught in an unending loop. We try to make positive changes in our lives, but we end up right back where we started.
I am speaking from personal experience here. I can tell you that positive change is possible, and that you can break out of those seemingly unending loops. Just keep trying, and eventually when the timing is right, you will make that change that you desire.
I hope that you have a great weekend, and a great loop-free week.
I was reading something recently and it reminded me of something that happened to me in my childhood. When I was growing up I had a big maple tree in my back yard. That tree was where I had a swing, and it was also my favorite tree to climb in.
Now one of the first times that I climbed in this tree I made the mistake of climbing really high in the tree, hanging from one of the limbs, and then looking down. BIG MISTAKE!! I was frozen with fear. I gripped the tree limb so tight that my knuckles turned white. My best friend saw me hanging there and he told me “let go, and you’ll be all right”. I hung on even tighter. Then finally I grew so tired that the only thing that I could do was let go. Of course, the height was not as much as I thought. I picked myself up off the ground, brushed myself off, and I was fine.
This story illustrates what happens in our lives. We try to do things our way and get into trouble. Then, when we have to face the fear of our situation we hold on with a white-knuckle grip. We must understand that we have to sometimes just “let go”, and we will be OK.
I hope that you have a great weekend and a great week.
One day I was talking with a friend of mine, and she asked me a very simple question; “What are you plans for the coming week?” I proceeded to name off all of the things that I had to accomplish, all of the things that I hoped to accomplish, and all of the things that I probably would not have the time to accomplish. Her only response to my rather lengthy to do list was “Don’t you ever take the time to do anything that you actually enjoy doing?”
She was so right! Most of us do not set aside time in our week to do things that we truly enjoy. It is a sad but true fact.
My friend knows me very well, and she reminded me that I really enjoy my photography, and I also enjoy field archery, but I have not taken the time to actually enjoy these things lately. Well, now that it has been pointed out to me, I think that it is high time to make a change. Now I will resolve to set some time out of my busy schedule to actually do something that I enjoy doing, and I challenge you to do the same.
I hope that you have a great weekend, and a great week to come. It’s time to get out and find something to truly enjoy.
If you look closely at the waterfall in the enclosed photos, you will notice a distinct difference in how the water looks. The difference is based on the amount of time that the shutter was open. It took me a while to learn this technique of freezing the motion of the water in an instant of time.
Time is something that I have been thinking a lot about in recent days. As many of you know from my update email, I have a lot more time on my hands now that I am working a new schedule. So, of course I am thinking a lot about how to best spend this new found time that I have.
I think that time is like a treasure. We only have a certain amount of it every day. If we waste this precious treasure called time we have no one to blame but ourselves.
I hope that you make the most of every second. Have a great weekend, and a great week to come.
I have been thinking a lot about the concept of change recently. I have been meeting with a group of friends once a week and we have been discussing how to best make some positives changes in our lives.
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus may not have been the first person to ponder the concept of change, but he gave us a nugget of truth in 474 BC that has lived on to this day. He said “The only constant is change”.
Things are always changing with us, in us, and around us. Just in recent history the entire human race has undergone many changes. We have been able to devise machines to help us achieve our goals. What happens to these machines when our goals change? They become relics of a bygone era.
The same thing can happen to us if we get in a rut and are unwilling to change. We ourselves can become relics. Don’t let this happen to you. Remain flexible and keep setting your sites on your goals.
I saw this car and I just had to grab a camera and take a few photos. I know that the car was meant to be a joke, but it still reminded me of how we sometimes get too wound up in our lives. We sometimes let our lives get to the point where it seems like we are no longer in control. We get wound up by the stress of work, family, or friends and that stress drives us in a direction that we do not want to go.
When this happens, we have to put ourselves back in the driver’s seat of our lives and stop letting others choose the direction that we will go.
I hope that in the coming week that you will be going in a direction of your choosing.
May people often get very wrapped up in there likes and dislikes. Take crowds for example. Some people really detest crowds, and there are those who even fear large groups of people. It is interesting though when you think about it that we humans are not the only species on the planet to have to deal with this problem. If you will look around you, there are many examples of “animal crowds”. That would seem to me to prove that crowds are just a part of the natural order of things.
I hope that each and every member of the “crowd” of people that I send this out to has a great week.
This week, I would like to try something a little different. I am in the process of trying to choose some photographs for upcoming art show. I would like all of you to help me in choosing the photo for the non-color photography category. Here are two of my possibilities. Send me a message, and cast your vote for your favorite one.
Sometimes in life, we find ourselves “driving in the fog”. We usually don’t know how we got into the fog in the first place. Most of the time, we also can not see a way out. So we drive along aimlessly hoping that it will eventually clear.
Then something happens in our life. We come across a “light” in the middle of the fog, and we follow this light until we can come out of the fog bank. When we come out the light of the sun seems brighter somehow and the day seems clearer then we ever thought possible.
If you are in a fog, I hope that you soon find that light that will lead you out into a beautiful sunny day. I hope that you have a great weekend and awesome week ahead.
As we are now well into a new month, I am wondering how many New Year’s Resolutions have already fallen by the wayside. I know that I have not been able to keep up with some of my resolutions.
We do not need to be hard on ourselves about this, but we too often are.
Sometimes we have to realize that not reaching our goals is just a fact of life.
Sometimes despite our best intentions, we do not do the things that we know to be right.
Sometimes we even chose to do the wrong things even though it is contrary to our goals.
Eventually we do the right things and get back on the right path.
I hope that you are on the way to getting back on the path that is right for you, and I hope that you have a great week.
I think that we are all born with certain innate skills and abilities. As we go through life we learn to hone these “tools” and we learn how we can use them.
Some people however choose not to use the tools that they have been given. Some even discard the tools that they have and go searching for tools that they would like to have.
I think that it is not up to us to try and choose the tools that we would like to have. Instead we should use the tools that we have been given to do what we were meant to do with our lives.
If you look closely at the enclosed photos you will see that the sculptures are made up of discarded tools.
Do not let your tools become part of such a sculpture.
I hope that you are putting your tools to good use and I hope that you have a great weekend.
This week, I have been thinking about perfection. Nature is perfect in so many ways. The flowers grow as they were designed to, and they do not have to struggle to be perfect. They are perfectly beautiful because that is how they were designed to be.
Even an overcast day can be perfectly beautiful in its own way. Nature shows us its perfections time and time again.
The only question that I have then is this: Why are we humans such imperfect creatures? We have to struggle through life and most of us are remind far too often that we are far from perfect.
I think that the reason that we are so imperfect is so that we can learn as we strive to get as close to natural perfection as humanly possible. I know that I will never be completely perfect, but I do know that I will learn some valuable lessons as I go through my life, and that is close enough to perfect for me.
Someone once told me that we are the best and worst of our parents. To me that is both an interesting and frightening thought. Yes, I have some great traits that were passed on by my parents. However, one question I often ask myself is, am I doomed to repeat their mistakes? I don’t think that I am.
I am a product of my parents yes, but I am also my own person. I have the free will to choose how I am going to use the traits that I have been given to become the best person that I can be.
I think that this is something that we all struggle with from time to time. I hope that you can take heart in knowing that if this is something that you struggle with, you are definitely not alone.
This week I leave you with a family photo taken a very long time ago. Can you guess which one in is me? I am also including a more recent photo of my parents taken shortly before my father passed away in 2002.
This is the time where we start reflecting on the past year. Most of the time we reflect on what we think we have been successful at and start making plans about what endeavors we are going to be successful in during the upcoming year. I only see one problem with this practice. What is a true measure of success? Is it something set in stone? I don’t think so. Success is a moving target that is very hard to hit.
The photo that I am posting this week won honorable mention in an art show in Florida last May. Does winning something make me a success? I would have to say that is all in how you look at it. I won something, and something is better than nothing. However I also did not win first place.
I really think that success is a very personal thing that each individual must define for themselves, and that this personal definition of success is ever-changing.
I will leave you with two fortune cookie quotes about success.
“Failure is the mother of all success”
“Success is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from your mistakes”
With only five shopping days left until Christmas, I know that it is real easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of this time of year. Please take some time and just enjoy the season and remember what it is all about. Have a great week.
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This week we have been thinking about the things that we are thankful for. Being thankful is supposed to really mean something, but too often we just go through the motions. We need to really think about the things that we are thankful for. These things should be the things that we would not have otherwise gotten or accomplished without some form of help. I am truly thankful for all of the beautiful places that I have gotten the opportunity to visit. Sometimes I did not know how I was going to make ends meet, but when I did have money left over I was able to travel and take photos. However my trips were made possible, I am thankful for them. I am also thankful for the divine artistry that I see in the natural wonders that I love to photograph so much. Think about it! What is it that you are truly thankful for?
