I first saw this several years ago when it looked like it had snowed up on the mountain and we went to see. It wasn’t "snow" but was the most breathtaking scene you could imagine. We were to learn it was called "hoar" (yes it IS pronounced the way you are thinking! ..ha) frost. Everything has a spiky type of protrusion. (Reminds me of a picture a long time ago with metal shavings and we used a magnet to move them around and put them on a mans face as a beard, etc.) That was the only time we ever saw it. Tuesday we woke up to having the phenomena right in our area…and several miles to either side it was gone. Apparently there was fog, which had the moisture and it was cold enough and we lucked out. What’s funny is the woman on the farm in front of us was born here and raised here and had no idea what the heck it was. She had never seen it before. So I... who has been here 13 years, ended up giving information to people who have lived here! I have a whole lot of pictures but will share some of the most beautiful ones and with information to teach what it is like. Enjoy!
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Trying to write a book, to sell the books I’ve already written, and placing winter photography for the Mason Gallery’s December art display finds me wondering if I’m coming or going. Topping that is more ongoing things which could be in the works for future material for even more books. (Should I live so long...I should have started writing a whole lot of years sooner! But then again…my books are all of my life’s real experiences, so I guess I had to have those first! However I think I have a lot to use so don’t necessarily need more…but I guess I’m not in control of that!) Over Halloween I went to Abington, Virginia to sign my childrens book, Things That Go Bump In The Night at a first-time Halloween event the Museum was doing. My book was written because of memories of telling stories to my children growing up as we were camping and sitting at night around the campfire in the dead of night. One time I bought a book at a book store to read but found it was sort of dumb and not scary at all. My own stories made up were scarier so I have decided to write one. There are actually two parts to this story. The one experience of selling books during the festivities going on and the story ‘before’ the event. While the one was interesting and fun there is another which was totally unexpected and one you might be more interested in hearing. I wrote a scary kids story but I ended up being the one scared that trip. Before the time to go sign the books we saw a cemetery not far away which had a small log house on the premises and looked interesting to go check out. Naturally, being an amateur photographer I had my trusty camera along. Good thing! Everything was fine and I did take a picture here and there. Just as I was going to the car after checking out an area I was interested in, I turned my head and saw a six or seven foot boa constrictor snake coming down the middle of a close-by tree. I jumped and backed up. My son had many snakes growing up and this sure looked familiar. I watched (at a distance) but it just stayed there. My heart was pounding and my feet were ready to “feet don’t fail me now" and head for the car, but I began wondering if it really was a snake…or was it a part of the tree. I needed to see it closer. No, I didn’t go toward the tree...I used my trusty telephoto lens. I still wasn’t sure but began thinking it might be part of the tree. However as I looked at the tree through the lens I jumped again as grotesque faces stared back at me! I thought to myself someone else saw the snake and decided to add to the scene and carved scary faces to add to the atmosphere. Then I realized those were not carvings…it was the tree itself! Whoa! This was some creepy tree. Snakes and grotesque faces. I continued going around the tree and more faces were viewed in the bark of the tree all the way around but not like the one side. Even though I thought that wasn’t a real snake I wasn’t still totally convinced so stayed a distance with my eyes continually ‘eyeballing’ that thing as I took the other pictures. Here it was Halloween time…a perfect time with scary thoughts already in the atmosphere but I tell you…Halloween or not…that is one scary looking tree! Those kids book I was signing had nothing over my own experience. The pictures will show many faces. One looks like a Cyclops with an eye in the center of the forehead, yet is seen differently in another angle. There are teeth shown along with scary faces. Look closely and give them time to focus in. That’s one Halloween I won’t forget. As I was working on the computer I had the television on. They just announced a U.S. serviceman was killed in Afghanistan and showed a long wide area in yellow to show the section. My book ‘FOILED” tells about strange things that showed up in a foil project I did fifteen years ago, six months after 9/11, and what was "supposed to" come out looking like abstract art came out with images of scenes of the attack (not really abstract.)
I just put the book out to share the pictures. No one wanted to see them when I took them and I tried telling them there seemed to be hints being made of connections of some kind. One connection seemed to connect the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. At the time I wondered if it was "telling where the Taliban was." Today, the section shown in yellow on TV includes the section shown in my weird photos… It’s too bad no one would listen before and I’m sure they wouldn’t even now but that's why I decided to put the book out so perhaps someone who needs to might actually look into it. Now here, today, is the very area shown in my book pictures which came out in simple kitchen foil! This morning looked like a perfect setting for a scary story. Had it been evening a ghost story would have been in the works but it was 8:30 in the morning. However the other perfect part for a story of that type was that in the fog silhouettes of man's demolition machines were moving as if on a prowl. They had come to take down the over 200-year old dilapidated building at the bottom of our hill.
You may recall the picture I showed of the car which went out of control and after flipping over several times went air born and went through the second floor of the old store building. We thought it would collapse at any time for the last fourteen years but it stood strong even through the biggest winds. The huge gaping hole from that car made the owners fear it could come down now and hurt or kill someone so it met its demise today. It is a landmark everyone will miss. Everyone gave instructions to people coming to visit that they needed to turn at the old dilapidated two-story store. Now we may get lost trying to get home ourselves. It’s hard to decide whether ‘Lifting Spirits’ is the first phase of my blogs or if it should be “Perils of Pauline”. It’s a toss up. I have very funny experiences that happen and can lift anyone’s spirits when I tell them about it. I have strange things that occur and weird things that happen or come unexpected through my camera. THEN there are things that happen which should be normal and simple. BUT not for me. The movie back in time “The perils of Pauline” is far from just a title of a movie to me. There is actually a theme that seems to go with the name…at least with me. Eventually I will be writing the occurrences of my adult years in a book . ‘Sparks’ book is from my childhood. The adult book will have so many things which are out of the ordinary that have happened to me that although the book should be ‘Perils of Pauline’, will be “Oh no, Not again”
Just trying to get out three of my books, now, are examples of this phenomena. I have three different publishers for my three books. My one publisher actually has two books to publish and I figured giving them another would seem like they are my personal printer. So I used two others for the other two books. Both of these books have special issues so I thought if one publisher did something wrong at least both wouldn’t. WELL,…I have three books that were to be out June 1st. One got messed up with the printer (plus other issues), One repeated sections of the book three times in the book and left out three sections, and the other we couldn’t get the pictures to come out the color they had to be. The fourth book is being worked on and even that one has an issue. The person who did these fantastic illustrations for me didn’t read the story close enough and she put the children in snow suits. (Perils of Pauline again, as I had to try to work snow suits into a story of a violent rain storm on Halloween night. It was easier than making her do the sketches again, but took some doing.) Maybe I’m not supposed to be an author. Because my one book isn’t out yet and places to speak were planned, I have ended up talking and put a sign out “Author without a book” ... ha (Just more Perils of Pauline”….oh and I sold three books! Stay tuned….I’m sure there will be more . Perils of Pauline also is connected with being at the wrong place at the right time or the right place at the wrong time. This time I was near-by but stayed away. I didn’t need another personal tale to tell. However last night we had an incident happen just down the hill below our property. We have a wonderful old rustic barn like store building at the foot of our hill. It’s two stories high and was a prime destination for people back in time. A store, gas station, recreation area with I think dances and movies. Now it just stands there with sun, rain and storms trying to take their toll and bring the building to its knees. The wood is splintering, bowing outward giving the building a look of bulging at the seams. With every high wind we figure the building will lose the gfight,but it remains strong and undefeated. The chimney is pulling away from the building and there’s no way anyone could safely go inside. Last night we looked out the window to see flashing lights everywhere. Police cars everywhere. Car lights by the dozens.Traffic was stopped and couldn’t get beyond our house. A guy was apparently traveling down on the main road below at about 150-175 miles an hour and lost control, going into the ditch and then sailing end over end six or more times. He was thrown out of the car and flew OVER the building and landed across the road on someone yard. His car continued rolling end over end and then went air born and land inside the top second story of the store. Even with all that, the sturdy store remains undefeated but I think it will now have to meet its demise and will probably be torn down. Naturally the guy died and pieces of his car were found in the yard across the road where his body was and his spare tire made it part way up the hill toward our house. So, it’s not lifting spirits, having encounters with spirits, close but not entirely involving Perils of Pauline occurance, but you can see ‘my life sure is far from average’  Unfortunate circumstances occurred and my book didn’t quite make it from the printer in time for a speaking engagement I had to do. Well, my book is ‘Sparks’ and is about the good ol’ days of growing up in the 40’s and 50’s. It covers people who remember that time but gives wisdom and information for the younger generations of how things were back then and how much better our world was than what is going on today. It shows suggestions of how to gain self esteem and feel self worth with a life feeling worth living. There are funny stories and even a little advice or two thrown in. Even the youngest generation will see that they don’t have to allow being bullied or name calling keep them from becoming something worth while and how to overcome much in life.
So here I was with a dilemma. I learned at a young age how to make “lemonade from lemons”, so to speak. I made a sign “Author without a book” which in itself got a laugh or two. I explained “the perils of Pauline” situations I seem to go through in life and I had a proof copy book to show what ithe book would look like. The book deals with ‘the good ol’ days and the people I was speaking to were from then. Because I am ‘old’ I have a lot of ‘old’ stuff in my house. I gathered up a wagon full and presented them in a display on a table. They were things everyone recognized. That is except for a worker there was was so funny. He kept saying…”What IS that?” He was so interested he put his name down to get a book when they come in.There was a candlestick telephone which he hadn’t a clue. He did recognize a few things he had even played with as a kid but was amazed it came from ‘our time’. I started off with the small group blowing bubbles. Then I tested their memories with thinking back to various topics and they were thrilled to remember those things again. We laughed and reminisced and I even got them to play a couple games. Drop the clothespins in the bottle and then one they had never heard of before with cotton balls, a spoon and a bowl and blindfold. It’s actually described in the book. They all had a great me and left with smiles and memories to take with them. One man even came up to get a hug from me. Ya, know, sometimes maybe…just maybe, things happen for a purpose. Maybe, just maybe I wasn’t supposed to have the book yet when I spoke. It was a great ime even for me I’ve covered the uplifting moods spirits, the orbs, ghosts, and images showing up in spirit form, the UFO connection from an unknown source, and the last is connection to the spiritual/religious realm.
From messages seeming to be pointed directly to me in words given in different ways, be it clouds, trees, leaves, blood work, words typed out on a movie screen, printed material in strange places, answers coming in strange ways through the mail, or even hearing a voice as if someone was actually standing there giving me instructions to help a situation, my connections have been many as if with my angels, guides, and protectors. Signs, circumstances, situations, and audible voices use to scare the heck out of me but I have finally accepted it and enjoy the situations if they come. I haven’t totally become comfortable yet though, and the spirit world must have a laugh with trying to contact me because they know how they can and can't. I am comfortable with getting things back on my pictures (IT'S SAFE…NO CONFRONTATIONS), and the way messages show up in strange ways, via clouds, trees, rocks, water, animals, or mail and voices, though strange and still sort of heart racing, it’s still becoming a bit better. The two things I’m apparently not quite up to yet is actually seeing something moving for no reason. I see it and run like a scared rabbit, and then realize I should have taken a picture. The other one was an image I’d watched many times in the sky but one night it swept down and headed right for our house with no sound yet was about two acres wide. It seemed to have almost touched the end of the house and went over the roof of our barn. Has that got your heart beating or your blood flowing? It has mine, just recalling it. So these blogs have gotten you into the mood and setting for the experiences from which my various books will stem from. From now on the blogs will have a different theme or at least not ones of setting the scene. They may still have a connection to a spirit subject in some way as that seems to be my way of life. My new topic is now writing books, but they are from all the experiences I’ve had so they still are connected to the spirit world. Even though I chose the idea of ‘Lifting Spirits’ for my heading for my life’s experience, the works themselves are far from my control. Even the small words of ‘morningsunshine’ above the ‘lifting spirits’ heading has a spiritual connection.
We had a very dear friend who was an Indian and will eventually be mentioned within my books. We used to go to the different Indian powwows, and he made me a lot of Indian things. One morning I woke up to the words very distinct as if someone were standing there talking. It said “good morning, morning sunshine”. Wow! I was just given an Indian name! However, I was disappointed and said so to my friend Dancing Wolf. I wanted a neat name with an animal too. He told me the guys usually got the animal names, and I should be blessed with what I had been given. He said it was perfect. So, begrudgingly I accepted it. It has grown on me, and I feel blessed to have been given it. There have been several spiritual things which have come up with Dancing Wolf which will be covered in future books. He made me several things which ended up with strange things happening. He made me a peace pipe and held it up to the Great Spirit before presenting it to me. He said I could take a picture of him doing it if I wished (You don’t have to tell me more than once to take a picture). I took the picture, and when I got it back, there was a large white section at the bottom of the picture with tiny pink and blue wispy circles in a line separating the two parts of the picture. It wasn’t the beginning or end of a roll, nor was it anything from making a mistake with the camera and the pictures before and after it were normal. I will share other things with him at another time. This is just one of those many things concerning the spiritual realm of life which shows from up time to time. I’m doing more of the background for the reason why ‘Lifting Spirits’ is so perfect for me to use because this is my life…in one way or another.
Why strange things come my way I have no idea. I don’t do anything to cause it to happen but it just does. My life actually seems to go in cycles and when one type of experience slows down (at least for a while) another topic is at the door to jump in. The saying “When one door closes another opens" really fit my life. The book Sparks is about the 40s and 50s time of growing up. Little did I know back then that I would be using my experiences I was in would become a book some day. Little did I know my book would bring back precious memories for some and become a history lesson of their grandparent's days in a fun way for others. My life went on with my starting a program for teaching babies to swim, and there are people who got their start for a business doing it too which came from a book I wrote on the subject back in time. I went through a period of time when everywhere I went I ended up having to give first aid for some reason (I even found someone who committed suicide). Then paranormal things stated happening which moved on to getting things showing up in my photos which weren’t there when I took them. That still happens, and I even went through a period of time when I got pictures of strange things in the sky in front of our house. Not once but I have two shoe boxes of things and they have been recorded in some web sites but also some are under investigation. I’ve caught things in cemeteries which are human figures which brings a whole lot of questions up. I’ve also gotten some spiritual images as well as messages in strange ways from the world beyond, but most the time were even through a normal way yet strange. So much to cover…and I’m not getting any younger. |
AuthorPauline Petsel is a writer from Greeneville, TN. She has published two books, Sparks and Things that Go Bump in the Night. Archives
December 2016
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