To Grandmother’s House We Go

Several post back someone asked me about the house that I am showing in my header. I meant to answer the question in the next post and something came up and it slipped my mind. I’m sorry I can’t remember now who asked, but I wanted to let them know that the house is the one my grandparents on my dad’s side lived in when I was a child. My grandfather was a share cropper and this home was the sixteenth home that him and my grandmother had lived in. They were married in 1923 and moved into this house in 1950. My grandfather died in 1959 and my grandmother continued to live there until 1986 when she moved along with my old maid Aunt to a newer home across town. She lived there until her death in Aug. 2000. My Aunt continues to live in the new home.

 

These photos are from the old home.

Good Neighbors

Open letter to my upstairs neighbor

Thank you so much for being a lazy jerk and throwing things off the top of your balcony instead of walking them down the stairs and out to the dumpster like everyone else that lives in this building does. If you had been one of the sheep instead of opening your back door and crashing things to the ground, making me jump and causing my dog to bark, I wouldn’t be the proud owner of this new folding chair. I am sure you will never know how much I wanted it. See I plan on giving it to my daughter. She only has four chairs at her table, so when all of the family comes to her house for dinner we have to sit in the living room. Now we can place it at the table and sit together.

Also I wanted to thank you for finally giving away the puppy you kept at your house over the holidays. I worried and worried about how it was staying warm on all those cold nights when you left it out on the patio 24 hours a day.

I am happy you took the letter I wrote and left on your door one morning to heart. I really am glad I didn’t have to turn you into the office for not only leaving the dog out day and night, but for letting it pee and poop on your porch, which was my ceiling and it dripped down onto my cement porch where both my dog and I stepped in it every time I took mine out in the yard to pee (which is where you are suppose to take a dog)

It’s to bad that you didn’t give  the dog kennel that you had for the puppy away with the dog. Maybe then it wouldn’t have broke when you threw it off the patio with the chair. I was going to bring it in and clean it up. I thought maybe the person on free cycle that was asking for one just two days ago could still use it. If you had placed it at the trash bin the door wouldn’t be broken off and the plastic busted. To bad huh.

Oh and In case your wondering I am the one who went out and moved it to the fence and out of the middle of the yard for my dog to get tangled up in each time I let her out on the long leash to pee. I guess I should have taken it to the trash dumpsters, but since it wasn’t my responsibility to pick up after you I just left it.

I’m sure the apartment maintenance department will get around to moving it some time around June. After all with the hard times we are in economically I wouldn’t want to put them out of a job. Or maybe you will start to feel guilty now that it is in a place where your eye will go every time you look out and you will come retrieve it and take it yourself.  

.

I’m not sure when your lease on your apartment is up, but I hope it is soon. Maybe I will be home the day you move and I can be the first to see what you toss off the porch.

Thanks again

Oh and while I have your attention, thanks for being a member of the United States Army. I am sure your commanding officer is proud of how those arm lifts paid off. After all it must have taken a really strong guy to do all you do!

Your loving neighbor

Patty

In search of the spirit world

This  coming Saturday is the day that I am going on the “spirit tour” at the Ferry Plantation house in Virginia Beach. I am looking forward to the tour and like any good ghost hunter hope to have the ultimate experience and see something. However like any good ghost hunter I also believe in being prepared as far as knowing the history of the house/property. Not every spirit is nice and I don’t want to get caught off guard and suddenly wonder why I feel sick, or find things being thrown off shelves. At the same time I want to make sure I pay attention to which room or rooms that have shown activity in the past. This lead me to a google search on the house. I found several articles, but nothing that really talked much about the hauntings. Then I found information on a book called “Haunted Virginia Beach” and was able to read excerpts from the book. I was really excited to read about Eric, a child who died in the house. It seems that he likes to play tricks on people. He has also been seen on the steps. Another child, a young girl has been seen in the dinning room along with a woman. There is a spirit of a man who is called Henry. He was a servant and his job was to lead people from the boat landing up to the house. Over the years some of the land has been sold and modern day houses built. It has been reported that one of the neighbors had his patio furniture moved more than once during the night. It is thought that Henry was just making way for his unseen guest to enter the Ferry House .  Upstairs a woman is seen. She was the nanny and footsteps are heard pacing back and forth between her room and the nursery.  A woman is also seen by the downstairs fireplace. Cold spots have been felt in this house and shadows have been seen.

I can’t wait!

Chasing the green eyed monster

Why is it that we spend all of our time when our children are young trying to get them to be independent then when they become adults and are independent we miss them being children?

Take my daughter for example. Deep down I am really happy that she has her own home and a boyfriend to share it with, but there is still this part of me that wants her to move back home.  I miss her being the little girl and me being the “mom”.

I still have some reservations about this guy she lives with, and personally I would live with him about five minutes then I would kill him, chop him up into little pieces and place him in zip lock bags in the freezer to feed my dog (Now you all do know I am only kidding here…Please don’t call my local police and report me…I really would never do anything like this….We are talking fantasy land)

Anyway they have been together a couple of years now and are growing closer (as it should be) as time has gone by. My grandson thinks of him as dad, and as he (my grandson) gets older wants to spend more time with “daddy”. “Daddy” is not working as many evenings now so he is home more on the nights my daughter is at work on her second job. This means my grandson is not coming over for me to watch and I am finding this little green eyed monster creeping into my thoughts. The truth of the matter is I am jealous.

Cody is my baby. He has always been my baby, but I don’t get to see him as often as I use to and I miss him.  When he was an infant I kept him seven days a week, then it went to about four days and now it is two, and sometimes one. I know I should be grateful that I spend any time at all with him. So many grandparents live long distances from the grandkids and rarely see them. In fact I have yet to see my own grand daughter. She is almost six and is in California. Her mom rarely contacts me and my son has not seen her now in a couple of years.

Speaking of the son, he is in Washington state.  His job has taken him there and he has already told me that he probably won’t come back for about six months. If I am lucky he will call me once a month. He has always been the  most independent of my children.

Maybe it is the empty nest syndrome I am feeling, maybe it is the green eye monster. Maybe I am just over tired, but I want my kids to be babies again.

Sigh!

Is Live Writer for me?

I am trying out windows live writer and so far am not happy. Does anyone else us this program? I am not sure how to get the title on it. I had to go back in and manually change it after it posted to blogger. Everything is showing up with the blog name as the title Also I just wrote this big huge post only to realize I had it set for the haunting we will go blog and when I tried to change it over here it did not save. Now I have to start over. Grumble, grumble. I do like the built in spell check but blogger itself saves, so I will have to play with this awhile and see how it goes. I don’t have time to start over now because I have to be at work soon, but I wanted to stop in and say hello. I am off tomorrow and will rewrite the post I had started

Enjoy your day

Tell Me Please

Ok am I being picky or do cashiers at the grocery store need to have refresher courses on how to bag items. Take a guess which of these three items they packed together tonight. They gave me two bags and I bought Baking Potatoes which I placed in a clear plastic bag of its own. I bought a loaf of crusty french bread, and I bought a container (milk carton style) of Epsom Salt to soak in

Choice A: Bread and Baking Potatoes in one bag
with Epsom Salt in bag alone

Choice B: Epsom Salt and Bread together



If you picked choice B you are the winner...However choice A is how the groceries should have been placed.

Never ever mix food with non food, especially something like Epsom salt which I know people do ingests, but I don't want it on my bread..
Stupid Clerk

Meme

1. What's your husbands name?
Dean

2. How long have you been married?
We have been married eight years, but lived together for two years prior to that.

3. How long did you date?
That is kind of a complicated question for me. See him and I met on the Internet in a chat room and we "dated" there for about seven months before we actually met in person.
He was in Utah and I was in Virginia, so when we finally did met we spent 36 hours together. Six weeks later we moved in together and the rest as they say is history

4. How old is he?
He is 51 (I am 55...so yes, I robbed the cradle)

5. Who eats more sweets?
Oh he does definitely. He loves his junk food.
(and it shows)

6. Who is a better singer?
Neither of us..He has a deep voice that sounds like he is singing inside of a tin can, and I just can't carry a note at all

7. Who is smarter?
Book smart, probably him, but I have a lot more common sense. He is one of those men who would get lost inside of a paper sack

8. Who does the laundry?
We both do. He usually does his things, which is a habit he got into from his marriage to his ex. I offer to do it, but he prefers to do it himself so I let him. I do my things and the household linens

9. Who pays the bills?
We both contribute money to the bills, but I usually pay them. Except for the rent which one of us drops off at the office, I pay all bills on line or call them in. It is just easier

10. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
He does, he said it is closer to the door in case anyone ever broke in. I laughed when I heard that and ask him if he planned on leaving me in bed while he ran for the door ha ha

11. Who mows the lawn?
We have no lawn since we live in an apartment, but we did have a 5 ft square of grass once in a townhouse we rent..He weed whacked that if that counts

12. Who cooks dinner?
I cook dinner, but he always places the order if we go through the drive thru. ha ha

13. Who drives?
He does, except for a few times on long trips we will share.

14. Who is the first to say they are wrong?
Both of us depending on what the problem is. We don't argue often, I tend to bitch and bicker, because that is just me, but he doesn't fuss back (usually)

15. Who kissed who first? Our first kiss was at the airport when we met for the first time, so it was mutual.

16. Who asked who out first?
Well I flew out to Utah to met him so I guess he ask me first, only I told him I was coming out, so maybe I ask him..... gee this is a complicated questionnaire ha ha

17. Who wears the pants?
Oh I do, and he better not forget it ha hahahahha

In The Woods

One of the most haunted places in my area is a place called Old House Woods. I have heard stories about this area for several years so we decided that it was time to check it out...

In the day light that is. With all the stories I had heard I was not about to go here at night.
Here are a few of the most famous stories.

Some of the recurring tales are about British Redcoats, pirates, skeletons in knights armor, mysterious groups of shoveler digging, ghost horses and cows which appear and disappear before one's eyes, a full rigged Spanish galleon which vanishes in thin air, mysterious floating lights in the woods similar to lantern light, and a "Storm Woman" who floats above the pines warning fishermen of impending gales.

Whew, that is enough to scare anyone. As you can see from the photos. These woods look creepy in the daylight.


Looking up and down the road in both directions.


The thick woods.







We didn't stay long and headed instead to the beach area where
Blackbeard, the famous pirate captain supposedly brought some of his treasure here to hide it. He forced several of his men to dig the hole at gunpoint. And then, he shot them, and threw their bodies in the pit with his takings. This is an old pirate superstition that is supposed to protect his treasure from thieves and other adventurers. And some have claimed to have seen men, madly digging in the night,
while another person supervises with his pistol in hand









I've heard the stories of how people digging for the treasure disappear never to be seen again. I wasn't about to take any chances, but.....Ok I confess. I did take one of these pretty shells for a souvenir. Shhhh don't tell anyone. I am not sure how good of a pirate I would make if one of these ghost takes me out to sea on the mysterious ship that has been seen in the area.

The World Around Me..Rosewell Ruins

Today I returned to Rosewell Ruins in Gloucester VA. I had visited this location last spring and had been wanting to return. All was quiet today but I can certainly see why this place is suppose to be haunted.

Stories have been told at Rosewell. Everything from slaves buried in the Cellar walls, to a mysterious lady who walks the front steps every night.





From Wikipedia,

Rosewell Plantation in Gloucester County, Virginia, USA for more than 100 years was the home of members of the Page family, one of the First Families of Virginia. Begun in 1725, the huge brick Rosewell mansion overlooking the York River was one of the finest in Virginia. Through much of the 18th century and 19th centuries, and during the American Civil War, Rosewell Mansion hosted the area's most elaborate formal balls and celebrations.



Rosewell Mansion and part of its history were described by author James Joseph McDonald in "Life In Old Virginia" (The Old Virginia Publishing Co., Norfolk, Va., 1907) thus:

"The mansion is substantially built of brick, three story and basement. The foundation walls are three and one-half feet thick. The reception hall is large, the ceilings lofty, and the whole mansion is indicative of refined taste and wealth. From the upper windows, a magnificent view is had of the surrounding level lands and the waters of the creeks and the York River.
"During the life of Governor Page, Thomas Jefferson was a frequent and welcome visitor there. While on one of his visits he wrote the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence in what is now known as the 'Blue Room,' situated on the northwest corner of the second story of this house."
The elaborate Flemish bond brickwork, the towering three stories, and the siting of the mansion were all meant to recall elaborate London homes of the era. In that sense, Rosewell was among the most sophisticated early buildings built in America.

The Rosewell Mansion was destroyed by fire in 1916. Today, a largely undisturbed historic ruin, the site has been the subject of archaeological work which has revealed many artifacts and shed light on some aspects of colonial life and architecture previously unclear.



Page family of Virginia
Governor of Virginia John Page (1744-1808) was the grandson of Rosewell's first owner, Mann Page (I). He grew up there, and was a classmate of Thomas Jefferson at the College of William and Mary in nearby Williamsburg where he graduated in 1763. John Page fought during the American Revolutionary War, attaining the rank of colonel. He also served multiple terms in the U.S. Congress and the Virginia General Assembly.

Other notable members of Virginia's Page family also include Governor Page's brother Mann Page III, his great grandfather, Colonel John Page of Jamestown and Middle Plantation, author and U.S. Ambassador to Italy Thomas Nelson Page, and Virginian Railway builder William Nelson Page; Confederate General Richard Lucian Page.




A family legend says that the courtship of John and Margaret Lowther Page began with an exchange of poems.


In 1790, John Page was a 47-year-old widower serving in the First Congress of the United States. Congress was meeting in New York, and it was there that he met Margaret Lowther, who was about 30 at the time. According to the legend, John escorted Margaret to a party and later realized that she had left a glove in his carriage. He sent the glove back to her with a note reading


"Taking 'G' from 'Glove' leaves 'Love'

Tis that I offer thee."


Margaret replied with another note:

"Taking 'P' from 'Page' leaves 'Age,'

And you are too old for me."


Perhaps Margaret was only teasing, or perhaps she soon had a change of heart, for the couple was married a few months later. They continued to write and exchange poems during their marriage.

Photo Hunt-Nautical

 

I haven't played along with PhotoHunt in a long time, but when I read that the theme for this week was nautical I knew I had the perfect photos.

Say hello to King Neptune, you can find him at the ocean front in Virginia Beach VA

Men!

Today is Valentines Day. A day when lovers (and friends) everywhere show each other just how much they care. My day so far has sucked. My husband and I had a rare argument because he knew I had to work until 10 tonight and instead of having a Valentine ready for me he came up empty handed. His excuse was he was going to get something later today. Well duh, by the time I get home the day will be over.
This hurt my feelings since I had him something ready to give this morning.
To try and make up for things he went to get breakfast at McDonald's and came back in with a card, a small box of candy and a single rose. This upset me more because I felt like it was an after thought. I had asked him early last week to please get me a spring flower bouquet if he got anything because I did NOT want candy or roses.
We had words over it and I haven't even read the card. Now I am sitting in the living room sulking and he is in the bedroom watching TV
Am I being a baby or do men just suck?

Chickens, Grand kids and Snowmen oh my (the world around me)

Last month I decided to try and post something every week or at lest every couple of weeks about my area. I call these post The World Around Me...Here is my latest

My daughter finished work early today. I was off and the sun was shining so we took advantage of the spring like weather by getting outside. We decided on the local children's farm. First we stopped for some lunch.


As you can tell my grandson thought it would be more fun to wear his cup on his head than to drink out of it.

After we ate we stopped at our favorite thrift stores (since they were on the way)
I found a couple of movies and my daughter found this!

I told her she was crazy, that it would never fit


But she had a plan

I held my breath


1-2-3


Whew...she did it!

Next stop, the local children's farm where Cody played on the Swings

And the slide


He ran around in circles



And played peek a boo



While I took some pictures of the turkeys


And the swan



And the ducks by the water wheel


We stopped to feed the horse


Check out the llama


How often do you see cows in the city (This sounds like a new TV show...stay turned for cows in the city brought to you by butter lovers of the world)


Look at these beautiful baby goats


They were so sweet


Here comes the albino peacock


With this beauty not far behind


Next we stopped at the chicken house


This little fellow is having a bad hair day


And this one talked to us the entire time we were there


Not to be out done. Mr Rooster let out a big cock a doodle doo


Cody loved petting the deer


But was starting to get a little tired, so we sat down to rest


We were bored with the playground and the animals so we took a little walk to the other side of the farm, where this old building is


You might remember from last year that this is one of the area's that Cody saw a "ghost", It was in here that he saw an old man.


He didn't see anything there today,(I have to admit I wish he had) so we just looked around.


Isn't it amazing how quick kids get a second wind


We finished up our walk by stopping at the old graveyard where last spring Cody saw "The Lady Ghost"


We haven't mentioned her to him in a long time, but he still remembers seeing her.


he wasn't afraid and he enjoyed walking around the graves


It's been a long time since he has "seen" anything. I think he is outgrowing it already. I am not sure why children seem to have the ability to see and feel spirits, but his mom and I want him to be comfortable around cemeteries and old places where "something" might be.
One of the ways we do this is by giving him the camera to take photos.


I think he did a good job getting this one of me and his mom

And an even better one of his feet (giggle)


One last walk around the lake and it was time to head back to the front of the farm





We must not forget to visit the rabbits


Or the giant turtle


And last but not lest climb in our favorite tree



Thank you for joining me for a trip in The World Around Me....

Brought to you by Cows in the City..For butter lovers everywhere(Giggle)




Hey let me out of here will ya?