Month: August 2012

Cats, paranormal

Mirrored Ghosts

Arlene

This last period of waiting for the finished copy, cover on and contents listed of Ghostly Spirits of Warren County, NC & Beyond can be a bit unnerving. So I just go forward writing the next manuscript which is the collection of all those little bits of paper recording all my paranormal experiences since I first noticed way back when.

As I wander around the house talking to myself, bringing the images of memories to the forefront of my mind, I notice Lady Jane in the bathroom sitting in front of the mirror. She loves the mirrors in the house and often spends quiet time-maybe not so quiet for her-seemingly to just sit there. But I wonder if she is looking deeper into that mirror than most of us do.

Ghosts have been photographed in mirrors. Before coming to Warren Plains, Alice and Duane lived in Warrenton, Virginia where a ghostly image was photographed in their mirror and published in the Fauquier-Times Democrat along with an article by Joe Winkelmann. They told me of their experiences with the afterlife. Soon you can read about it too.

ImageHmm…..about Lady Jane.

paranormal

I’m in Labor

Arlene

It’s true. I have been carrying a new life inside me, but this one took not nine months, but a few years and is called a book. The final proof is read and completed. The birth date of Ghostly Spirits in Warren County, North Carolina & Beyond should be in about a month. Whew! I remember going through labor with the boys, but time dulls the pain. I’ll be as happy to see the finished product now as I was then.

Brigette Norcross – Editor says:  The book is so rich with details, you feel like you are witnessing the ghostly appearances yourself; it is a little unnerving.  I could not put the book down.

And Nancy LaPonzina, author Nardi Point says:  “Bice takes us on a contemporary journey of things that go bump in the night with her collection of present day narratives not from Hollywood, but from our own backyard. Every region and town has its story—these tales are from Warrenton, North Carolina (or Warren County). Not for late-night reading, proceed at your own risk! “

So now I wait, breathing deeply to stay calm through this last process…….or was that Lamaze?

book review

Maeve Binchy 1940 – 2012

Arlene

The down side of keeping all the horrid stuff of today out of my everyday life by not watching the news on TV has also denied me the sad news of Maeve Binchy’s passing away, 1940- 30 July 2012. AOL (Huntington Post)  has let me down by not announcing it on the internet.

I’ve read her stories since she began writing them in 1978, giving us a peek into daily life in Ireland, always looking ahead for a new one, not wanting to miss anything she wrote. It is sad that we won’t be reading any new books by Maeve Binchy. Oops, a last minute detail……..A Week in Winter was completed and will be published posthumously.

opinion

A Female Writer’s Query

Arlene

I recently read an interview of Jeanette Walls, author of her memoir The Glass Castle. She revealed a great deal of interesting instances about her childhood that makes me want to read this book. She certainly had an unusual set of parents. At the end of the article it mentions her contributions to MSNBC, that she lives in New York and Long Island and is wed to the writer John Taylor.

Now, as I often do, I Google ‘writer John Taylor, NYC’ and come up with a senior writer for Esquire, his latest book and that’s it. No mention of a wife or who she is if he has one. On another site Jeanette Walls also pops up under the quest for John Taylor (?)  It says they are a power couple.

An article written by John Taylor about  Deconstructing a Peace to End All Peace comes up along with a list of other items he has written. No mention of a wife. Is this the same John Taylor? Don’t know. I doubt if he is the John Taylor of Duran, Duran…….but.

But my comment is this: Why during an interview with a female writer is there a mention of a husband and what he does, but during articles about male writers, there is not?

Cats, paranormal

Paranormal Cats

Arlene

My two girls, Lady Jane and Mz Lizzie, were Bordentown-rescued sisters as tiny kittens born of feral parents. As they grew I realized that they are paranormally sensitive, perky and alert when a visiting spirit was in the room with us. I’ve watched their heads turn, watching a movement cross the room that I couldn’t see but could sense.Image

Early on in Bordentown, they were both on the bed when, in the middle of the night, a voice came from wherever saying, “You have to sell everything and leave.” I’d had enough paranormal moments to know that I must pay attention to this and do as the voice said. Now, years later I realize that I probably would have lost everything I owned, i.e. apartment building and book shop business due to the economy down-swing if I had not heeded that message. Thinking that my mortgage interest rate would have increased (the bank reviewed my loan every 5-years) and the cost of heating a three story Victorian building with oil after the cost went from  .79 cents per gallon to close to $4 a gallon. The other half of the apartment building was heated with natural gas. Those prices were already high and climbed even higher. Plus the usual maintenance of an old building. Rents can only be raised a minimal amount to help cover those increases.

Of course the girls woke at the sound of the voice, their heads swiveling as if trying to locate where it was coming from. Eyes wide, noses in the air. They looked at me expectantly. A person doesn’t forget shared moments like that.

The mild earthquake we experienced last year chased Lizzie under the bed minutes before it happened. She leapt off the bed and zoomed under it like the devil was chasing her. She always senses when thunder and lightning storms are coming and scoots to her favorite hiding place ahead of time. If my closet door is open, she heads for deepest corner in there first. Jane is a little slower to react but she is also psychic-sensitive.