The Smile On The Block Of Something

 

“I never realized how much you meant to me until someone spoke your name and an irrepressible, goofy grin stretched my lips.”

 
― Richelle E. Goodrich,

 

  Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year

 

As you know, I see smiles in inanimate things. It's called, Pareidolia, It's common, but not everybody experiences it at the same rate. I see faces all the time. In trees, in work equipment, in painted surfaces, and even road delineators. I love it! It makes my creative side excel at trying to find out why the object feels the particular emotion I see, it also makes me more aware of how people, even those I don't know, are feeling. And when there is no one around me at all, it makes me feel less alone somehow. I love the gifts the human mind offers. There is a lot to think about!

 

 

By the way... what the heck is that block of whatever, smiling at me?

 

 

A Face In The Crowd: Preston Castle

"Normal is an illusion. What's normal for the spider

 is chaos for the fly." 

~Morticia Adams

That beautiful Romanesque building is Preston Castle, in the small city of Ione, California. It is rumored to be haunted, and I believe the stories of cries, strange sounds and moans are real, and from the ghosts who live there now. It was once a boys reformatory, where young boys were sent, from all around the state, to serve sentences for various crimes, or sometimes when they had simply been made wards of the court. 

Terrible abuses took place at this prison, the unthinkable really, and it is said now that the spirits of these children haunt the halls and rooms of Preston Castle, as does a nurse who was murdered there. Alan and I paid a visit to the place about a week ago, and let me tell you, while we didn't go in, just standing on the grounds and looking up at the main building gave me the shivers! It is quite eerie and imposing.

Sometime, maybe next year, Alan and I should sign up for one of their October ghost tours. I didn't prepare for it in time this year to get a reservation in, but I have always wanted to go on a ghost hunt, so you can bet I will be trying for next year! I believe in ghosts, and I have had more than one experience with the paranormal. Actually, I hate that word "paranormal" it has such a negative association. 

Paranormal simply means we haven't discovered why certain things, that don't seem to belong in the natural world, somehow do. Science just needs a little while longer to figure it out, but with so many other things to work on, like cancer, and climate change, other diseases, and all the other things that benefit the living, the research continues, but the supernatural and paranormal, understandably, need to take a back seat. I suppose the dead can wait!

 But boy would I like to be there when a definite connection is made between the living and spirits or ghosts. Irrefutable proof of the existence of ghosts, would make me feel a lot better about some of the experiences I have had, since childhood, that you wouldn't believe me about, if I described them to you in exact detail! But its okay... I know they happened. And one day... I can say, yep, I knew it was true! I did see a ghost that day!

 The castle is kinda spooky, and I always feel a little sad when I look at it, thinking about how those children were abused and hurt, but the grounds around the building are beautiful, and quite pleasant. This tree lines the road leading away from the castle, towards the exit of the property. Beautiful trees, and lots of birds. If one didn't realize the past this places has, it might just seem like a beautiful place to hold a party, maybe even a wedding! But was we came to the end of the driveway, Alan glanced out the window and noticed this...

The long rock wall that lines the property, is a gorgeous mix of different rocks, but on the last group, was one particular rock that seems, well, to show a ghostly face! I know... it's just a rock, and I know that seeing faces, where there are none, is a phenomenon called Paredolia. I even have a whole album of "faces" that I have photographed over the years, called "A Face In The Crowd!" Everyone sees them from time to time, but the other day, when we saw this one, I got a chill down my spine! It was downright spooky to have chills, in 85 degree heat!

Tell me, have you ever seen a ghost? Or thought you had?

 #22 Leaf Of The Day

October 22nd 2017

Cull Canyon, California

 

"Maybe before you die, it's your ghost you see."

~Lauren Oliver 

Mood: Curious

~Me :)

A Face In The Crowd: The Thanksgiving Edition

"Question for your life: If your face looked like your ass, and I'm not saying it doesn't, would you consider invading Russia in the middle of winter wearing only shorts?"

~Jarod Kintz

$3.33

I think I had been taking photos for well over a decade before I began to see faces. Oh don't get me wrong, I can recognize a face in the sense that I know what two eyes, a nose and a month creates one, no what I mean is, I began to see faces in objects and clouds or at least patterns that looked like faces. It's called Pareidolia. The most common example of which, might be when we see the Man In The Moon. To date, I haven't seen Jesus, or the Virgin Mary, which I hope isn't a bad sign, but I have seen some pretty interesting anonymous faces here and there! Take this one for example... do you see it? Look at the picture above. Do you see a cute little Golden Retriever looking back at you? Alan and I thought we did, so I thought it would make a fun addition to my collection!

 Tell me what you think... do you see it?

Thanksgiving Dinner

 (Before Picture)

The Leaf Of The Day

Mood: Happy

~Me :)