I knew my neighborhood was cool when I saw that mobile Alchemist on Call van parked out front…

But this morning I spotted a new vehicle parked out front:

Who You Gonna Call?

I guess the Historical Society was on to something when they sent out pamphlets around here asking if anyone had experienced paranormal activities in their homes.

I know I sure have.

I know there’s ground beef, and then there’s ground turkey, but do they make ground hog? I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that.

Another thing I don’t know is what ground hogs have to do with February 2nd. I’m curious as to how this whole thing came about. It’s a pagan holiday, of course. Imbolc. One of the major sabbats, one of the crossed quarters, falling between Yule and the Vernal Equinox. A festival of light, bonfires, celebrating the turning point of winter..

But how ground hogs came into play, escapes me.

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Happy solstace, joyous Yule, and all that.

Winter is now upon us, and although the days will start getting longer, they will continue to grow colder, for reasons I’ve never fully grasped.

Seriously, it’s like the seasons are 45 degrees out of phase with the tilt of the Earth’s axis in relation to the position of the planet’s orbit. Today is the day that the sun’s rays have the most air to go through before hitting those of us on the northern hemisphere. Today’s the day that there’s the least sunlight on the northern hemisphere. Why is it that the coldest day’s don’t hit till February?

Half the time it’s still winter-cold and snowy when the vernal equinox comes round in March! That’s not right – by then the days and nights are the same length, and the sun’s energy is much less oblique and more perpendicular, so there’s way less atmosphere – yet the real warm days don’t hit till after the summer solstace!

It just doesn’t make sense. Like I said – the seasons are 45 degrees out of phase with the whole scientific-explanation thingy.

I am very fortunate. Neither myself, my parents, or any of my grandparents, have served in combat. Both my grandfathers were involved in World War 2, but one took ill and was sent home before shipping overseas, and the other was in the Signals Corps but never shipped out either.

A great-grandfather did serve in the Great War, he was wounded at least twice, and we still have some relics from that time. Letters he wrote, one written from inside a ‘Hun Pillbox’ he had helped capture, another written from hospital as he recovered from injuries.

There is a bracelet that is inscribed “Vimy” and is alledgedly made from the metal of a shell that was fired during that great battle, along with some of his badges and other parephenalia. I never knew my great-grandfather though – any of them in fact. I have no direct connection to anyone who has served in the armed forces, seen combat.

So, what does Rememberance Day mean to me, then? There is one phrase, which symbolises it all to me. “Today, will be a great day for Canada!” This simple sentence brings tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat.

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On many occasions, I’ve found my kitchen cupboards opened. Not all of them, not all the time, but frequently I find a couple of the cupboards have been opened.

I always blame Misha for this, since I have caught her a few times coming out of the kitchen cupboards. I know, it might be annoying, but it is also kind of cute and funny to see a cat emerge from a cupboard like that.

Anyhow, so this evening I was in the kitchen to make a coffee, and one of the cupboards started to open. It was one that I was standing right infront of, so it couldn’t open much before bumping into me. Without really thinking, I just nudged it shut with my knee but met with resistance – the cupboard pushed back and opened more.

I thought, oh it must be Misha coming out, so I looked down. No Misha. I looked around. No cat at all. The cats were both in the living room.

So something opened the cupboard while I was infront of it, bumped it into me, then when I tried to close it, there was resistance and it pushed my leg back out of the way so it could open.

I don’t know what it was – there was nothing, noone there.

Spooky.

It’s time once again to celebrate Samhain.

Have a joyous and magical Sabbat.

No, I’m not talking about a CBC television series from the 80s – not this time, anyways. Hallucinations maybe. Or possibly dust. Bugs? Orbs? Micro black-holes? Glitches in the time-space continuum?

I don’t know what they are, but they’re like little black pin-points, as if reality had got a kink in it and folded over on itself. A sort of moving 3d distortion. I haven’t seen any at work yet, but over the weekend I saw a few of them at home, 3 or 4 of them at least. Most were in the livingroom, one in my bedroom. In the daytime and at night.

They seem to travel in straight lines, they appear, move a distance, then vanish. They aren’t like eye-floaters, because if I see one out of the corner of my eye, I can turn my head and look at it without it moving away. I’m pretty sure they aren’t some optical wierdness happening inside my eyeballs. They don’t exist long enough to grab for a camera though, they are too short-lived. Like only a second or two.

I don’t know what to make of them.