Well, staying at home is getting depressing and going to work is just as depressing considering I'm moving and closing up shop, so I took a lovely rest at
Schmeeckle Nature Reserve tonight. Next to this text is a new picture of me. I wanted to show those interested how long my hair is and just how much of a cute fatty I am! Of course after looking at this picture for awhile, I noticed that the way I'm kneeling, with my black poncho flowing out over my knees makes me look bigger than I am -- but only I would notice that!
Behind me there were some deer running around but it was too dark to incorporate them into the picture (if I had a better resolution camera maybe I would've captured them, that would've been way cool). I hate my digital camera because the resolution of the pictures is very low and images sometimes show up fuzzy, but at least it affords me the chance to take some photos and put them on the computer as soon as I get into the lab.
I haven't walked through Schmeeckle in a long while. When I lived in the Village Apartments (a complex just a block away from the reserve) it was my favorite haunt and one of the places where I passed my first spirit quest. In ten years the trees have gotten bigger there and the wetlands have gotten thicker as well. Despite years of drunk college students and finding the occasional beer can that can spoil your mood as you walk through the wilderness, Schmeekle is still alive and full of spirits. I used to take students on tours through the woods there during this time of year and tell ghost stories. As far as I know, only one student died there in the little man made lake near the apartments (a tragic result of skinny dipping while drunk after bartime).
Besides telling ghost stories, I loved to tell Fairy tales and one of the best places to tell a fairy tale is to climb up Fairy Hill. Few people know about this area of Schmeekle but those who do have finally put up some stones so that you climb up easier. It was here that every Midsummer my friends and I would leave offerings and prayer bags. Ribbons from previous offerings can still be seen in some of the branches of the trees nearby but even during a sunlit day, it's very dark on top of the hill (as can be seen by these photos):
I just took these today and it's amazing how dark they turned up compared to this photo, taken at the same time, just next to the hill:
My favorite kind of tree are Willows...
In the last picture above is this big wooden thing (I can't remember what it's called) that you can test your strength by climbing up the flat side. I took these in the part of Schmeeckle Reserve that has lots of places for people to do aggressive workouts. Here's a closer shot of the building and the willow tree next to it.
If I had more time today, I would've taken more photos of the area and I think I'll do that tomorrow earlier in the day when there's more light. So I'll just leave you with this last little picture of fall leaves at dusk...
And this picture of a ghostly orb taken in the backroom of my emptying store (it's just above the posters on the back wall -- at first I thought it was a reflection but I didn't use a flash when I took this picture!):
Ever experience that creepy feeling whenever you enter a room that you know you shouldn't be creeped out to enter but for some reason you do? This was what I felt whenever I entered this room. It's just a floor below the place where a guy hung himself 20 years ago... Even though my digital camera is cheap, it picks up these little orbs far more easily than a regular camera.
I need to go ghost hunting!
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