Happy Eve of All Saints!

If you really want to know what I think of Halloween, grab a cup of coffee, and come visit with me over here.

Viva Christo Rey!

Our love and allegience to Christ, King of the universe and King of our hearts

on Christ the King Sunday!

Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before Your altar. We are Yours, and Yours we wish to be; but, to be more surely united with You, behold each one of us freely consecrates himself today to Your Most Sacred Heart. Many indeed have never known You; many too, despising Your precepts, have rejected You. Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to Your Sacred Heart.
You are King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken You, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned You; grant that they may quickly return to their Father's house lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.

You are King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof; call them back to the harbor of truth and unity of faith, so that soon there may be but one flock and one Shepherd.
You are King of all those who are still involved in the darkness of idolatry or of Islamism; refuse not to draw them all into the light and kingdom of God. Turn Your eyes of mercy toward the children of that race, once Your chosen people. Of old they called down upon themselves the Blood of the Savior; may it now descend upon them a laver of redemption and of life.
Grant, O Lord, to Your Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give peace and order to all nations, and make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry: Praise to the Divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to It be glory and Honor forever. Amen.

A Coloring page for the day

And  a cake for the day --  if you're like me and are time and organizationally challenged:



One small store-boughten red silk cake.



One box "Little Debby" white snack cakes, six cut into triangles, the rest saved for lunchbox treats.



Snack cake triangles arranged around the top of our "crown."



A little bit of red sprinkles added to the center of the crown, plus some maraschino cherries
and gummy "watermelon slices"...




And VOILA!  A fifteen-minute Crown Cake to celebrate the Feast of Christ the King!

 Although I am all for baking from scratch and planning ahead, sometimes, dear friends -- well, it just doesn't happen.  But that's no reason to miss a chance to make the day special!  Trust me: the kids don't care that this cake wasn't baked in our own oven!  A slice of this sweetness and a coloring page to work on while we watch a movie together this afternoon (after the Bronco game, of course) -- and we have a good Christ the King feast day memory to tuck away in their little brains beside this morning's high Mass and prayer of consecration.  (And for me -- a few hundred more calories to work off next week...)

Special Novena Intention to St. John Bosco

The following letter is from our son's pastor, a priest our family feels honored to know (especially Gabey who shares a name-patron, and any of our our boys who've enjoyed his company at Boys' Camp):

Dear Friends in Christ,

Praised be Jesus and Mary!

Could I ask your help in praying for a special intention? The prayers for this novena, which will start today, are at the end of this email. The reason for it is as follows.

In 1847 St. John Bosco wrote a book of prayers and spiritual advice for youth called The Companion of Youth. It was his best-seller so to say. During his lifetime it went through 122 printings and three editions (The first had 352 pages and the 3rd had grown to 520 pages). Each printing was about 50,000 copies.
In his Memoirs of the Oratory St. John Bosco speaks of this book as follows: “Another need showed up: a prayer book suitable for the times. There is no shortage of prayer books which have been put together by excellent people and are available to everyone. But, on the whole, these books were written for educated people, for adults, and most of them could be used by Catholics, Jews, or Protestants. Seeing how insidious heresy was spreading quietly every day, I undertook to compile a book suitable for the young, adapted to their religious ideas, based on the Bible, and setting out the foundations of the Catholic religion clearly and concisely. This was The Companion of Youth.”

In 1851 St. John Bosco added another section called “Fundamentals of the Catholic Religion”. It had been published earlier as a separate pamphlet. Speaking of this pamphlet he said: “Its aim was to put Catholics on the alert lest they let themselves be caught in the nets of the heretics. Its distribution was extraordinary; in two years it sold more than two hundred thousand copies. This pleased the good, but it enraged the Protestants, who had begun to think that they had the field of evangelization all to themselves.” He also wrote to a friend: “If you get involved in these booklets you're sacrificing any support you might have from La Gazzetta del Popolo [a violently anti-Catholic newspaper], and maybe from others. This booklet, tiny as it is, is a nuisance to them, and they would just love to burn any copies they can get hold of.”

The book was translated into English for the first time in 1938, then again in 1955. Later revised or incomplete translations were published by the Salesians after they had become very liberal. These included changes in the Mass. Neither the old and complete translations, nor the new are in print, except for some small excerpts in another work. They are almost impossible to obtain (the Salesian publishers in NY did not even have a copy of the 1938 edition in their archives).

I obtained a copy of the 1938 edition to scan and have compared it with the 101st Italian printing (3rd edition, the most complete one published by St. John Bosco). It is a complete and accurate translation. The only omission is the Vespers of Our Lady, Vespers for the whole year, and the Office of the Dead. These were left out in order to keep the size small and because they can be obtained from many other prayer books.

There are so many of our youth today who could benefit from this book, if we could only get it in their hands. Unfortunately, due to a change in copyright law in 1996, the book is still in copyright (owned probably by the Salesians). Could you join me and a couple hundred others to whom this email is being sent in praying this novena from today, October 27th to November 4th to get permission to republish this work?

The prayers below are selected from several novena prayers to St. John Bosco which were added to the 1938 edition of The Companion of Youth. Could you pray at least one of them each day of the novena? Thank you in advance, and may God reward you abundantly for this act of zeal for the souls of the young!

In Jesus and Mary,

Fr. Gabriel


Novena prayers for permission to reprint St. John Bosco’s book, The Companion of Youth: prayers and spiritual advice for the youth.

O glorious St John Bosco, by that great love which thou didst bear towards Youth, of which thou didst make thyself Father and Teacher, and by the heroic sacrifices thou didst bear for its salvation, obtain for us, that we also may love with a holy and generous love this chosen portion of the Heart of Jesus and that in every child we may see the adorable person of our Divine Savior.

Glory be to the Father, etc.

O glorious St John Bosco, who didst love the virtue of purity with a love of predilection, and who didst inculcate it by word, writing, and example, obtain that we too, enamored of so indispensable a virtue, may practice it constantly and diffuse it by every means in our power.

Glory be to the Father, etc.

O glorious St John Bosco, who wert ever so compassionate towards human miseries, look down upon us, so greatly in need of thine aid; pray that the maternal blessings of Mary, Help of Christians may descend upon us and upon our families ; obtain for us all the spiritual and temporal favors of which we stand in need ; intercede for us in life and in death, so that we, too, eternally may sing the Divine mercies in Paradise.

Glory be to the Father, etc.

Prayer to Mary, Help of Christians

Most Holy and Immaculate Virgin, Help of Christians, we consecrate ourselves entirely to Thee and we promise always to labor for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls. We pray Thee to turn thine eyes of pity on the Church, priests and missionaries; on our relatives and benefactors; on the youth confided to our care; on poor sinners and the dying, and on all the souls in Purgatory. Teach us, O most tender Mother, to copy in ourselves the virtues of St. John Bosco, particularly his angelic modesty, profound humility and ardent charity.
Grant also, O Mary, Help of Christians, that through thy powerful intercession we may be victorious over the enemies of our souls in life and in death, so that with Saint John Bosco we may be gathered round Thee in thy home in heaven. Amen.

Ejaculation: Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us. (300 days indulgence.)


PS:  Also our family is adding the intention to this novena of the spiritual well-being of all our young people, but especially our sons, that prayer being the mission of St. John Bosco's life. (We like to "Pile On" in our novenas... :)

Anna and Cathy's Andy Warhol Moment...

They're in the Denver Post online today! Check it out!  The picture is a hoot!  :)

Have I mentioned that I LOVE this time of year??

Simple Woman's Take on an Out-of-the-Ordinary Monday

Yes, simple; beautifully simple today...  That's what I'm hoping, anyway!  I have the house completely to myself.  Which never happens.  William's in Kindygarten; Dan and the other four kiddos are still in Denver, not to return until this evening.  But no lollygagging for this mama.   I have a pile of laundry up to my neck that's piled up since the kids have gone (and since I made them clean their rooms before they left), and a few miscellaneous chores and goals I want to accomplish today in the quietude.  But, I also want to blog a Simple Woman post, so I've made a deal with myself:  I'm gonna post a couple pondering points, tackle a chore, then answer a couple more points, and so on until I get all the way through.  I'll report on what I get done when I get it done. :)

9:05  I just now made my bed and put on a load of whites.  Threw a bed pillow in there, too, and hope the bleach isn't a bad idea with that.  I'll let ya know...

Outside my window… It's a glorious day! The gold-orange leaves of the aspen and cottonwoods stand in brilliant contrast against the deep, penetrating blue of the sky.

I am hearing... The morning started off with a chill, so I started a fire in the woodstove first thing, which is just now dying off with quiet little pops and crackles. But that subtle smell of wood smoke lingers in the house. Smells, looks, and feels like autumn!

10:35 Ok -- so here I am, back to the computer.  Mixed up a batch of Pumpkin/Banana bread batter -- and got sidetracked in the middle of it -- ending up cleaning out the bottom shelf of the pantry and the top of the stove.  Took me long enough that I don't have time to bake my bread before 11 a.m. school-day Mass, so it's sitting on the counter, waiting. 

I am wearing...  layers that I've shed as the day has progressed.  Started out with calf-length leggins under my brown gypsy skirt and a white tee with butterflies on it under a cozy light aqua cordouroy overshirt.  Now I'm down to the butterfly tee and brown skirt. 

In the kitchen...  this is the recipe for the low-fat, full-of-goodness bread I'll bake after I get back from Mass.  I substituted a 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce for the vegetable oil -- a trick I've found works for most breads --  and added a good handful of walnuts.  Can't wait to try this.  Haven't used this recipe before!

11:50  Back from Mass.  Put bread in the oven and turned on the end of "Blithe Spirit" that I'd been watching while I mixed up batter earlier.  Talk about your dark comedies...  Rex Harrison, though.  So very attractively English and tweedy -- and so young in this movie!  But, still, I can hardly watch him in any movie without expecting him to forget himself and start talking to the animals... 

I am thinking… it's been a very pleasant couple of days spent alone with my youngest.  William is quite a little character --  A couple of quotes:  "This is very good. You are and I are getting to know each other here all by ourselves, aren't we?"  and "Too bad about Adam and Eve. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have to go to school tomorrow."

I am thankful for… every minute spent getting to know each and every one of my children better.  They're a hoot. And they grow up so quickly!

4:45 OK, so,  I put on a pot of spaghetti for dinner after lunch, swept the floors, changed over laundry, and picked up my student (my super-smart autistic buddy, Brian) for his history and English classes at 1:45.  Then, picked up William at 3:30, and headed to town to drop off the carpet shampooer that I rented on Saturday.  (Now you know what I did Saturday while the gang was out of town...)  Then, I came home, finished up the spaghettie sauce, made a salad, and broughta basket full of dinner for Fr. B. over at the rectory. Waiting for our bread to heat up here at home now, and have a minute to work on Simple Woman ponderings again...

I am reading…  a biography of St. Teresa of Avila by William Thomas Walsh -- and just got a copy of Man Alive by GK Chesterton, which I'll start dipping into here shortly.  (Long before I finish the biography of St. Teresa -- which is a tome.)

I am hoping…  the children all settle easily back into a nice, calm, every-day routine again after they get back home tonight.  Sometimes these kinds of "blips" on the calendar get everyone out of sorts... Including me.

Dinner done. William ate all of his spaghetti, onions and all!  Because I was holding ice cream for dessert over his head as a very effective bribe.

A few plans for the rest of the week...  Send box of clothes and goodies to my nephew and neices in Georgia; bring bins with warm winter blankets down out of the attic and "refit" my room to match the different color of my big comforter; get to gym at least twice; trade coffee for tea at east four mornings a week.  Start work on refinishing, this...

Found this for a song at a thrift store!  In working condition,
though it's a pity someone decided to paint over the wood
and wrought iron...  -sigh- Got my work cut out for me if I'm
gonna completely restore it!

And that (treadle sewing machine)  is one  picture thought I 'm sharing.  Here are a couple more:

From our annual fall field trip to the Ute museum in Montrose, CO.  with my homeschooler, Cathy, and my Kindergartener, William, who has a day off every Wednesday....

Sung to the tune of: We Love Us Some Tipis...

And:  When in Rome, Sit Indian Style...

Now we're hanging around -- watching Jeff Corwin on Netflix, learning about Tasmania and waiting for "the children" as my five-old-condescendingly refers to his older brothers and sisters. It's a little after 8 p.m.; they should be here shortly, so I guess I'd better sign off here and prepare for the onslaught. But, in parting...  a little gift to William -- the cartoon connoisseur:

Fall Fires



Cover art, 1936, by John Newton Howitt



Autumn Fires

by Robert Louis Stevenson

In the other gardens

And all up the vale,

From the autumn bonfires

See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over

And all the summer flowers,

The red fire blazes,

The grey smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!

Something bright in all!

Flowers in the summer,

Fires in the fall!



Norman Rockwell



A Major Award!

So, well -- the last thing I would ever call myself is stylish.  And my blog, being a pretty good reflection of what I am, might be quirky or eclectic, but stylish?  When pigs fly maybe.  But, in the goodness of her heart, dear Cathy from A Bit of the Blarney, one of my oldest blogging friends, has honored me with this Stylish Blog award. Oh, my stars!   I feel like Sally Field with her Academy Award.  Thank-you, Cathy!  Right when I'm on the verge of quitting the blog, something like this perks me back up again... and helps me remember that this blogging thing really is fun; you meet the most wonderful people -- and sometimes you get prizes! But, anyway, enough blabbing -- here are the rules of the award: I have to share seven things about myself if I want to post the coveted award button  -- then I get to honor five other bloggers. I think I can do this!  :)

And, since it happens to be a Friday, and there just happen to be seven points required, I hope the awards panel doesn't mind if I also make this a Seven Quick Takes post!  Run over to Jennifer's at Conversion Diaries for lots of Quick Take links!

So, sharing now.  Here goes:

1.  I was invited to take a family trip to Denver this weekend, and I said, "No stinkin' way!"  I've traveled enough over the last five months to last me for quite some time. So, Dan and children numbers six, seven, eight, and nine (Theresa, Cathy, Anna, and Gabe) are heading down to Denver without me and William this weekend.  Dan's company, Ameribotics, is hosting an educational camp over on that side of the mountains -- and so the kiddos old enough to go are getting to participate.  They'll be interacting with a world-renowned roboticist, Jacky Baltes, learning about the basics of robot-building and programming.  But mostly they'll be having fun -- getting to make the robots dance to music and stuff like that.  But, William and I. . .  William and I are going to have our own kind of fun all by our own selves this weekend.  Fun having to do with things like chocolate and Pixar movies and playdough. . .  At home.  Beautiful, wonderful home.

2.  I love Jack Johnson's music.   I have a Jack Johnson station on Pandora, that mixes beautifully with Ingrid Michaelson and Matt Kearney and artists of that ilk.   I listen to my "Jack" station when I need something upbeat to wake me up.  Then, when we need something more calming around here, I tune in my Rachel Portman Pandora station, which lilts with the talented Ms. Portman's gorgeous soundtracks, mixed with light-hearted classical music.  Sometimes we have to flip back and forth:  The Curious George song with the little boys' dancing around, bouncing off the walls, followed by Rachel Portman's Chocolate, and the theme from Fairytale, which puts us to sleep, so we change stations to Matt Kearney singing "Oh Mama!"...  Etc.  And then Theresa gets on the piano and plays Enya.  You get the picture.

3.   I have bifocals but I never wear them.  I know I should because they were not inexpensive, and I loved my first pair -- but my second pair (a stronger prescription now) has a weird curve in them that goofs up my peripheral vision.  I cannot get used to them.  But, I love my bright red reading glasses.  I can live without seeing the eye of the deer that's crossing the road a mile ahead -- but I Icannot live without reading.  And threading needles.  And shading in tiny things with colored pencils.  I'm not shy about my reading glasses.  I am a grandmother, so I have every right to wear them, right?  But here's the question:  Is it over the top in dorkiness to get a set of beaded glasses cords to wear around my neck, so my readers will be nice and handy?

4.  I lost thirty pounds about two years ago, finally shedding most of my last-baby weight. (Huzzah!)   But in the last year and a half  I've gained it all back.  (Booo....)  So, I've signed on to two programs that I know can be successful.  I hate going to Weight Watchers meetings, but know their sensible program works, so I just today signed on to their online weightloss center.  We'll see how that goes.  And, a trusted fellow mom-of-many, Wendy Cukierski, of the Cukierski Family Apostolate, has lost an amazing amount of weight (You have to see her before-and-after pictures; she looks fabulous!) using some natural remedies.  You bet I'm going to try that.  I also have a gym membership now -- which would be great if I ever actually got over there.  After Dan and the kids get back Monday, I'm going to try to get into that habit.  So, anyway....  Here's to the effort!  Pray for me!

5.  Because, when she heard I was dieting, Cathy said, "Oh, NO!"  I looked up some funny quotes to prove to her that I'm not going to be grumpy.  At least I'm going to try not to be grumpy.  And when I feel like I'm about to be grumpy, I'll grab a Twinky read some of these quotes instead: 

I tried every diet in the book. I tried some that weren’t in the book. I tried eating the book. It tasted better than most of the diets. ~ Dolly Parton (My Life and Other Unfinished Business)


I tried the Scarsdale diet and the Stillman water diet (you remember that one, where you run weight off trying to get to the bathroom). ~ Dolly Parton (My Life and Other Unfinished Business)

Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the 'Titanic' who waved off the dessert cart. ~ Erma Bombeck


Obesity is really widespread. ~ Joseph O. Kern II
Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside. ~ Mark Twain


Never eat more than you can lift. ~ Miss Piggy


Thank you for calling the Weight Loss Hotline. If you'd like to lose a half pound right now, press 1 eighteen thousand times. ~ Randy Glasbergen


I was a vegetarian until I started leaning toward the sunlight. ~ Rita Rudner


Eat as much as you like--just don't swallow it. ~ Steve Burns
A waist is a terrible thing to mind. ~ Tom Wilson

6. Next year is Dan's and my 25th wedding anniversary and we've decided what we want to do to celebrate.  If the start-up business is booming, we'll go to Ireland; if it's doing so-so, we'll go tour some more Civil War sites; if it's busting, we'll go to Taco Bell.

7. Lastly, I've been pondering this quote from G.K.Chesterton: "There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the intellect."  There are many applications for these typically observant and wise words of Chesterton's.  This fact of the human condition accounts for some of the most beautiful truths and dumbest decisions of our nature:  it causes some people to build their homes in insane places, like on fire-prone mountainsides or beside flood-prone rivers:  it explains why people sometimes make the stupidest choices in mates; it explains why we don't throw the Terrible Two or the Teens out with the bathwater; it's why people on foodstamps own big screen TVs; it's the reason why I will stay up all hours of the night monkeying around with my vacation photos, then wait for decades hours ever while they download onto my blog...  And it's why, since I did that last night I'm not going to do it tonight.  And so, in a departure from my usual habit, I'm going to resist adding any pictures to this blog post.

I can do it.  I can leave this post picture-free.

Sure I  can.

Yep.



Except for the flying pig up there -- and this one...

Gabe and William
They were playing Bad Guys -- hence the "mustaches" and dark glasses...

And I tag:

Ann at Perelandra

Sarah at My Wonderful Life

Edel at The Dreamer's Day

Therese at Aussie Coffee Shop

Bia at La Dolce Vita

All classy ladies with stylish blogs, indeed!

PS:  I have a hard time being brief; it's an illness. Other award recipients needn't blather on like I've done here with their seven points, OK?

Pennsylvania is a Beautiful Place

And that's all I'm gonna say,

'Cause it took me forever to download these pictures

And this is Wordless Wednesday...



My sis, Nina



My cousin, Mick, on "Quid" (on horseback tour of battlefields)



Me on "Rascal"



The Dobbins House, Gettysburg -- the host inn of our B&B adventure.
Our little cottage was next door.

Inside the Dobbins House



A couple pretty house down the street from our B&B
above and below...





One of the Gen'l Lee memorials



Theresa and I would like to print this shot out to use for stationary.  It looks
misty due to the rain falling the day it was taken.



A B&B in the heart of Gettysburg...



One of the twin sycamores.  This "witness tree" is one of a pair that can be seen in Civil War era photographs -- and appear to have been just as tall and healthy then as they are now.



The corner of our breakfast table at our B&B...


OK....  so not quite wordless.  I ended up staying up with Anna past bedtime -- which I'd hoped to participate in after these pictures finally all posted.  But right at the end of night prayers, Anna started feeling sick.... and so here I am, adding captions in between vomiting episodes...  See how I can multi-task?:)   Don't know of anyone else who's been sick out our way, but hope we're not on the front end of a lollapaloozer.  We're all downing our Sambu Guard and Ecchinacea...  Here's hoping and praying...

Gettysburg Ghosts

The air feels different on the east coast.  Not only is it more humid and verdant down there at sea level, but I swear you can taste the history you're breathing.  The air is thick with it; it drips from the trees.  Not that we don't have our share of history in the Rocky Mountain west, mind you,  but it's not as concentrated here in tension and tragedy and portent as the hills and valleys, forests and townships of the original thirteen colonies. In cities like Philadelphia and Boston a tourist can't walk a block where something momentous didn't happen.  There are markers and monuments scattered along the roadways thicker than our prairie tumbleweeds -- and understandably so.  It was in our eastern states that those early years of debate, struggle, and suffering wrung this nation into being.  And you really can feel that when you walk the streets and pathways that were colonial America.



Monument to the
Fighting Irish
in Gettysburg.

I grew up on the east coast and have been to many historic sites.  I've visited Monticello, Mount Vernon, Jamestown, Williamsburg, Charleston harbor, Yorktown, and countless places of note throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, D.C. and Maryland...  And, even as a child I was moved by the drama of the history in those places; I've grown up expecting goosebumps of inspiration and awe at historic tourist destinations.  But, that said, there has been nowhere that has affected me as much as Gettysburg this past week. 

There are ghosts in Gettysburg.

In recent years ghosts have become an industry in Gettysburg -- a fact which begs the question of whether it isn't the power of suggestion that sends tingles down the spines of credit-card bearing tourists.  You should see them all: waiting in line for the nine or ten different walking ghost tours that meet at dusk every night on the curbs of the town; huddling in paid-seats in dark damp cellars listening to ghost stories; wandering past the markers and monuments of the battlefields in the surrounding hills, snapping photos on their digital cameras and then examining them for orbs...  There's no doubt that all the hype fans the ghost hunters' flames. 

But there's a lot to tell about this place that gives reason for haunting.  If you spend enough time in Gettysburg (we were there a week), you can't help but learn (almost by heart) all the tales of human drama and tragedy.  The town was, after all, a Civil War battlefield.   The approximate death toll of the three-day conflict in 1863 was 7,000; the total casualties, over 51,000.  Families hid in the cellars of their homes while Union and Confederate forces shot at each other through the ground floor windows.  Brother met brother, father met son on the battlefield.  Medics scrambled to save the wounded; soldiers and civilians struggled to bury all the dead.   And now, in 2011, Jenny Wade, the only civilian to be killed in the battle, dies hundreds of times a day in the telling and retelling of her sad story.  The woods fairly vibrate with the miniballs that are still found embedded in the many "witness trees" still standing.  The pock-marks of bullet holes on the brick houses silently tell the terror of the soldiers and civilians who heard the sound of them hitting 148 years ago.   Too much happened in Gettysburg for the tales not to live on.



From the top of Devil's Den, looking toward Little Round Top. 10/13/11



But I think more lives on than just the tales.  If you know me, you know I believe in ghosts; I've had to, as they've lived on the fringes of my life for a long time.  I can't say I really understand why they're here, but I know, personally, that they are.  I have no doubt that some manifestations are demonic -- though, thank God, as far as I know, I haven't ever witnessed any that were evil.  We know that saints and angels are permitted by God at times to communicate with us, and the Holy Souls in Purgatory have also been known to "come back" with cautionary tales and pleas for prayer.  But, there are other ghosts, too.  If you watch any one of the slew of ghost programs that are popular today, you 've probably heard of "residual ghosts" -- and that's as good a name as any for them. I think that sometimes, an event or emotion is so powerful that the echo of it lasts through the years -- leaving a "residue".  If you can imagine that time is not lineal, but circular and possibly fluid and waving, you could understand these residual hauntings to be "wrinkles in time."  And, given the highly charged events in Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863, it's easy to imagine that time in this place is like a bowl of noodles, criss-crossing the past with the present.  If you're paying attention, and look at the right place at the right time, there's no telling what you might hear, or smell, or see...

There were many strange, thought provoking things that happened to us in Gettysburg, during the rainy (full moon) week my sister, my cousin, and I got to visit.  We had a portable DVD player that kept coming on by itself -- and the channel changed in the middle of a program, though the remote was on the other side of the room, untouched.  My sister took several photos that have amazing, unexplained balls of light in one shot, which are nowhere to be seen in a shot taken immediately after, and at the end of one of my sister's videos, you can hear in the distance the strains of what sounds like band music -- though we were in the middle of nowhere at the time, and heard nothing with our naked ears.   We all felt tingles up our spines when walking through certain areas, and there are a couple of my photos of houses where it looks like faces peer out of the windows... Still, though these experiences were compelling evidence to those of us who were there, skeptics would find numerous ways to explain them away.  No question about it.  And I wouldn't complain if they did, because I'm doubtful of them, too.

But, then there are these photos:

This first one is the original, untouched photo, as seen in my header.  Taken, pointed toward the forest on the back side of Little Round Top, I was aiming only for the beauty of the foliage and the rocks -- but I appear to have happened upon something else...  (Unlike my header, this photo can be clicked to enlarge.)

See him?  Check out the anomoly pointed out by the arrow toward the bottom right of the photo.



Here it is, closer.  The area behind the rocks, where you see the "anomaly" falls back and downward into a gully.  The ghostly image, therefore, is actually further away than it would seem. 




And closer still.  When I first pulled this photo up, my eye was drawn to this guy, and I thought maybe there was a tourist sludging through the muddy woods (it was raining that day) -- but on closer examination, we could see that if this were a tourist, he was missing the bottoms of his legs...  He appears to be standing down there, looking up at me with my camera, arms folded in front of him.  His right leg appears to be bent, as if he were resting it on a rock that we can't see.  His uniform appears to have the long coat and is grey -- or Confederate.  He looks like he has a beard and thinning hair, receding, or with a bald pate, and a broad forehead. 

 Crazy, huh?  If I didn't know better -- If I hadn't taken this picture myself, and downloaded it with my children looking over my shoulder, I'd think it was photo shopped.  But it wasn't. Amazing, isn't he?  Our bearded and balding Confederate soldier.  God rest his soul!