'Pacas at High Noon & a Ghost Story

First, some photos. This was the scene in the sideyard of my house today.



They get lush grass, and I don't have to mow. I call that a win-win situation.

And one of the avocado pits I planted has finally sprouted.



The other appears to have bitten the dust, but that's how these things go and I'm just happy the one decided to spring forth, as I was beginning to have my doubts.

and now....

A Ghost Story

I left a comment on Sean's blog the other day about having had "ghostly guardians" as a child. Naturally, and probably helped by the fact that he's a horror freak, he asked me to elaborate.

It's not a particularly detailed story, but as a small child - probably until the age of 7 or 8 - I used to have ethereal "guardians" at night. I can't give a good description because they were always vague and never really did anything, but at night I could often see two shadowy figures flanking the doorway to the room I was sleeping in.

I've always been fairly certain that this wasn't an illusion or trick of the moonlight, partly because I've had a fairly rational mind from a very early age and partly because they weren't restricted to a particular place. I have very distinct memories of seeing them in multiple rooms and in multiple houses in multiple towns. I even remember one instance of sleeping on a sofa bed in my grandparents' living room in Charleston, SC, which had two arched entries on opposite sides of the room. I woke up needing to pee and could see them by one entryway. When I turned my head to see if the other entryway was clear, they were there also. When I worked up the courage to go to the bathroom, they vanished as I neared the arch.

As I said, they were very vague figures, but I had the distinct impression that one was male and one was female. Beyond that they never moved or spoke or gave me insight into what they were or why they were there. I'm confident they weren't a dream creation, as I was often afraid to go to sleep with them there. When I tried to tell my parents they would laugh it off and tell me that it must just be my guardian angels - assuming, most likely, that it was the fertile imagination of a young child - but it never made sense to me that they would frighten me so if they were there to protect me. So they remain an enigma, and why they stopped appearing makes as little sense as why they were there in the first place.

So that's my ghost story. Since then I have only seen one other ghost. That instance happened during the daytime and it was a very solid-appearing entity. My parents, though once skeptics, have come to believe in the 19 years they've been living in their 175-year-old farmhouse. There have been multiple sightings in the house - one of my baby brother's high school friends was so scared that he refused to set foot in the house again. As to the nature of ghosts, I don't try to speculate much. I just accept that there are things beyond our understanding and leave it at that. It still gives me the heebee-jeebees sometimes, though.

Addendum

My tomato cravings have been momentarily sated. My friend Kit invited me to harvest her tomatoes while she and the wife and child are away on vacation this week. She is truly a wonderful person. I came home this morning with three smallish but perfect tomatoes, two of which became sandwiches for my dinner. Norma took a picture of hers, but my tomato-starved soul had no time for such niceties, so her pic will have to suffice. I go to bed a very happy man.