so, another night in my life, winding down.
Got some Green Mountain Roasters caramel vanilla creme coffee, as I write this, it's perking away in my big tin blue enamel "butch" Adirondack mountain coffee pot, on the gas cooker. Folks can keep their ol' fancy-schmancy drip makers--I prefer the real deal--coffee made the way my great-grandparents did it. Actually, there's not that much difference. In reality, I just don't have the counter space for a drip maker--and, quite frankly, I just love the smell--and the idea--of coffee perking on the stove.
Well, seems there was a UFO sighting here, last week. Not the first one, by any means. There's been UFO sightings all across New York state, for years. I've seen two, myself, over the years. No clue what I saw, personally speaking, except that in both cases, neither one of the "mysterious lights" that I saw, behaved like any aircraft that I'd ever seen. But...whatever. Either they are--or they aren't. That's my philosophy. Who can say, what is...or what isn't?
Last week, it was two stationary lights--one red, one white--spotted just south of the space station (which we can see quite plainly, in our parts, on cold, clear nights), way up high in the upper atmosphere, and they weren't moving at all. No idea what they were...seems to me, if they were aircraft or even satelites, they'd have moved. Huh.
But yeah, I've seen the "weird lights in the sky" thing, once or twice...bit creepy--'specially when one is alone--but, not that big a deal, really. Lights can't hurt you--well, hopefully not, anyway.
There was a really weird sighting reported locally, in the town of Whitehall, the end of last July. A person was watching a thunderstorm, and reported seeing an enormous, towering, octagonal shaped object, which appeared out of the clouds, over one of the mountains--seems it hovered over this person's house--lit up by lightening flashes--for quite some minutes, before scooting off very rapidly, to parts unknown. Who knows? Could have been real, or an optical illusion caused by the storm, or the person could have been stoned (in Whitehall, that's a real possibility--just ask that bandmember from Phish), or he or she could have made it up for the attention. No telling.
That was one of the more unusual sightings I've been told about, or have read or heard about. Most seem to be the standard oddly moving or stationary lights, oval lights, triangle shaped aircraft hovering (believe that may be stealth aircraft, but again, who knows?), weird flashes of light in the sky on clear nights, cigar-shaped craft, the traditional saucers, stuff like that. Fireballs, as well. They are sometimes seen.
Not the first, not the last. There's been a few sightings, here, as I've said, over the past couple of years--lights hovering over low over the mountains, but producing no sounds, lights moving erratically and at unusually high speeds. A mysterious fireball, going through the sky...that could'a been a meteor. I've seen those--and heard them, as well.
Here's a photo I found of the meteor showers:
No, really, you can hear meteors, if either, they are low enough--or you are high enough. I used to watch the meteor showers when I was in Yellowstone, working. Old Faithful sits on a 7000 foot high plateau--high enough to hear the Leonid (I think that's what they're called) meteors, the lower ones, streaking through the night--it was amazing!
One time, about, oh 1981 or '82, I was walking home one night, just at dusk, when it was nearly dark--but still light enough that I could see to take a shortcut through the brush, into one of my neighbour's back yards. Well, I had just stepped into his back yard, when there was a bright orangey streak of light, with a loud whooshing sound, just over my head...startled the bejeebuss outta' me, I'm tellin' ya'! I went up to my neighbour's door, and had some choice words with him, about shooting fireworks off without looking around first, to see if anyone was there. He looked at me, like I had three heads--seems he and the family were sitting in the living room, watching tele. And, questioning the other neighbours later, not one family on that end of the street, was doing anything with fireworks, flares or homemade rockets.
And there were no meteor's reported for that night either...so, I will never know just what that was---but dang! Whatever it was, it came a bit too close for comfort to suit me--but I suppose, if it was a meteor, the closeness of it, was probably just an illusion--or, it could have been the Tardis, traveling backwards through the Space-time vortex, he-he.
Watched my first episode of Torchwood--very good! Didn't think I'd like it, but I rather do, actually. Funny, I didn't like the character of Captain Jack in Doctor Who--but on his own, I do sort of like him--in Torchwood, I mean. The acting's really great, and the SFX aren't half bad, as well. And some nice shots of Cardiff, I must say. Seems like a lovely city.
Think I'll give Torchwood a go, afterall. I'm interested, now, very much so.
Hopefully, I'm going to hear soon, that I've been accepted into enrollment in some online classes--I'm aiming to improve my grammar studies--never go 'round to taking my advanced grammar course at Castleton State, so I'm gonna' bite the bullet and have another go, online. And, I'm trying to get into a press release writing class--got an A in public relations, and have certainly studied--and written--press releases--but it doesn't hurt to fine tune your skills--especially after a bit of an absence, ey?
I'm afraid it's still a bit of a sore spot with me, being forced to drop out of college, one year shy of getting my B.A. in communications, and my minor in writing...still, I can keep plugging away on my own, without the B.A.---still have my good ol' 2 year, A.A. degree, in liberal arts/humanities, at any rate--but I worked--no, slaved, is a better word--so hard to get that second four-year dipolma...rubs me raw, it does.
MAIN STREET OF CASTLETON, VERMONT, VT STATE ROUTE 4A, JUST SOUTH OF THE TOWN GREEN AND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
You see, moi flunked out of college at age 19..and lived to regret it for 15 years--till I talked myself into going back...then, once set on a course (mind, I changed my major three times--first it was theater management--but couldn't get enough classes, due to the case of too many students, not enough profs---and then, tried English Lit--it was okay, but decided it was too narrow--and really found, though I liked the subject, I didn't want to get into that (teaching) as a career--so, I found myself taking a "filler" course (to qualify for federal financial aid, you have to take X number of credit hours (min. 12--the average course being 3, with a lab also, 4 credits, and something like phys ed--like swimming, tennis, horseback riding (only A I ever got in Gym class, he-he) those are generally 1 credit courses--"credits" usually equal how many class hours you put in per week.
So to get financial aid--I had to put in a min. of 12 hours of classes per week. Usually that was much more--my average was 15 to as much as 24 hours--which may not seem like much--but you have to figure in study time and work on projects--very time consuming!
Anyway, to get that aid, you HAVE to have those 12 credits in place by the time the semester (term) starts...whether the courses you want are available or not! So, if your needed classes are all filled--or you have scheduling conflicts (don't get me started, scheduling your required classes--so you can get those manditory courses you are required to have to graduate-- can be a real pain in the ol' arse, and a major headace)--you pick "fillers"...That's actually how I chose my minor in my 2 year college--I lacked 3 credits to meet my requied aid credits, in my second semester, so I filled in the time slot with Acting I--and got hooked, wound up taking them all--and found myself "accidentally" minoring in theater!
Same thing at Cas State--couldn't get my needed theater credits--too few classes and professors, too many students--so I switched to English Lit major--loads of classes--but kept my writing minor--but one of my lit classes was cancelled, so I found myself with a "hole" in my schedule--and filled it with the public relations courses, which advertised itself as "writing intensive." I really liked it! Got an A, and, after speaking with the prof, decided to switch to communications--journalism, broadcasting, public relations.
Sometimes we plan how things are going to go--and sometimes we just tumble into them on our journey through life.
OLD-TIME "BIRDSEYE DINER" IN CASTLETON, VT--VERY NOSTALGIC--BUT THE FOOD'S RUBBISH, AND OVERPRICED! THE QUAINT "WOODEN SOLDIER" IN NEARBY FAIR HAVEN'S THE 'REAL DEAL,'--FANTASTIC HOMECOOKED NEW ENGLAND FARE, AND REASONABLY PRICED.
Fair Haven's a quaint blue collar (chav) town, just across the border from New York state. It was originally a slate mining town, populated by quite a few Welsh immigrants. Today, it's just a quiet small town--not without its problems--but still, it hasn't been much affected by the upscale people migrating from New York City and other trendy places that want to settle in "fashionably" picturesque Vermont towns like Castleton. I liked Castleton, don't get me wrong--but "pictureesque" and "trendy"--generally translate into, eventually, "expensively posh and uptight" As lovely as Castleton is, I prefer the ordinary small towns..like the town of Corinth, NY where I used to live for a bit, Fair Haven's still "normal." People are friendly, shops cater to all sorts--from low budget to moderately trendy--in other words, you can still afford to shop and eat there--those of us on low to modest incomes--and the people don't put on "airs" and are not paranoid about everything and everybody. They're....just...normal. In this day and age, where people are paranoid about they're safety, their health, they're looks, they're little cliques...normal, average, ordinary--the unhurried and non-obsessive life is just so...refreshing.
New York's southern Lake Champlain valley (my neck o' the woods)
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I mean, I'm glad the person in question is taking an interest, but...honestly--I can't stand people who prattle on about stuff, when the subject has been addressed and it's more than time to move on to something else. Dang!
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