We had some different weather today.  It was still warm, but the wind was whipping the leaves off the trees and by late afternoon, the rain came and it was wild for a little while.  It will be colder tomorrow, we're told - more "normal" for October.  The storm seems to be over now, but in some areas people have lost their power.  I took out insurance against that this afternoon:  I filled a large pitcher with water and stored it in the fridge; then I filled a mop pail with water and left it in the tub in the bathroom.  That is the best insurance I know of.  The chances were pretty good that we would lose our power, and I believe had I not "prepared" for the outage, it would most likely have happened.  I guess that makes me at least borderline superstitious.  I say "borderline" because I rarely hear voices calling me when nobody is near, and although things often  disappear from where I'm absolutely certain I left them, I'm reluctant to believe there's anything paranormal about it.

Speaking of such things, the usual horror movies are being featured on television now, gearing up for Halloween.  I don't watch those - too horrible.  But I don't absolutely discount that when strange things happen there could be some supernatural cause.  Maybe. Someone contacted me a couple of years ago asking if I knew any ghost stories about Cabot.  I had to admit there have been some strange goings on in Cabot, but I don't believe ghosts were ever involved.  I once interviewed a lady, Mrs. Hoffman, in Lyndonville, though, who was certain ghosts inhabited her old house.  She had lots of stories, including how professional ghost hunters had stayed there and that they had seen apparitions and felt waves of cold air as if some spirit was present in the rooms.  I was at her house several times, and although she took me through the rooms one by one, and told me of the strange "happenings" that had occurred in each, I came away feeling it was simply a lovely, but drafty, old house with lots of creeks and groans from serving generations of one family for over 200 years.  However, I don't think I would want to spend a night there.

I've had some fairly unusual "happenings" over the years, myself, but my para normals tend to be  feeling I'm replaying a moment from my past - you know, that "been here, done this and I know what you're going to say next" moment.  And then there are instances when a bit of melody will drift through my mind or a scent in the air reminds me of someone or some place that is a long-forgotten memory.  But that's more nostalgic than ghostly, so if some prankster spirit wants to get my attention, it will need to do something more definitive, like showing up some night at the foot of my bed (that's what spirits do, isn't it?)  Until that happens, I guess I'll remain borderline superstitious.

We walked down on Sandy Beach Road today - the wind was raising whitecaps on the big pond, but at the head of the pond, it was pretty calm.  We watched an osprey riding the wind, nearly motionless in the sky.  These three crows were hanging onto a tree stripped bare of leaves, and below, a big blue heron stood motionless among lily pads ruffling in the wind, intent on catching his supper, I suppose.  There was a misty rain by the time we got back home, but it was warm enough so we didn't mind.  

Our surroundings will look very different tomorrow, I expect.  There will probably be few leaves still on the trees, and with the temperature much cooler, we'll begin to think in terms of real fall instead of prolonged summer.  Today there was a high of 70, according to my thermometer.  Right now, it's reading 50 degrees.  I had a maximum wind speed of 21.6 mph registered, but I think that was low compared to what was coming up the pond.  It was a south wind, and the hill protects us from the full force from that direction.