seep into me
so I can fully absorb
through a bar of music
or a taste of sunshine
transport my soul
back through time

everything as real
as it ever could be
is no more

scents and shades
on a breeze caress
sip from my soul
quench your thirst
for the past
revive mine

sail a wave of thought
to a place where
we once belonged

colours and feelings
stolen by years
graze on memory
dine on tears
store away in fragile tissue
to fly at night

everything as real
as it ever could be
is no more


Inspired by KJ and James

Labels: Miladysa, Poem, Poetry

Posted by Miladysa at 11:42 AM 32 Comments

We ventured into Hebden Bridge for lunch today, I took this photograph of the river from the bridge in the centre of town.


















There were a number of boats on the canal - I have always fancied my own canal boat :-D
You can see a 3600 view of the Marina here


















I am fascinated by this wrought iron bridge between two buildings in the town centre, it seems to go un-noticed by a lot of visitors. The gangway has long since gone, I always wonder when the last person walked across it and who they were.


















Close to home I took this photograph of four ponies in a field at a local farm. Earlier in the day the pony on the far left was running around the field as happy as Larry - it was a wonderful sight to behold!

















Our local amateur astronomy centre - did I mention we are in the Pennine Triangle? More UFOs are reported in these parts than anywhere else in Europe!

Labels: Lancashire, Miladysa, Photographs, Yorkshire

Posted by Miladysa at 7:03 PM 45 Comments

A piece of code
Insert into the script
That is me
Never allowed to run
For fear of interference
Must be quarantined
Exposure restricted
Liberation not permitted
Located in a dark place
Locked away
For fear it may breed
God Forbid that
Thousands perhaps millions
Of wild bytes
Should escape
To run free
And corrupt
The programme
That is not me

Labels: Miladysa, Poem, Poetry

Posted by Miladysa at 10:28 AM 30 Comments

Every Easter Saturday our local folk dancers meet in the same place at the same time in order to dance their way around the local boundry. The faces of the dancers are 'blacked-up', an ancient tradition which serves to disguise the dancers so that any evil spirits who may be out and about are unable to recognise them. The bells they wear are to ensure that the same evil spirits keep their distance.

On their feet the dancers wear traditional local footwear - leather clogs, their costumes also include ribbon and feather decoration.

The first video is of the 'Nut Dance', the dance and music is unique to this area. Apologies for the quality of sound in some parts - the howling you can hear is the wind!

Labels: Folk Dance, Lancashire, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 4:01 PM 20 Comments

Part VI


We were in the process of having part of the rear garden flagged and so we sat to the side of the house while we waited for Godfrey to arrive. Meanwhile, we had arranged for our eldest daughter to take care of the baby and she had collected her sister and taken her home with her for the remainder of the evening. I felt tired, almost drained, a complete change from the way I had felt half an hour earlier. I definitely know what I heard but as I sat there then, and as I write this now, I still find it almost impossible to believe.

My husband sensitively took me through what had taken place.

"The first thing you heard was the front door open and close?"

What did I hear? I heard a front door open and slam shut but it could not have been our front door as it has glass in it and also, if one should slam it shut the letterbox jangles. What I heard was a heavy solid door open and slam shut with some force behind it.

"Someone running up the stairs and across the landing?"

My husband and sons have a habit of running up the stairs two at a time; it takes them seven footfalls to reach the landing. What I heard was possibly ten or more heavy steps on what I had assumed to be the stairs and then many more along the landing and across the bedroom floor. What I heard was footfalls on wooden floors but both the stair and landing areas in the house are carpeted and there were far too many footfalls than those required to cover what is basically a very small area. The house is a cottage not a mansion!

"The footsteps reached the bathroom?"

I heard the footsteps along the bedroom floor but again, heavy footsteps on wooden floors. I heard the footsteps come to a halt outside the bathroom door, I could feel vibrations from the footsteps through the bathroom floor.

Just then, Godfrey arrived; it had probably taken him an hour or so to reach us. I heard my husband thank him for coming at such short notice and say something about it being a double inconvenience because it was a Friday evening. Strange as it may seem, what I remember most of all was the way Godfrey looked at me; he looked straight at me and held my eyes for what seemed like ages and then nodded ever so slightly. It felt almost as if he was looking for something, I remember thinking that he must think I am an idiot but he did not treat me that way at all.

I was reluctant to return inside the house so we continued to sit in the garden for a minute or so and Godfrey had his remarkable soothing effect on me. Once more, I went through what had happened but this time, I felt remarkably matter of fact about it, calm and almost accepting.

"You must have been extremely frightened"Godfrey said.

I am not sure if it was a statement or a question and what I said next shocked me. I remember saying,

"I was but what was more frightening was that whatever was outside that door was more frightened than I was. I could feel fear and I do not for one minute believe it was just my own."

I had not felt any connection with whatever it was other than fear and from the weight of the footsteps I had allowed it to take the shape of a male adult in my mind.

Godfrey again, nodded ever so slightly and spoke with us about the action he recommended we take and without any hesitation we all entered the house together.

I remember that we knelt on the floor in the sitting room and prayed softly; we held hands in a circle and were anointed with oil. I am not sure in which order and I do not recollect Godfrey having anything in his hands apart from a small silver casket that he pulled from his pocket. We then followed Godfrey as he made his way through the house praying for only a moment in each area, paying specific attention to the corner in the kitchen that the children had always been wary of, the spot on the landing and the nursery. Nothing was missed, even the cupboard under the stairs was visited and eventually the loft. The whole experience was quite surreal and almost, well, I hesitate to use the word but in truth it was cleansing.

After we had finished we sat in the sitting room and had some tea. All our fears had left, the house felt lighter and warmer. My husband was the first to comment about the change in the house and later, everyone who visited commented about it although only our immediate family were aware of the events that had taken place.

Eventually, it was time for Godfrey to leave and we thanked him profusely. I do not remember any of us ever asking Godfrey a question about his vocation up until that moment but I had newly found courage and enquired,

"Do you do this sort of thing all the time?" His answer was a positive one.

Of course, being a woman, I wanted to know more and enquired a little further. Godfrey tactfully answered my questions and then asked one of his own.

"Tell me .." he said softly, "When we were on the landing in between the nursery and the office what did you experience?"

I was quite taken aback by his question. I had imagined something, just for a brief moment and he had obviously picked up on it. I replied,

"I felt a sudden urge to put my arm up as if warding off a heavy blow - from a branch of all things!"

Once again, he looked deeply into my eyes and nodded ever so slightly before he left and cheerfully waved goodbye.

In the weeks that followed, we received telephone calls from both Edmund and Godfrey, just to enquire if everything was OK and to assure us that they were almost certain that there would be no more happenings.

A few months later my husband and I were invited to a barbecue held at the house of one of our neighbours, their house is situated at 1 o'clock and they have lived there since the houses were built. In conversation their eldest son who was around 23 at that time announced that he was not going into the utility room of the house because of the ghost. My husband enquired further and was informed that the son had been alone in the house one evening and while ironing a shirt he had sworn blind that someone else had been standing next to him.

The lady of the household told us gleefully that their house was haunted and had been ever since they moved in. Usually, it it is just lights turning themselves on and regularly they hear footsteps running down wooden floors upstairs although all their floors are carpeted. She had even visited the local museum to see if she could find out more about the main house as she suspected that it had something to do with that. Only their son was frightened by the experiences, both our neighbour and her husband thought it was terribly exciting.

We told them our story and left Godfrey's number in case they should ever need it.

One more thing, do you remember I mentioned once or twice the banging to the side of the house? Well that still happens, in fact it has happened since we had a new gate fitted to make the garden more secure when our little girl plays outside. It happens if someone forgets to close the gate properly and the wind catches it. The interesting thing is, we heard the gate banging years before it was ever fitted.

We have discussed various possibilities for our happenings, one is that our house and the house at 1 o'clock may act as a kind of amplifier and pick up noises from the main house or elsewhere.

What do you think?

The house is fairly quiet now...

Part I

Labels: happenings, haunting, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 12:01 AM 16 Comments

Part V


We chatted with Godfrey for a while and I would describe his personality as being that of ‘human valium’, the man just oozed calm, peace and tranquillity, I cannot explain it! After a while he asked us to walk with him around the house, through each room, recalling any happenings we could remember as we went along. Some ten or so minutes into the tour our youngest son arrived home unexpectedly and confided in Godfrey also.

It all seems so unbelievable looking back, what was there to tell? A corner of a room has always felt uneasy, a spot on the landing where you do not want to hang around, a banging to the side of the house and voices...

What reaction were we expecting? Godfrey walked calmly through the house, listening intently, studying each area and item carefully, reflecting, considering minutely what we were telling him. We were desperate not to come over as cranks and were reassured that he understood we were not.

It was the first occasion I had entered the nursery since the baby moved into our bedroom a few days earlier. We all appeared to feel it at once and a shiver ran around the room, the temperature was lower; it was markedly noticeable compared to the rest of the house.

“There is a cold spot here.” Godfrey said softly. “Has this room always been so?”

It had not, that was the first time any of us had experienced it, and we would never have chosen a cold room for the nursery.

Godfrey left shortly afterwards but not before reassuring us that there was nothing to worry about. I am not sure who asked but I do know that one of us asked what we should do if we should experience any other happenings. The answer was simply to imagine a protective light around us and to recite something that we find comforting, a prayer, poem or even a song, whatever would help to soothe and calm us. Also, that there was no need to be afraid, it would be enough to say,

”Please leave”, “Please go away”, “I do not want you here” or words to that effect.

I remember thinking at the time, “Oh really!”

Godfrey left his telephone number with us. I was to look into the history of the main house and the surrounding area, when we were ready we were to telephone him and arrange to meet again at the house. What, if indeed anything at all was to happen next was not discussed. There had been no magic performed, no discussion regarding what he thought of our happenings but somehow we felt reassured and the fear had left us. That evening a music box in the nursery played by itself for five full minutes.

The next day I began my research and immediately contacted the Fire Museum; I was interested in the fire. A gentleman I spoke with there kindly undertook to do some research on my behalf and said he would telephone in a week or so with an update. Of course, I did not mention why I was interested just that I was undertaking some local history research.

Next, I visited the local history section of the main library in the largest town adjacent to the village but I drew a blank. We have a small museum in our village but as volunteers man it one can only visit at set times. I made an appointment.

Six days following my visit to the library I arrived at the museum. Here, in our village, if you want to find out anything, you have to first present your credentials. I do not have a broad local accent, you may think so if you heard me speak but people around these parts can only hear a slight local twang. I was greeted with suspicion but once I had announced my ancestry the barriers were removed.

“Ah! I remember your Grandmother… So you want to know more about where you are living? Where do you live? Ah, yes… are you having problems then? You’re not the first, we had someone else in a while back.”

I was absolutely stunned and of course wanted to know more but unfortunately the gentleman could not remember anything further. He then produced a large hand drawing of the area with the main house and gardens clearly marked and also the surrounding properties. If I remember correctly it was dated 1820.

The original layout had been different, do you remember the way I described the present layout in terms of a clock face with the main house being situated at 12 o’clock, ours at 3 o’clock, the main entrance at 9 o’clock? Well, the drawing showed clearly that originally the main entrance had been at 6 o’clock and the drive had swept just off to the front of our house in a curve. Stables and a coach house had been adjacent to the right of the main house. Something was marked on the drawing in the location where our house is now located, it ran from 3 o’clock to 1 o’clock.

“What was there?” I asked the gentleman assisting me.

“Never been able to work it out myself” he answered. “I’ve always thought it might be a summer house of some sorts?”

In those days, the main house had been completely on its own with its nearest neighbour being a farmhouse on the moor to the rear. I was surprised to discover this for up until that moment I had absolutely no idea that the land upon which the main house had been built had once belonged to that farm. It was a farm where my great grandfather had been born and where my grandmother's family had lived for generations until it had been sold when they ventured from farming to cloth.

When I returned home I informed my husband of my discoveries or rather what I had not discovered. I somehow felt even more attached to the house and was relieved that I had not uncovered a terrible past connected to the area. Later that evening, the gentleman at the Fire Museum telephoned to inform us that he too had drawn a blank. Although there had been a fire, no life had been lost. Once more we found ourselves relieved rather than disappointed.

Two days later, it was a Friday – how we love Fridays! My husband and I both finished work early and decided to have a pizza and watch a DVD. There are no pizza deliveries here; you have to drive to the nearest town and collect. My husband ordered a family sized pizza and took the baby with him to collect; our youngest son was not at home. I decided to jump into the shower while my husband was gone.

Following my shower, I wrapped myself in a towel and was stood at the washbasin in our ensuite bathroom. I heard the front door open and slam shut and my husband running up the stairs two at a time. I flew out of the bathroom; I knew instinctively something was wrong. Halfway across our bedroom I heard the footsteps resounding on the floorboards heading across the landing towards where I was stood. It was at that point that I realised I was not hearing my husband but someone or something else. I ran back into the bathroom, locked the door and fell to my knees. I pushed my entire weight against the door, I imagined the light, I prayed, I cried out loud.

“I do not want to SEE you, please, please, please go away!”

Whatever or whoever it was left immediately.

My husband returned ten minutes later and found me rooted to the same spot. It was five minutes before he convinced me to emerge from the bathroom. I took the baby from his arms, held her close to me and walked out of the house into the garden. My husband followed us and telephoned Godfrey from his mobile.

It was six o’clock on a warm summer's evening, birds were singing, the sun was shining and we were sitting in our garden refugees from our home waiting for a serene elderly gentleman we had only met two weeks previously to liberate us...

Part 6

Part I

Labels: happenings, haunting, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 12:01 AM 27 Comments

Part IV


"I don’t know where to begin…” I said.

The voice at the other end of the telephone was clipped, soothing and educated.

“Why don’t you start with what prompted you to telephone today and we shall take it from there?” and we did just that.

I informed Edmund about that morning’s events and my account was punctuated by his understated encouragement. Edmund was a good interviewer, I willingly entrusted him with an account of all the happenings since the day we moved in up until that morning. Throughout our conversation I never once felt foolish or neurotic, we could have been speaking about the weather.

“Do you want to tell me where you live? You do not have to give me your name or full address if you do not wish to.”

I was so relieved that someone was listening to me that I would have given him the PIN for my bank account! All the time we were on the telephone my husband remained close by listening to both sides of the conversation.

Upon my divulging our address to Edmund he studied a number of maps he had close to hand,

“Ahh… yes, I have found you now. There does not appear to have been any church buildings on that site or burial grounds etc. What do you know about the history of the main house? You say your house is built in the former gardens? Were there any outbuildings or summer houses in the gardens that you are aware of?”

I did not have a great deal of information for him. I knew that the main house had been built for a family who had made most of their money through cotton and that towards the rear of the main house had been the former tennis courts and a couple of outbuildings. Everything that had previously been there was long gone apart from the main house and houses had been built in place of the tennis courts and other buildings a hundred years or so ago.

“It might be an idea to look into the history of the house, see what you can find out. Also speak with your neighbours, there is no need to approach them directly about this, you can always just bring it up in general conversation, you know, just ask them what they know about the house and its vicinity. Are you OK to do this?”

I welcomed an opportunity to delve more into the history of the immediate area; it was something I always planned to do but had never got around to. However, this did not solve our immediate problem and we may have overreacted but we had already moved the baby’s cot into our bedroom and our youngest son had informed us that he was going to stay with friends for a "few days".

“What should we do about what has happened this morning though? What should we do about that?” I enquired in a rather desperate way.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much , I do not think there is anything at all for you to worry about. Nothing harmful has happened really has it? Just that there are a few happenings that you cannot explain but that does not mean that there is any danger to you or your family. If you are agreeable, I shall arrange for someone to contact you and visit your home and discuss this further with you. Would you like me to arrange this?”

There was no hesitation on our behalf whatsoever.

“One more thing.,” Edmund enquired “Have there been any building works going on recently in your house or the main house?”

“Yes.” I replied. “Some new people moved into the main house a couple of months ago and they are having a lot of work done. We have just had our garden landscaped, in fact, we are still in the process of completing this work and shall be carrying out some further work on the garden in the next week or so.”

“Okey dokey then. If you would not mind taking a look into the house and having a chat with the neighbours and I shall ask someone to contact you, they will be in touch soon. Goodbye.”

With that he was gone and it was only after I had replaced the receiver that I realised that he had not given me his name. Later that evening the telephone rang,

“Hello, my name is Godfrey. I have been asked to contact you, I understand that you have contacted the Cathedral today with regards to some happenings in your home? Would you still like someone to come out and visit you?”

We arranged for Godfrey to visit early the following evening and it could not come around soon enough for us.

The house was quiet, everything had returned to normal and by teatime the following day my husband had already spoken with our immediate neighbours. One of our neighbours had no knowledge regarding the history of the main house or the immediate vicinity. Somehow, using all his skills, my husband had managed to ask them indirectly if they had ever experienced any happenings themselves and was relieved when he had drawn a blank.

Another of our neighbours had lived in the village all his life and so had his parents and grandparents. He informed my husband that there had been a fire at the main house a few years earlier and that following the fire it had been empty for quite a while. Also, as a child he had played in the gardens but had made sure never to have played there alone or once it had started to get dark due to the fact that the gardens were reputed to be haunted.

“Haunted?” My husband asked. “What’s the story behind that then?”

“No idea.” The neighbour replied. “No wish to find out either, I would sooner not know any more!” he said as he walked off.

We wished to know more though and I intended to find out.

Godfrey arrived on time and he was not quite what we expected although I do not know really what we were expecting. Godfrey appeared to have come from the same mould as Sir Alex Guinness and he had a calm air about him. He was dressed in light brown twill turnup trousers, a checked open necked shirt and a woollen checked sports jacket in various shades of sage green.

We sat in the sitting room taking tea, so terribly English and not at all like one would imagine in such a situation. No thunder, no lightning and no bell, book and candle. All was calm, well, at that moment anyway...

Part I

Part V

Labels: happenings, haunting, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 12:01 AM 23 Comments

Part III

Prior to the birth of our daughter I began working from home and set up my office in the room adjacent to the nursery. Following her birth I continued with this way of working with the baby sleeping peacefully in the nursery while I worked away next door in relative silence. Both of the rooms overlook the rear south facing garden and throughout the day in summer sunshine streams across the floors weaving its way to the heart of the house. The trees sway peacefully in the gentle breeze and as we are so close to the dell the garden is visited by various singing and often colourful birds from first thing in the morning until early evening. It is a lovely place to work if needs must and needs mean I must.

At the time, my husband was serving in the Armed Forces and had recently returned to the UK following a long stint overseas. Opting for a less hectic way of life he had managed to secure a posting at a local camp, this had enabled him to commute to work and although his journey was a long one it was worth it for him to be able to live at home. The pattern of his working routine then was two days on, two nights on, four days off.

One particular day, a few weeks following the happening involving my mother-in-law, I was working in my office, our baby daughter had been taken out for the day by our eldest daughter and my husband was in the garden planting some shrubs. I heard the front door open and my husband walk in, he was in conversation with someone. I wondered who it was, as we were not expecting anyone. It was unlikey to have been a neighbour because most, if not all of them, work during the day. I could hear the conversation; the intonation in their voices and it appeared to be just a general light hearted chat. I could not make out what they were discussing and I walked to the top of the stairs to hear more clearly before leaning over the banister and saying,

“I will not be a minute, I’m just finishing off here.”

I then made my way downstairs to the hall, which is at the bottom of the stairs with the front door slightly off to the right and the sitting room off to the left. Just then, the front door opened and my husband walked in wiping his shoes on the doormat as he entered and smiling when he saw me. The look on my face must have been a picture because I remember seeing his face drain as he looked at my expression.

“What on earth is the matter?” he asked walking towards me.

“If you have only just come in who are the two men in the sitting room?” I managed to answer.

My husband rushed into the room thinking that we had intruders and when he did not find anyone there he proceeded to check the remainder of the house. My husband had been working just to the side of the house so it would have been necessary to pass him to enter the house but nevertheless, he checked everywhere. We then checked the windows to see if any were open, the television and radio were both switched off and we could not find an explanation for the voices.

It was not fear that I felt, more a mix of emotions such as curiosity and concern. Was I going mad? Perhaps this was postnatal depression? How did I feel? I felt fine; happy, loving every moment, motivated, no worries. If I was to mention this to my Health Visitor what would she think? Yes right! So I prefered to believe I had imagined it! Once again we let it go.

A few weeks later something happened that changed the course of events and made it impossible to ignore the happenings any longer. My husband had a little routine upon returning home from working nights. He would enter the house and make two cups of tea, warm a bottle and bring them with him upstairs before he woke me. We would then play 'catch up' while drinking our tea before the baby awoke.

This particular morning as he was climbing the staircase he heard the baby laughing and our youngest son talking to her softly. Smiling, he woke me and informed me that the baby was already awake and that our youngest son was being thoughtful and entertaining her so that I could continue to sleep. He went to see them as I sat in bed drinking my tea.

When my husband entered the nursery he found our daughter sat alone in her cot smiling and laughing at thin air, seeing the door open out of the corner of her eye she turned and put her arms out towards her father. My husband was absolutely dumbstruck. He ran into the bedroom next door and shook our son awake,

“Are you playing a trick on me? Have you been speaking to the baby through the bedroom wall?”

My husband already knew that the answer was a negative one at the same time he asked the question.

We found ourselves left with no option but to do something about the happenings. Who do you contact when you find yourself in such a situation? Where do you start? We were unnerved and struggling. I took hold of the telephone directory and contacted a cathedral in the nearest city. My call was answered in a typical English way by a lady I imagined from the sound of her voice to be in her early sixties.

“Hello" I said, "I am not sure how to put this but we are having a few problems with our house; some really strange things have been happening and …”

“Oh yes, I understand. I will just put you through to the relevant person. One moment please…”

My call was put through to a gentleman I shall refer to from here onwards as
Edmund...

Part 1

Part IV

Labels: happenings, haunting, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 12:07 AM 29 Comments

Part II

Gradually, as time went by, we became accustomed to the house and I think that the house became comfortable with us. We stopped commenting when we found a tap running furiously, a previously closed door was found to be open or we felt for a brief moment that we were not alone in a room and that someone else was standing close by.

Perhaps the house wanted us to comment because occasionally it would stir us from our indifference. The first instance I can recall was probably around eight years ago when a laptop that was placed securely on the top of a wide level cabinet suddenly shot forward and fell off. During the course of its fall the laptop somehow managed to fall backwards into the glass frontage of the same cabinet. Both my youngest son and I had witnessed this event and he spent the following days if not weeks in an effort to work out how the accident could have possibly happened.

Later that same year when my youngest son was entertaining a young lady a heavy verdi gras lantern holding a burning candle suddenly lunged forward off a windowsill onto the floor. Once again he was fascinated by the event and investigated every possible way this could have happened. To say that his friend was shaken is an understatement; she was absolutely terrified and had to be calmed down, following that night she refused to be left alone in any part of the house for more than a few seconds at a time. We however, managed to carry on with life as normal.

Eventually, my eldest daughter left home, followed by my eldest son and only my youngest son and I remained. I began to spend more and more time in the house alone and sometimes became slightly uneasy. I would find myself waking in the middle of the night feeling like someone else was also in the room, sometimes I would hear someone moving around downstairs or suddenly hear a radio playing in a room that I had not entered for days. Perhaps everyone who finds themselves living alone for a short spell has similar experiences? Like everything else, apart from a few racing heartbeats in the first couple of minutes I learned to take it in my stride.

When my husband [who up until that point in our lives had been serving with the military] came home to live with us full time it did not occur to anyone to mention the eccentricities of the house. It was not long however before he started to notice things and I calmly commented that it had always been this way. As a straight forward Yorkshire man he looked at me as though I was a bit daft and I think he possibly wondered what on earth he had gotten himself into but as time went by he understood that it was the norm for this house and he too learned to live with things the way they were.

Life continued smoothly until our youngest daughter was born. A few months following her birth my husband and I attended a wedding and my mother in law came to stay overnight to baby-sit. My youngest son and his girlfriend were also staying in the house at the time. When my husband and I returned home following the wedding we joined the others for a nightcap and spent a while chatting before we all retired to bed. In the morning my husband asked his mother how she had slept and she replied that she had slept well until my son’s girlfriend had entered the room in the middle of the night and proceeded to go to sleep in the other bed. My mother-in-law had assumed that there had been an argument and enquired what had happened. Everyone was speechless; none of us had left our rooms after we had retired to bed.

This incident was a turning point and we realised that we would have to do something about the house although we just did not have any idea what to do. Following a discussion everyone agreed that we did not welcome the idea of a medium and we certainly did not wish for publicity of any kind.

The obvious thing to do seemed to be contacting the local Church but I was not keen on speaking about such a delicate subject with our local parish priest. As the days went by it became easier and easier to ignore the problem and of course, time is a great healer. By the time a couple of weeks had passed we all thought that we had over reacted and confidently put the matter to the back of our minds where it remained until I heard the voices...

Part I

Part III

Labels: happenings, haunting, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 11:07 AM 22 Comments

I feel uneasy writing about the house and the happenings that have taken place here but I am prompted by the events that others have been writing about over the past eight months or so and more recently this week. Where do I begin with our story? I suppose like all stories with the beginning and go on from there...

I was not looking for the house; I stumbled across it one day close to Easter. It was shortly after my father had died and I was out on my own walking. I had driven here or rather I started to drive and ended up in this vicinity. Having parked my car on the far side of the dell I commenced my walk through its familiar pathways enjoying the dancing river, waterfalls and spectacular scenery. I came up through the other side of the dell as I had done many times previously and there, quiet unexpectedly, I saw what is now our house amongst a handful of other newly built homes. That was fifteen perhaps sixteen years ago.

The houses had at that time, been recently built in the grounds of a much larger house which is around 200 years old, I have the exact date the main house was built written down somewhere. As the area where we live is a conservation area the houses are built in honey coloured stone and the trees that once were in the garden of the main house remain and now form part of the gardens for the newer homes. I am not an expert on trees so I do not know their age but I know that they all have a preservation order on them and I would suspect that they are probably as old as the main house itself.

The houses were built in such a way that they did not stand out then or indeed now, as new to the area but of course, knowing the area I knew them to be so. Attention had been paid to detail and the quality of the build was easy for even a novice like myself to recognise. It may help if you picture the development in terms of a clock face with the main house at 12 o’clock and the main entrance to all the homes including the main house is at 9 o’clock. Our house is at 3 o’clock. The main entrance is flanked by a pair of black and gold wrought iron gates and I found myself walking through them and straight to the house we now live in.

I found the builder as if he was waiting for me at the entrance to the house, which is unusually on the side of the building. I cannot remember how our conversation began but he informed me that he had purchased the main house and was already living in it with his family; he added that they had all settled well and intended to stay here. He went on to explain that all the houses had been sold and that he had been lucky that all the purchasers were making excellent neighbours. Things had been running smoothly right up until the last few days when one of the purchasers had unexpectedly dropped out just a couple of weeks prior to all the building work being completed.

I asked if I could have a look inside the house that the purchase had fallen through on. The builder informed me that we were standing in front of it and to feel free to take a look around inside. While I was looking he would wait in the garden until I had finished. We both thought that I was just window-shopping and as such we were both very much relaxed. I knew when I entered the house that I was going to live here and within an hour, we had agreed certain alterations to the layout and shook hands on the deal. Less than a month later my family and I had moved in.

The house is in a beautiful location sandwiched between the dell and the moors in a village that is not too small but a lot smaller than the town we had lived in previously. We settled in quickly but the children and for that matter our Jack Russell dog were uncertain about certain parts of the house. In the beginning, there was never really anything that you could put your finger on, a certain spot on the landing, a certain corner of a room, an occasional ‘banging’ to the side of the house, a tap left running, a light switched on or something misplaced.

All these things can be explained and unlike when you are watching a film you do not think of leaving, it is your home and when there are four of you living in a house you put it down to one another’s forgetfulness. We would laugh that it must be the ‘ghost’ and although the children had certain areas that they felt a bit uneasy in no one ever really thought that a new house like ours could be haunted and we never really felt uncomfortable, not then anyway.

After a few years, the builder and his family moved out of the main house and new owners moved in, there have been four owners in total since we have lived here. The main house is once again on the market.

So, that is the beginning of the story and we lived comfortably with our happenings until a little over six and half years ago. I shall leave it there for now as it is late and the others have already gone to bed. The house is quiet and I do not wish to disturb it, I shall write more tomorrow.

Part II

Labels: happenings, haunting, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 1:44 PM 26 Comments

Taken from my garden earlier this evening.

Labels: Lancashire, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 6:47 PM 28 Comments

“I am on a stage. Before me, all the people who have ever lived are lined up rank upon rank, stretching far into the distance. I have in my hand the end of that thread which connects me to my ancestral mother, way at the back. I pull the thread and one woman’s face in every generation, feeling the tug, looks up at me. Their faces stand out from the crowd. These are my ancestors.”

Professor Bryan Sykes from his book The Seven Daughters of Eve

"Only a few genes are responsible for someone's skin colour, which is a very poor indication of ancestry. A white person could have more African genes than a black one or vice-versa, especially in a country like Brazil,"

Professor Sergio Pena, The Federal University of Belo Horizonte, Brazil

If you are thinking of having your MtDNA tested there is one thing that you should bear in mind, skin colour and perceived race may have nothing to do with your ancestral origins. Many people were shocked when they received their MtDNA results following a recent study into the ancestry of people in Brazil.

If nothing else, MtDNA demonstrates what complete morons racists are.

I have tried to explain here my understanding of MtDNA, as I am not a scientist or an expert I apologise in advance if I have over simplified or confused anyone!

Labels: Family History, Miladysa, MtDNA, Way Back Wednesday

Posted by Miladysa at 2:51 PM 33 Comments

The Roman Catholic Church is trying to revive the practice of confession.

Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti recently handed out a list of modern day Mortal Sins to priests attending a training seminar in Rome.

According to Archbishop Girotti the Modern Day Mortal Sins are:

• Environmental pollution
• Genetic manipulation
• Accumulating excessive wealth
• Inflicting poverty
• Drug trafficking and consumption
• Morally debatable experiments
• Violation of fundamental rights of human nature

The Original Deadly Sins are:

• Pride
• Envy
• Gluttony
• Lust
• Anger
• Greed
• Sloth

What do you think of the modern day list? If you could add anything what would it be?

You can read the BBC article here

Labels: Miladysa, Mortal Sin

Posted by Miladysa at 7:33 PM 36 Comments

Blogging In Support of Tibet and Standing Up To Be Counted:

Miladysa

Ghost Particle

Laughing Wolf

ZombieSlayer

Melissa

KJ

Ces

Nachi

Trish

Rain

Labels: Blogging in Support of Tibet, Miladysa, Tibet

Posted by Miladysa at 1:49 PM 4 Comments

" I am due my son Alexander Twenty Five pounds with interest since 1886."

An extract from the Scotsman Newspaper

“Warning to Persons on Strike

At the Sheriff Summary Court yesterday before Mr Sheriff Hallard, David S, a skinner, residing at Silverfield, Bonnington, Edinburgh was found guilty of assaulting X a skinner, residing at Causewayside Edinburgh on the 25th of October last and was sentenced to sixty days imprisonment...”

Labels: Family History, Genealogy, Miladysa, Way Back Wednesday

Posted by Miladysa at 7:27 PM 29 Comments

Think you do? So did I until I saw this:

Miladysa


Seems a company in India has claimed my blog and Alexa will not let me edit the contact details for my own blog! Does anyone have any idea how this is allowed to happen?

So who owns YOUR blog?

*Update*

It looks like this company is part of Google who own Blogger and therefore they claim all 'Blogger Blogs'.

***Update***

This is the reply I have received on the Blogger Forum:

"Hello Miladysa,

I can only assume that these registered details are those of Blogger/ Google, and assure you that you (and other authors of your blog) are the owners of any content you publish on your blog.

Here is an extract from Blogger's policy on content, which I hope will reassure you:
"Your Intellectual Property Rights. Google claims no ownership or control over any Content submitted, posted or displayed by you on or through Google services. You or a third party licensor, as appropriate, retain all patent, trademark and copyright to any Content you submit, post or display on or through Google services and you are responsible for protecting those rights, as appropriate"

You can read the page in full here: http://www.blogger.com/terms.g

There are also other links from this page which can help explain this situation further.
Blogger do own the hosting service for Blogger users (provided for free) and will probably be defined as the owners of your sub-domain if you publish to a blogspot address. But the content is yours, copyright of any content is yours and neither Google nor Blogger will claim any rights to your content (so long as you don't infringe on anyone elses copyright!).

Hope this clears things up for you!

Amanda"


What a pity that Blogger/Google felt the need to lay a claim to all the Blogger hosted blogs shown on Alexa and how very petty of them to do so too!

Labels: Alexa, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 7:42 PM 31 Comments

Today was Mother's Day here in the UK and I managed to get all four of my children together at one time although not in the same photograph!

This mother proudly presents:






















My eldest daughter, moi, niece and youngest grandaughter
























Eldest son.

Labels: Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 9:10 PM 24 Comments