Sunday, July 31

Smile And The World Smiles With Us

a smiling world
A quickie Sunday post photo as a reminder that, if we smile the world smiles with us. Have a happy day.

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Saturday, July 30

Ancient Egyptians And Their World Of Dreams

Ancient Egyptian headrest found in tomb of Tutankhamen
Ancient Egyptian headrest from tomb of TutankhamenIt's strange how I sometimes write a post and then something comes along for the next post of a similar nature. Yesterday the theme was dreams and last night I read by chance about the ancient Egyptians and how they believed that what they dreamed had a bearing on their daily lives.

Interpreting dreams was an important part of predicting their future. So much so that they compiled Dream Books. These consisted of lists of dreams and what relevance these would have in their lives.

We know this to be true because several such books have been found. One of the best known was compiled by someone called Qenherkhepshef, who is described as being a scribe. He lived in the late thirteenth and early twelfth centuries BC - a long time ago!

It's more of a papyrus that a book and is known as the Papyrus Chester Beatty III and is held by the British Museum in London.

Here are a few entries from his 'book.'

If a man sees himself in a dream submerging in the river : good : this means purification from evils.

If a man sees himself in a dream eating crocodile : good : this means acting as an official among his people.

If a man sees himself in a dream burying an old man : good : this means flourishing.

If a man sees himself in a dream seeing his face in a mirror : bad : this means another wife.

If a man sees himself in a dream shod with white sandals : bad : this means roaming the earth.

If a man sees himself in a dream copulating with a woman : bad : this means mourning.

If a man sees himself in a dream with his bed catching fire : bad : this means driving away his wife.


It's not certain who would have possessed these Dream Books but is thought most likely to be the priests and magicians.

Lector Priests, for example, acted as links between local communities and the temples. They were associated with magic throughout ancient Egyptian history and were also known as dream interpreters. They probably, therefore, consulted Dream Books.

With dreams having such significance nightmares were of great concern to the ancient Egyptians. They would often guard against these with spells and the use of headrests (see photo at top of this post) decorated with protective entities.

Temples sometimes had special structures built to encourage healing or helpful dreams. This was supposedly especially helpful for infertility problems.

There is a story found on papyrus where a wife Mehusekhe spends a night in such a sanctuary because of her inability to conceive. She has a dream in which she is told to make up a remedy from the crushed gourds of a melon vine. The dream also told her to have sexual intercourse with her husband Setne (probably an essential!) and, sure enough, she became pregnant.

Dreaming was very much part and parcel of every day living.

Further Dream Posts
The Precognitive Dream Of An Air Crash
Dreaming Of A Phone Number Led To Romance
Examples Of Famous Dreams

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Friday, July 29

The Answer To Sexier, More Colourful Dreams

Dreaming and why books are better than movies
There was some research published last week which came to the conclusion that older people (they classed this as being 60+) dream in black and white. According to their probing just one older person in five has bright, colourful dreams.

The American Psychological Association came up with an answer: it's all because these seniors grew up in the era of black and white television. My immediate thought was that this was a load of codswallop.

As I see it dreams come about for various reasons, but many are simply from the unconscious mind and relate to things that have happened in our lives. I think this is why many older people perhaps dream in black and white - their lives have become too routine, and therefore less stimulating.

Okay, that's a bit of a generalisation, and there are lots of exceptions, but older lives, in many cases, have settled days.

If we think of younger people they are still on a voyage of discovery and life is colourful, an adventure. They have so much to do and new experiences to enjoy. So likewise their dreams will be full of colour and symbolism.

But, going to extremes, if the highlight of the day happens to be a bit of television, a cup of tea and a snooze then dreams may well be drab and, well, greyish.

Ian Wallace, author of Top 100 Dreams, offers this advise to seniors:

"If you feel your dreams are getting dull or drab, you could do worse than follow the advice I offer to many of my clients: go out and inject a bit of action and creativity into their lives. It'll do great things for your waking life and for your dreams, too."

And, er, as for sexy dreams Ian says, "Sex dreams are not idle fantasies, but seem to coincide with periods of great creativity. The more we conceive ideas in waking life that really get our creative juices flowing, the more dreams of an intimate nature we will have."

Okay, moving on rapidly. It does appear that our daily lifestyle and experiences run hand in hand with some types of dreams we have.

Colourful, creative lives = colourful dreams. Perhaps.

Further Reading:
The Bizarre Fantasy That Came True
Precognition In Dreams: Is It Simply Paranormality
A Precognitive Dream Made £56 Million

Image: Massimo Barbieri

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Thursday, July 28

How The Ancient Egyptians Sent Letters To The Dead

Ancient Egyptian
A while back I wrote a post, The Magic Of Our Ancestors Can Bring Us Success, which told of how researchers had shown that thinking about our ancestors can help us be successful with exams and other problematic life events.

I'm not sure why this particular post came to mind, out of over 575, but it reminded me of how the Egyptians believed that the dead possessed supernatural powers. So much so that they used to write to their dead relatives. Several examples of this have been found and they are now referred to by Egyptologists as Letters to the Dead and date back to 3000-1200 BC.

I was wondering if this would work for us, say we wrote a letter to a great grandfather for example?

One of the Egyptian Letters to the Dead, from circa 2100 BC, was actually written on a pottery dish. The dead man was Nefersekhi and the letter was from his widow asking for his intervention in a property dispute. The widow wanted to ensure that their daughter got her fair share of the inheritance and therefore called for the dead man's intervention. The letter/dish is in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London.

It seems the Egyptians believed all sorts of help could be gained from the dead. An often request was for a cure for infertility. A woman's status often depended on her ability to have children. One such request is on a pot which can be seen in the Haskell Oriental Museum in Chicago.

The message simply says: 'Cause now that there be born to me a healthy male child for you are an akh iker (excellent spirit)'. This was directed to a dead father by her daughter.

Cures are also requested, one from 1900 BC is from a woman called Dedi and is to her deceased husband. Her wish was for her servant girl to be cured of an illness.

The dead were very much alive for the ancient Egyptians and ancestors were worshipped. There was an annual festival known as the Beautiful Festival of the Valley. At this time relatives visited the tombs of their relatives.

Often homes had personal shrines to their ancestors as a point of contact between the living and the dead.

For these ancient people there was a link with the dead and, as the dead were supposedly nearer to the divine world, it was easier for them to use supernatural powers to assist the living.

I suppose, logically, if we believe in an afterlife our deceased loved ones would help us if they possibly could. A mother or father would surely help their own child - as in life, as in death.

It might be an interesting experiment to write to someone we cared for, who is now deceased - even if it was only to tell them how much we still care. They might just get our message and, who knows, we may even receive some sort of symbolic reply.

I remember my own mother leaving me a poem called Death Is Nothing At All. One line said, "Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?" and also suggests, "Speak to me, in the the easy way you always used."

Our loved ones are still with us and, perhaps, should be part of our lives.

For those interested in meaningful connections with the afterlife my blogging friends Trish and Rob MacGregor have an excellent book called Synchronicity and the Other Side: Your Guide to Meaningful Connections with the Afterlife. The link will take you to the book on Amazon USA. UK readers please click here for Amazon UK.


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Wednesday, July 27

Yesterday Was A Very Special Day

balloons clip artI missed posting this yesterday but 7/26/2011 (as the US would print the date) was a special day, like only one other this millennium.

Why? Because the date is the product of three multiplied consecutive prime numbers - so says the University of Portland professor Aziz S. Inan, Ph.D.

The prime numbers being 191, 193 and 197. If these are multiplied together the total is 7262011 which - if you put the dashes in place - is the same as 7/26/2011.

The next time this will happen is with the consecutive prime numbers 227 x 229 x 233 which equals 12112039 or 12/11/2039.

After this we'll have to wait until the year 3121 and 101 x 103 x 107.

So, hope you had a good 26 July 2011, sorry I meant July 26 2011 - I missed out on the celebrations myself.

Other number posts:
Special And Magical Numbers
The Luck Of The Seventh Child Of A Seventh Child
Find Your Birth Date In Pi

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Tuesday, July 26

The Meaning Behind UFO Sightings

UFO illustration artwork
I was thinking about the reality (or not) of UFOs and what they may be when I came across something written by the author Jacques Vallee. Perhaps there is a purpose for mankind behind the sightings, and they are not necessarily from aliens.

Vallee sees a psychic component in the UFO phenomena and believes we are dealing with "a different level of existence, a reality that seems to cut through our own at right angles. I believe that a powerful force has influenced the human race in the past, and is again influencing it now. Does this force originate entirely within human consciousness, or does it represent alien intervention?"

Vallee seems to be suggesting that the build up of UFO sightings is to cause a shift in human consciousness. These sightings come in cycles and appear to be controlled so that we get the right 'dosage', for want of a better word.

A flux of UFO sightings generate lots of interest and then, as these lessen in numbers, so does our interest and belief in them. As our interest wains we are given another dose.

Vallee aligns this to what psychologists call 'the reinforcement phenomenon' which has been proven with tests on animals. The best ways to introduce something is to combine periodicity with unpredictability. In this way learning is slow but quite continuous and, more importantly, irreversible.

The UFOs may well be teaching us something, without the aid of any direct contact. We are being forced to look up and perhaps realise that we are not simply earthlings but are citizens of the universe.

Colin Wilson, in his book Mysteries, writes of how he hopes the book may make his readers aware that "the 'control mechanism' may operate from 'in here.' For it has tried to show that man has many levels, many 'selves', and that, moreover, the level of everyday existence is, in some strange sense, untrue. The being which looks out of my eyes is not 'me' at all. He is an impostor, The real 'me' is up there beyond my present consciousness. He knows things that 'I' do not know. Consequently he can plan things that are beyond my understanding.

The recognition could provide the basic hypothesis needed if we are to understand the nature and purpose of UFOs."


Perhaps there is more to UFO sightings than just being little green men from other planets - something much deeper.

Further Reading:
Don't Let Giant Aliens Muddy The Waters
Bizarre UFO Mystery And Man Found Dead
The UFO Detector Appliance

Image: Humanrobo

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Monday, July 25

The Voice Of The Fish Coincidence

The voice of the fish coincidenceThis is another of those classic coincidence stories that I quite like. It's all about a Mr.Mead from Christ's College in Cambridge, England

It was Midsummer Eve in 1626 and our Mr.Mead was wandering through the local market and heard a lot of noise coming from the fishmonger's stall. The crowd that had formed were looking at a book that the fishwife claimed she had found in a large codfish. This is how Mr.Meade described the incident:

I saw with mine own eyes the fish, the maw, (it's stomach), the piece of sailcloth, the book - and observed all I have written. Only I did not see the opening of the fish, which not many did, being in the fish woman's stall in the market, who first cut off its head, to which the maw was hanging, and seeming much stuffed, and all found aforesaid.

He that had his nose as near as I yester morning would have been persuaded there was no imposture here without witness. The fish came from Lynn.


The book found in the fish's stomach was handed to the educated Mr.Mead still bound in sailcloth. Though the content was a bit battered and slimy it was still readable.

The content was a theological treatise written by John Frith while imprisoned in Oxford one hundred years earlier.

On showing the package to the Cambridge University hierarchy they thought the book worthy of distribution and had this reprinted with the title Vox Pisces - "the voice of the fish." The book was embellished with an engraving showing the fish, the fishmonger's knife and how the original book appeared.

John Frith, the author, had been imprisoned in a cellar that also stored fish. The smell was so strong that many of the prisoners died of it. Frith was eventually burned at the stake in 1533 as a person holding an unorthodox opinion about religion. But his book on the subject managed to be published nearly 100 years after his death.

See also Unbelievable Classic Coincidences

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Sunday, July 24

The Golden Rule Principle

Thought of the Day
A Sunday 'Thought of the Day' which I've heard called the Golden Rule Principle. I know we've all heard it many times before as it has been taught for thousands of years. Here are four versions.

Circa 500 BC A Buddhist Philosophy:
Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time. Hatred ceases by love.

Circa 500 BC Confucianism:
What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.

Circa 600 BC Taoism Scriptures:
To the good I act with goodness. To the bad I also act with goodness. To the faithful I act with faith. To the faithless I act with faith. Return love for hatred.

Circa 32 AD New Testament:
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them.

Doesn't sound too difficult does it!

Image Source

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Saturday, July 23

Woody Allen As A Banana Nose Coincidence

Hanoch Piven art of Woody Allen
The above artwork is by Hanoch Piven an Israeli illustrator. As can be seen he has a unique style, to say the least. Much of his work is of caricatures of celebrities created out of everyday objects. This particular image is of Woody Allen - the banana nose and broken glasses.

Woody AllenIt's easy to wonder as to how he developed this form of art. It actually came about because of a cross between an accident and a coincidence.

Hanoch explained how this happened to Joann Plockova from the Czech Position website:

"Some objects fell on a drawing I was making. At the time I was struggling with my work.

I realized the importance of coincidence in my work. As an artist you need to pay attention to coincidence, to be aware of happy accidents. This was one of the big lessons that I learned."


Because of his new found style his portraits were soon featured in Time and The Atlantic. He also attracted work with Rolling Stone and The New Yorker.

I guess this is an example of a nudge from the Universe, via a coincidence, to put the artist on track to bigger things. It's a good idea to follow those coincidences if they show themselves, you never know where the journey may take you.

There is more of Hanoch Pivens work here plus his prints are for sale.

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Friday, July 22

The Lessons Of The Bees As A Symbol

man covered in bees
Since I wrote the post Ever Had Bees In Your Pants I seem to have created a buzz (sorry!) about bees. I was sent some more photos by email of the little creatures climbing all over human bodies.

It appears that in China they have competitions to find out who can get the most bees to settle on them - while only wearing shorts and goggles. The guy in the photo above came second to a gentleman called Wang Dablin.

Wang is seen in the photo below brushing away bees after his attempt. He may have won this competition but he didn't beat the world record currently held by Zhang Wei.

Bees covering a man
The bees are attracted by the scent of Queen Bees.

Now why on earth anyone would want to do this I have no idea. I just hope that none of the bees were harmed - as I've written before I don't believe in any form of killing, even insects.

Since I wrote the first post about bees I've seen them everywhere: mentioned in magazines and newspapers, in conversations and I keep seeing the Magners Cider television advert (which includes a man with a bee beard) on UK television.

It's an example of how, if we think about something, we get more and more info about whatever it is. We attract what we think about. In this case bees - but I've had enough of them now, thanks!

But before I end the post a little about the Bee Hive within Freemasonry. This is used as a symbol best described as within a secret Masonic text:

"The Bee Hive is an emblem of industry, and recommends the practice of that virtue to all created beings, from the highest seraph in heaven to the lowest reptile in the dust. It teaches us that we come into the world rational and intelligent beings, so we should ever be industrious ones; never sitting down content while our fellow creatures around us are in want, especially when it is in our power to relieve them without inconvenience to ourselves.

There is actually a lot to be learned from bees. From even, what appears to be, something frivolous there are lessons of life.

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Thursday, July 21

Don't Let Giant Alien Creatures Muddy The Waters

Giant alien skeletons
I was doing research for something on the Internet and arrived at the Russian Pravda web site, where I read the following article from June of this year. It's a translation from Russian so may not be perfect English:

"A team of anthropologists found a mysterious burial in the jungle near the city of Kigali Rwanda (Central Africa). The remains belong to gigantic creatures that bear little resemblance to humans. Head of research group believes that they could be visitors from another planet who died as a result of a catastrophe.

According to the scientists, they were buried at least 500 years ago. At first, researchers thought that they came across the remains of ancient settlements, but no signs of human life have been found nearby.

The 40 communal graves had approximately 200 bodies in them, all perfectly preserved. The creatures were tall - approximately 7 feet. Their heads were disproportionately large and they had no mouth, nose or eyes.

The anthropologists believe that the creatures were members of an alien landing, possibly destroyed by some terrestrial virus to which they had no immunity. However, no traces of the landing of the spacecraft or its fragments were discovered."


"Blimey," I thought, "How come it's not in the main UK or USA press?"

Obviously the article is a hoax, though I did also find the story on the Korean Times website.

Giant skeletons
I say obviously a hoax because there are no photos or proof. The photos in this post refer to another 'find' of giants or aliens I found on The Missing Piece website. Again the pictures are generally thought of as fake.

And there are lots and lots of similar stories on the Internet. The Pravda article I mentioned, at the beginning of this post, gives other examples of where 'creatures' have been uncovered.

What I'm really getting round to is that hoax, or made up articles muddy the waters for anything that may just possibly be true. We see this especially with UFO sightings.

Think of Roswell for example. If we read everything on the subject we may well end up being swung either way as to whether this is fact or fiction. Governments are good at hiding and muddying the waters about things they don't want us to fully know about. We are also fed lies and untruths. Just look at the reasons for going to war with Iraq.

The problem is when we read the Rwanda alien story we say hoax, but who really knows ...

There will be a time when a dramatic truth will be made public. We just have to make sure that we don't all scream, "Another fake, it's a hoax!" Let's keep an open mind to all possibilities. One day information will be revealed that seems beyond our present understanding - and the rules and meaning of life will then change forever.

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Wednesday, July 20

The Globes In The Sky

Globes in the sky
I was at my son's house on Saturday. It had been raining but cleared up at about 3pm and we went outside in the garden. The clouds were at last rolling back and a bit of blue came into view. As I looked up from my drink I saw some round globes in the sky and snapped these couple of photos. It looks like three globes in the top picture and maybe five or six in the photo below.

As to what they are or may be, all I can say is that the photos are exactly as they came from my camera. There's no photoshop type trickery or anything added. I'll leave the solution to readers.

Globes in the sky
Photos: © M.Perry 2011

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Tuesday, July 19

The Indians Of Haiti As Observed By Christopher Columbus

Columbus landing on Hispaniola, Dec. 6, 1492: greeted by Arawak Indians
Christopher Columbus landing on Hispaniaola Haiti
When Christopher Columbus landed on Hispaniola / Haiti he is said to have studied the local people and learnt something of their ways and beliefs. They were gentle by nature. Columbus wrote in his log:

"They ... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned... They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane... They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."

These 'natives' or 'Indians' had a religion which has several echoes of Christianity.

They believed in one Supreme Being who lived in the sky and was immortal, omnipotent and invisible. This 'God' had a mother but not a father - thus created without the aid of a male, almost Jesus like.

The Supreme Being wasn't worshipped directly but through messengers or deities known as zemes.

Each family had their own zemi to protect them and this image was placed about their houses or carved into any furnishings. They thought that these zemes presided over every object in nature: some governed the seas and forests, the springs and fountains and so on. This is similar to the early Greeks and Romans who considered that all of nature was presided over by lesser gods.

To the inhabitants Haiti was the earliest part of creation and the sun and moon came out of one of its caverns to give light to the universe. This cavern seemingly still exists near Cape Francois and has a hole in the roof from where the sun and moon sallied forth to take their places in the sky.

From another cavern came the human race. For a long while they had to remain in the cavern during sunlight as the sun would supposedly have otherwise changed them into birds or rodents. Eventually, when they were able to emerge into the outside world from the darkness they had one problem - they were all males!

As they journeyed on the island they came to a small lake and they noticed what they took to be animals. They were in fact women. Once they realised this they tried to catch the women but found them to be as slippery as eels so they couldn't hold on to them. As time past, the men's hands began to roughen with their work and they finally succeeded in capturing four females - and from this the world was peopled.

The natives believed in a soul and that apparitions of the dead could be seen. They believed that the spirits of good men, after they died, would be reunited with their loved ones and their ancestors. As spirits they would live, not in a Heaven, but on a beautiful part of the island.

This is how Columbus understood the natives ways to be - and this enabled him to take advantage of them. As already quoted as per his log: With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want ... Christopher Columbus is not quite the hero he is often made out to be.

Reference: Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus by Washington Irving 1870.

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Monday, July 18

The Dress For The Aged Coincidence

Help The Aged charity shopAn amusing coincidence story today from a 67 Not Out Reader - thanks Ralph. The Universe does appear to have a sense of humour, or perhaps just likes emphasising things when we worry about them.

It was my wife's birthday recently, her 50th. She was down in the dumps about reaching the age. This was partly my fault as I'm two years younger and pointed this out to her.

I told her how great she is and tried my best to make amends by taking her to a posh restaurant, usually beyond our everyday means.

She put on her best dress and I genuinely thought she looked lovely and off we set in our car to the restaurant where, not known to her, other friends and relatives would be waiting.

She wasn't happy about the age thing and it didn't help when we stopped at some traffic lights and the car in front had both 50 and AGE in its number plate. I tried my best to make light of it.

Then as we were driving through a shopping area she let out a moan. I wondered what on earth was wrong. She told me that a shop we had passed had the same dress as she was wearing in the window.

I couldn't see too much wrong with this and told her she that this could sometimes happen and how the mannequin in the window wouldn't have looked half as good as she did.

"Yes," she said crossly, "I know that but the shop it was in was the Help The Aged charity shop window!"

Luckily when she saw her friends and relatives at the restaurant she had a great evening and now laughs at the Help The Aged coincidence.


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Sunday, July 17

Ever Had Bees In Your Pants

Bee underwearI've heard the saying about ants in your pants but bees?

So why are the bees attracted to this woman? It's all down to pheromones.

The area to be covered by bees is first covered by the pheromones of the Queen Bee and then the bees climb aboard. The guy who arranged the above bees was a Professor of Etymology called Norman E. Gary. He has done a lot of this sort of things for the media and also Hollywood movies.

Now as for the bloke below, with the smile on his face and a bee beard ... surely there's no connection with the woman in the above picture ...

Bee beard
See also Lessons Of Bees As A Symbol

Photos of Cornwall on "Mike's Cornwall" Blog

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Saturday, July 16

The Most Fearsome Predator Ever Seen In The Sea

Two days ago I wrote about Durdle Door, The Jurassic Coast and fossils in general. By coincidence I came across the BBC video below which tells of a pliosaur fossil found in the cliffs in the area I was talking about in my blog post.

The pliosaur skull that was found was enormous, being 7feet 10inches (2.4metres) long. As for it's body length this was an amazing 52feet (16 metres) long. Palaeontologist Richard Forrest said, "I had heard rumours that something big was turning up. But seeing this thing in the flesh, so to speak, is just jaw dropping. It is simply enormous."

This must be the most fearsome predator ever found in the sea on Earth. Can you imagine swimming happily and then coming across this pliosaur, those sharks would seem to be nothing in comparison. Anyway, here's the video. It's only 1.5 minutes long.



Photo: Ghedoghedo

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Friday, July 15

Spilt Karma And A Mug Of Tea

mug of teaSometimes it does appear that Karma and the Universe have a sense of humour.

Two days ago my wife knocked over some milk while making a cup of tea. I heard her swear from the living room - that's not altogether true, but she did say a loud, "Bother!"

Accidents happen, but a short while after this she knocked over a complete cup of tea. It was in the kitchen again so it wasn't too much of a problem, but I then started teasing her and joking about how she was getting a bit shaky and so on. I guess I did overdo it a bit and she got a bit fed up with me.

Her revenge was sweet!

The following day it was my turn to make a mug of tea - I prefer mugs to cups, but they have to be white inside - anyway, I knocked over a full jug of milk and it went everywhere. And, yes, I did swear, but nothing too rude.

Later that day I made another mug of tea. Now I have no idea how it happened but somehow one of the mugs tipped over and a full supply of tea went over me, the kitchen surfaces, the floor and down the cupboards. I'm sure it did all of this by itself, but realistically it couldn't have - could it?

This time my wife said with a big grin, "That's God punishing you for mocking me."

I couldn't really argue with her.

I have noticed that often small - lets call them wrong doings - can get 'punished' quite quickly. Karma appears sometimes to be super-charged. You might, for example, utter something that you shouldn't and a few minutes later you bang your thumb or bump an elbow.

In other words you get paid in full for any wrong doings. The small happenings are reminders of what's also happening on a much larger scale - an eye for an eye and all that.

Karma is real - or maybe my wife is a witch. A nice witch of course!

One thing, Karma doesn't have to be bad. There is good Karma too. So I figure it's a good idea to try and build up a store of good as you never know when it might come in handy.

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Thursday, July 14

The Dancing Ghosts On The Jurassic Coast

Durdle Door
Durdle Door Dorset
We had a bit of a trip along the coast from where we live in Cornwall to Dorset. It was a bit hazy but we ended up walking along the coastal path past Durdle Door - that's the natural arch in the photo above. On a sunny day this is a lovely walk over the cliffs. It is also part of what is known as the Jurassic Coast, which is a World Heritage Site.

The Jurassic Coast is so called because of the amazing fossils, millions of years old, which have been found by the cliffs and on the beach. It's an amateur fossil hunters paradise.

The two photos below show the coast line going west from Durdle Door.

Durdle Door also has its very own ghost or ghosts but, even though it was hazy, we didn't manage to see or hear them. Many have though.

The first sighting was by a sailor moored just off the coast. He heard screams coming from the shore and saw phantom women dancing on the beach.

It is believed the screams are those of maid-servants who escaped from nearby Lulworth Castle when it was burnt to the ground in 1929. They headed for what they thought would be safety at Durdle Door, but were swept out to sea by the tides and they all perished.

Restoration started on the castle in the early 1970s.

The beach by Durdle Door
The cliffs looking from Durdle Door
In an easterly direction, along the coastal path is Lulworth Cove, as in the photo below. Unfortunately, because of the unclear weather, the photos don't show the area off to its best. But if you are in the area it's a great place to walk and take a small hammer with you for fossil hunting - you never know what you may find.

Looking down at Lulworth Cove Dorset
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