((note: further down in the post, there are some images, and these images are NOT mine. If there’s a name on the image, I will credit and link to the owner. If not, please don’t get mad at me. I’m not trying to steal someone elses stuff… Some of the images are shots that were taken before I was even born… ))
I hate that most times, I blog in my head…usually when I can’t sleep, or I’m trying to fall asleep. I usually get the first paragraph done, and then when I sit down to actually write it, I can’t remember a single thing I had thought of. Case in point: last nite. I’m pretty sure it had something to do with the kids, but I’m not 100% certain of that now. I need to start going to sleep with a notebook and a pen or something. Then I’ll be sure to not forget.
Anyway…so, Harry Potter. I mentioned before that my books ((from 1-5)) are closed up until Spring. :\ The only books that are still out are 6 & 7. I’ve just finished 6 ((again)) and now I’m onto 7 ((for the like, 80th time.)) Well, it’s been a loooooong time since I’ve watched all the movies. I have them all on DVD, and some of them I’ve got digital copies. Which is a good thing, because my physical copy of the Sorcerers Stone is my original. I mean, I bought it as soon as it came out on DVD, and I never bought another copy. Of course, the disc is scratched to hell, so the only way I can watch it is on my laptop. I decided yesterday to take all my digital copies, and put them on a DVD, so I could watch them again. ((Something I’ve been putting off for, oh, ever.)) Well, I’m impatient, and only burned the first movie. The kids and I watched it after dinner, and it was awesome, because it’s been so long since we’ve watched it. I was going to hook up my laptop to the tv so we could watch Chamber of Secrets, but that didn’t happen…Instead, I grabbed my ‘Goblet of Fire’ dvd.
My Mum bought me that for Christmas the year it came out…and I saw it in theatres, too. But, it’s the worst Harry Potter movie in the whole series. I remember being in the theatre…sooooo excited. It was me, my sister, my Mum, Dad, and W. Five minutes into it, I was like ‘WTF?!?!’ Since I’ve owned the dvd, I think I’ve watched it, maybe 6 times. That movie is like a friggin trainwreck. I love the book, but the movie was just such a waste of time.
I didn’t even finish watching it, actually. I went to bed, which was more exciting than the movie.
Now, I haven’t been on Facebook too much lately. ((Mostly because I was told that someone complained about my language there…not sure exactly what they’re talking about, of course…)) But, I was there this morning, because a picture my cousin had put up caught my eye.
I’m originally from Worcester Massachusetts. I was born there, and lived there most of my life. ((We moved occasionally out of the city…once to Spencer, once to Millbury, once to Westboro and to Shrewsbury when I was really little)) We moved from Worcester in 2001 ((we’d lived in Greenwood Village for almost 10 years)) and went to Dudley, where we lived for another 10 years. ((Then, of course, 3 years ago, we moved up here to Maine…))
Anyway…when I lived in Worcester, I both loved it and was bored with it at the same time. When I lived in Dudley, I didn’t go into the city much…But man, now that I’m here in Maine, I wonder how I thought it was boring there…I digress, again. My cousin put up a bunch of pictures of places in Worcester that I’ve been to…some of these places are no longer there, which makes it even more, what’s the word? Not weird, but like ‘wow. I was there…and that place hasn’t been around in fucking AGES!’.
First…Worcester State hospital.
image from here: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4103870
I used to drive by here all the time. My Dad would tell me that he spent time there ((really, Dad? I don’t know if he was serious or not…)) and I was always scared of it when I was younger. Then, I got older, and went there one time with a couple friends of mine. By that time I was like 21, and not scared…We went up there at night, not to break in, but just to look around the grounds. I saw no ‘No Trespassing’ signs, and we weren’t there to cause trouble…But, we walked around for a bit, and it was a bit creepy. A cop showed up ((big surprise)) and told us we weren’t supposed to be there. We told him we didn’t know, and he said it was ok, we just weren’t supposed to be there after dark. We didn’t get in trouble. We just sat in the parking lot after that, on the hood of the car, smoking cigarettes. I went back there afterwards, in the fall, after I was married. In the daytime. It wasn’t creepy, and it was then that I found out that the building was actually being used for something…although, I still don’t know exactly what for. ((I could google it and find out, but I don’t feel like it at the moment…))
Then, of course…if you’re a New Englander, you’ve probably heard of Spider Gates cemetery. My Mum used to tell me stories about that place when I was younger…Just stuff like how she’d gone there, both at night and during the day, and she never saw anything scary and stuff like that. When I was older 16 or 17, I finally went there. Actually, I went there many times, most times, it was during the day, and once, I went at night. I didn’t think it was scary.
image from here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bunkosquad/487526332/
It was a cemetery, and I’ve been in some that were scarier. Even the time I went at night ((again, not to cause trouble…just to see what it was like)) I wasn’t scared. Well, of the cemetery, I wasn’t. I was more scared of what was in the dark… What’s that line from ‘Clownhouse?’
Casey: “The dark is scary if you run through it”
Randy: “Will you grow up Casey. What’s out there that you think is gonna grab us? Just cause it’s dark out doesn’t mean there’s something out there”
Casey: “It means you can’t tell if there is”
((those might not be the exact words…I just had the movie on to quote them, but Mac is watching Coraline at the same time and talking to me and I’m not the best multi-tasker around))
Anyway, that line occurred to me while out there. There’s lots of stories about that cemetery, ghost stories and all that fun stuff. I can say though, that in all the times I was there, I never saw anything remotely out of the ordinary. Not a single thing. However, Google shows this at the top result when searching for ‘Spider Gates cemetery’ for a web page found on boudillion.com This site mentions 8 gates. Maybe I’m retarded and/or blind, but I don’t think I saw 8 gates. Maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough?
Let’s see…what else…oh yeah! omg. When I was like 7 or so ((my sister was about 1 at the time…)) there was this doll that I just *had* to have. We lived in Westboro then…We only lived there for about 2 years, but it was probably the one place we lived that was my absolute favorite. We lived on the Quick Farm. ((I don’t even know if the place is still there…)) It was set in an apple orchard, and owned by the Quick family. I know the wife was, well, my Grandmother called her ‘Winnie’ but I believe her name was Winnifred. And her husbands name was, I don’t remember. Well, her and my Grandmother were very close, and my Grandmother worked for her for a long, long, long time. The Quick’s owned our house ((which had living quarters, and an attached big-ass barn…also there was a store! Seriously! If you came out of our inside door, went through the barn and then down a hall, you came into the country store! It was closed at the time we lived there, but it wasn’t empty. It was full of merchandise, including these huge green leather sofas ((which are still to this day in my Uncle Steven’s house)), glass display cases full of jellies…even an old horse drawn carriage. ((minus the horse)) Outside in front of the store, there was this huge fake cow. Down in behind our house, was a horse stable. Google isn’t showing me any pictures of the barn, which is slightly frustrating :\
I take that back. I found a picture of the cow! You’ll be taken off-site to see it, accompanied by a news article. Anyway, we rented the place from the Quicks, then, they were selling the property, and some guy who owned Casa Builders bought it, raised our rent to some astronomical fucking amount ((he wanted us out. He had plans to develop the area…which is sad, because it was apple orchard all around…and it seems to me now, that the entire area has been built up with homes 
)) and we had to move. But, it was the funnest ((not a word, is it?)) place I’d ever lived. Across our driveway, there was this little shed-type building ((I never went in it)) but behind it, there was a small pond…I remember skating on it when I was little, and falling so many times that my knees were black and blue… I got my first dog when I lived there, a Shepherd/Lab mix ((black and white)) that I named Lucky. He fell through the barn floor once and ended up in some part of the building I didn’t know existed. We got him out eventually, through the big ass garage that was also attached to the barn. I think about that place now, and could kick myself for not properly exploring it. The live-able part of the building was super cool…It was only three rooms, but it was a *big* three rooms. The kitchen & living room were basically like one big room, separated by beams, the bathroom, had two toilets and two sinks. ((With a divider between the toilets)) One one side, there was a shower, on the opposite side, a bath tub. And then there was the bedroom, which was bigger than the whole first floor of the house I live in now. I was told that before we lived there, the living quarters had been occupied by apple pickers. It was so big, I used to ride my bike in there. My Mum had an area for her and my Dad’s room, and I had an area of my own. ((Once, she had these huge curtains that she managed to put up, so we had a bit of privacy…Then, my sister came along, and her crib was there too…and there was always room. Omg, was there always room… There’s a news article here, but the year that they say Venincasa bought the place is wrong. We lived there in 1985, and he didn’t buy it till we had been there for a bit. You can read about it here: you’ll be taken off-site again. I know my grandmother has pictures, so maybe sometime I can get her to send them to me and I’ll scan them and get them up in here.
((I know, I was talking about a doll…I got sidetracked…I’m almost done)) That reminds me of the house that the Quick’s lived in at the time. They don’t live there anymore, and last I knew, they had given it, or sold it to, their daughter Sally ((at least, I think she was their daughter…I know her name was Sally, who had a daughter named Gina)). I’ve always called it a mansion, and I think it was, only, it might of just seemed that way cause I was little. It was a big, white house, and it was there that my Grandmother stayed frequently, as a caretaker, more or less, when the Quicks were out of town. ((They owned a house in Boca Raton Florida, too, at times, taking my Grandmother and Grandfather with them for weeks at a time in the winter)) Luckily, my Gramma invited us to stay over there with her!! This house was absolutely *amazing*!! I won’t go into detail about it just yet…I’m waiting for some information from my Grandma…and I’m already way off topic.
So, the doll…It was called a ‘My Child Doll’, and I just *had* to have one. ((Just found out that there’s a site for them?!?!?! The My Child Workshop )) My Dad suggested Capitol Toy, in Worcester. So, that’s where we went. ((Have I mentioned before that I am scared of clowns?))
((images from http://www.flickr.com/photos/usonian/24106499/))
omfg. Thank god the store was closed down. I was disappointed, but I remember telling my parents how I was afraid of the building. I found one at Ames, and the whole point was to get a doll that looked like you…and they didn’t have one like that, but I got one anyway. ((A blond, I think)) She was pretty great, but then my dog ((Lucky)) got a hold of her, and him being a puppy, well, he chewed her up…I don’t think I played with her much after that.
Fast forward a bit…To when Child World was the toy store of choice. Also, it was 5 minutes from my Aunt’s house, walking, so I went there a lot.
((not the actual building I used to visit…the one I went to was in Shrewsbury MA, where now, it’s a Michael’s))
At the time, Debbie Gibson was popular with her single ‘Electric Youth’. I was too young to wear makeup and all that, but some years later, I was at Spags with my best friend Kelly. We used to love browsing around there, especially the perfume & makeup ((and books, for me))…
((image from spags.org))
They had the ‘Electric Youth’ perfume. I don’t remember now what it smelled like, but I bought it anyway cause I liked the bottle.
((image from mamapop.com))
I guess it smelled ok, but my favorite perfumes then were Tribe, and Malibu Musk.
I mostly bought those two at Caldor. Again, not around anymore, but at the time, it was in the Auburn Mall. Sometimes, I’d get Malibu Musk at The Worcester Fair. I think that was probably my favorite store ever. I can’t find pictures of it online, but it was awesome, and also just down the street from my house. ((That was when we lived in Greenwood Village))
Holy crap! It’s taken me a few hours to write this…all this, stemming from a picture I saw that threw me down memory lane. Ahhh…I didn’t have anything else to get done anyway.
However, Mac wants to use my computer, so I guess that’s my cue to go.
Until…well, when I get the information I’m waiting for from my Gramma…
<3333
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
