Spooked Out

Long ago, on weekday afternoons, I tuned in to a TV soap opera that my parents didn't very much approve of. Called Dark Shadows, it featured the vampire Barnabas Collins. Werewolves, ghosts, witches, warlocks, zombies and other various monsters made their way into the plot. It was dark. It was strange and eerie. And I was taken in. The show's run came to an end in 1971 and it was no longer the same thrill to come home from high school and find the TV screen filled with these fangs ready to open on yet another victim. So, when Anne delivered this book to my hands, I was taken in again by a strange plot of vampires and werewolves in a much updated format. Perhaps you have heard of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer? The fourth book was recently published and I have read them all now. (Soon, a movie will be released as well.) I realize that this topic of werewolves and vampires is an odd genre for me to "ingest" ...it is SO not me. Usually, I prefer books with plots featuring people working through poignant relationships, biographies, non-fiction "how-to" topics, books with foreign settings and - of course - children's books. But, these books are really well written and quite original. One thing about them, however, has changed how I feel when I am out walking in the woods and happen upon this sight: (Click on the picture to make it larger if you can't see what is in the center.) Now when I see something like this is the woods, I can almost see Edward and members of his family bounding quickly forward to meet its prey. This picure was taken yesterday at the Old School Forest Preserve nearby. We were the only ones out walking late in the afternoon and we saw so many white-tailed deer we lost count! Spooky what the imagination and a book plot can do!