Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

Talking To Others, Pleasing Others & The Sorcerer's Library

Today's blogs...

Blog City – Day 221

Let's talk~ How do you start conversations with strangers? What topics do you avoid? Is it easier with one gender or another?

I have inherited my grandfather's gift of the gab. When waiting in lines, at the grocery store or book shop, I will undoubtedly start chatting with the person in front or behind me. What I talk about it usually related to our purchases or the weather... nothing too controversial. It is only conversation to pass the time and hopefully bring a moment of connection and smiles to those around me.

My husband is always astounded that I talk to complete strangers. He has stopped saying 'why did you tell them that' and just shakes his head. I don't see any issues with it. I don't give personal information, I simply share things that interest others... trying to make a connection. That's all. It is a moment in time. I am not seeking undying friendship. I just want to happy up someone's day.
I will talk to men or women, but women are easier...

I don't always do it. Some days I bring a book and read. It all depends on my mood... am I feeling social or not.

30 Day Blogging Challenge

You can please some people some of the time, but you can't please all the people all of the time.

I agree. I think it comes down to pleasing yourself and not hurting others. Someone is bound to get their nose out of joint or find fault, but I think the thing is... you need to just do what works for you and don't get so tied up in what others think.

I care what some people think - people close to me, like my husband, but beyond that... it really doesn't matter. They don't have to live with me... I do and I don't want to be doing something because of someone else's expectations of me.

The Haunted House – Day 8 – The Sorcerer’s Library

I scrambled up the steps, my heart reeling at what I had just escaped from. At the top, I paused and my mouth dropped open in delight. A room full of books! Books lined the walls from floor to ceiling, their leather bindings shone in the room’s ambient light that flickered from candles and lanterns that were perched on various tables around the room. Even the chandelier held candles that seemed to sparkle with the room’s knowledge.

The room even had a second floor of wrought iron railing with a staircase that lead up to it all black. Unlike the other rooms, this one seemed to shimmer with care. I saw no webs and no dust on any surface. The leather wing back chairs looked almost new. It was a book lovers paradise, yet I needed to remind myself I was still in a haunted house. Anything could happen and I began to worry that the surface was only a veneer for my eyes.

I looked about the room for any sign of life or maybe an unlife... some movement, but all seemed eerily quiet.

I moved into the room and carefully ran my hand along the spines of the books. They seemed to murmur with a kind of appreciation. It startled me at first and I jerked my hand back, then a smile tipped up the corner of my mouth and I wondered how long it had been since anyone had read any of them. I resumed my perusal my hand feathering their spines once again.

After a time, I noticed a large desk in the center of the room and moved over to have a look at the huge book that lay open across its surface. The language I could not make out, but it looked different than the written scribbles from the witches’ book. These words did not dance or move from the page, but when I moved my hand to touch the page the words rippled like I had touched a pool of water. Even the trickle of the touch reverberated around me. When I moved my hand away, the words settled again. I did it again, enjoying the plonking swish sound it made as the words ripples across the page. I stood mesmerized by the book, until I heard a shuffling sound. A quick glance about the room showed nobody, but the air seemed to ripple at the one corner of the room. My heart tripped up a beat and I slipped behind the closest wing back chair, glad it was so large. I peaked around the edge and watched as the rippling air seemed to swell, then to my amazement a man with long flowing robes materialized and moved into the room. His hands were tipped up and in his palms blue flamed light radiated and pulsed with a kind of energy I had never seen before.

I could not make out his face, a hood fell forward obscuring my view and kept him hidden. I could see only his hands. As I watched, he moved his hands together and the blue flames merged into one. Moving his hands back, the globe of light floated in front of him. He raised his hands above his head and the orb rose into the room and circled the upper shelves before it stopped and hovered in front of one of the old volumes. The man gave a nod and the orb seeped into the book, then drew in out. I watched wide eyed as the book levitated and moved back through the room to the man who reached out and took it before he settled into the wing back chair opposite me. He closed his eyes and the book opened and flipped its pages wildly until settling, only then did the man reopen his eyes and look down into the book.

Watching him, I wondered 'What was I to do now?'

This man had powers and they were frightening in their quiet focus. I did not dare move.

I longed to explore the books myself, but I felt sure there was some kind of spell on them. I also did not want to be discovered by this man of sorcery.

As I wondered at my options, I noticed the air ripple where it had when the man appeared... In a flash of red light, another man appeared, but this one was not so calming. Red flames rose from his hands and his eyes bored out in glowing red embers. He hurled his flames forward towards the first man with crackling ferocity and I thought that was the end. But the seated man rose and flung out his own energy that splintered across the room like lightening, clashing with the red energy and sizzling like a lightening show. The hair on my body stood up as the electricity escalated and battled.

The room seemed to explode with their warring beams, then in a great Crash and Thunderous BOOM.... all was gone and silence fell.

In a deafened haze, I stood and shook my head trying to make sense of what I had just witnessed, but then I thought it best to move on. This room was not as pleasant as it had seemed and it was time to go. I longed to slip one of the books from the shelf, but thought better of it. What belonged here, needed to stay here and I needed to find my way out. I moved to the door at the other side of the room and let myself out, making sure to close it firmly behind me.

Next is the Mummy's Bedroom.