They Had Me At Cupcake Shops

June 28, 2018 / animar64 / 5 Comments

Photo A.M. Moscoso

I am the biggest fan of Weird New Jersey IN THE WORLD.

Well.

In my world anyway- which is pretty much just me, my dog- who is freaking AWESOME- my camera, laptop and my cool collection of neat stuff ( which consists of things like gargoyles, some embalmers tools and a few casts of my family members teeth )

HOWEVER.

Weird NJ is the Promised Land for those of us who love to explore the odd and the macabre. I’ve had to read the books and magazines and watched anything Weird NJ on TV.

It fed my weird and curious little Soul.

Truthfully, I always felt a little cheated that Washington State didn’t have anything like Weird NJ. I’d go as far as to say I was downright embarrassed that we seemed so boring and normal.

So yesterday I find out from about a half dozen emails from some of my friends who know how much I THRIVE on strange and curious, that right here in Seattle we have our very own version of Mark & Mark- and that we are not so normal here out in the Pacific Northwest.

BOOYAH!

Meet Garrett ( on the left ) and Jeremy

Garret and Jeremy started to track and map weirdness and what they ended up with was a to do list for anyone who believes that there is more of the world to see then places with good reviews on Yelp.

MAP LEGEND from Liminal Seattle

     Dark Forces: Lanyard Zombies, Drones, Corporate Death Zones, Cupcake Shops, Etc.
     Time Distortions: Travelers, Timehunters, “Deja Vu”, “Losing Time,” Etc.
     Mythologies: Pre-Shamanic Deer Cults, Radical Gnostic Animism, etc.
    Cryptoids: Bigfoot, Lycanthrops, Trolls, Ogres, Etc.
Thin Places: Ley Lines, Magic Fountains, Plant Sigils, Portals, etc.
     Straight Up Ghosts: Creepy vibes, Poltergeists, EVPs, Stone Tape Theories, Class III Apparitions
    High Weirdness: Fortean Phenomena, Floating Toblerone, Things That Just Don’t Make Sense    Classic UFO: Close Encounters, Sightings, etc.
    Strange Animals: Bearing Gifts, Unusual Encounters, Fecal Divination, etc.
Visions: Dreams, Visions, Mystical Experiences, etc.

What can I say-

They had me at Cupcake Shops.

I subscribed to the Newsletter HERE and I’m going to use the map.

Maybe I’ll discover a little weirdness of my own along the way- fingers crossed!

Visit Liminal Seattle HERE

Read Press Coverage HERE

Photo A.M. Moscoso

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!

May 27, 2018May 30, 2018 / animar64 / Leave a comment

The Swim Reaper

Every year I plan and take my dream vacation.

My dream vacations used to involve spas, facials, sun, new clothes and salt water taffy.

I can find the best salt water taffy anywhere- send me to Mars or Titan ( oh pluheeez someone send me there ) and I will score the best salt water taffy WITHOUT the use of a phone app. It’s like magic with me.

We all have our gifts and special talents and that one is mine.

In the end though I will hit Google and punch in something like ” cemeteries ” or ” Ghost Tours and then my dream trip turns into something else entirely.

My plans to have the ultimate facial turns into me packing my trusty everyday face cleaner and Oil of Olay lotion. My new clothes get re shelved and I start pulling out my favorite t-shirts and favorite worn out jeans and hiking boots.

I fold them nicely so they won’t wrinkle-most of the time.

Then I pack my camera, my laptop and whatever book I’m reading at the time and I’m ready to go.

The reality is, I don’t end up on the beach, or at a resort or having dinner and sipping wine under the stars while tossing out meaningful, insightful thoughts and ideas with other Suburban Escapees.

I end up somewhere else now days- usually at a graveyard or at a counter in a diner tossing back popcorn shrimp and hearing stories from someone who saw a UFO or meeting someone who says they went school with a serial killer.

I sort of miss those Dream Vacation Days. They were romantic, exciting, planned safe. They were predictable in a very unpredictable world.

But over the years I’ve discovered that dream vacations should be like real dreams.

They should be strange, surreal, they should feel like those dreams where you’re falling from a cliff or a building or flying.

I now consider myself an adventurer- an explorer.

Except for the part about Salt Water Taffy.

I’m not giving that up.

I still go looking for it- and I always find it.

Always.

Photo A.M. Moscoso

Daily Prompt: Ceremony

Down The Road

May 24, 2018May 24, 2018 / animar64 / Leave a comment

Last week me and Luis went to Wisconsin to meet our Granddaughter

( Isn’t she the Bees Knees?)

Photo A.M. Moscoso

We also got to explore and visit some great places like an Amish Bakery ( all those stories about the great baked goods? Absolutely true)

Photo A.M MOSCOSO

Photo A.M. Moscoso

By the time we got to Pleasant View Amish Bakery in Dalton it was almost 9:00 in the morning so everyone there was hard at work and had been for several hours.

I wandered around to the back and saw the empty stables, the sheep, chickens and I’m sorry to say some puppies in an outdoor kennel. There were only three puppies that I could see. The kennel was very good sized, very clean, and they had food and water- but puppies need more.

I’ll leave it at that.

I snapped some pictures of the horses tack and ‘there but not there’ picture of a buggy- which to me captures the essence of the Amish Community and the outside community that surrounds it

I did enjoy seeing the ladies in the bakery who were very much in charge of that area- I respect anyone who can bake. It’s not an easy task to bake from scratch and present it for sale with that kind of calm and cool efficiency.

I also liked the way the gentlemen in the buggies acknowledged us when we drove by with a wave- most of the time when you pass someone in a car they wave, but it’s with one finger, you know?

I hope you enjoy my pictures- each one tells a little story and I hope one speaks to you.

amm