Tracy Petry

2018. Ugh. So far, not my favorite year. Yeah, so on New Year's Day I was cleaning up the house in anticipation of the arrival of an out-of-town guest. I took a break for a few minutes and sat down to read the day's Facebook posts. Everyone seemed to be having a great day, the posts were full of optimism, hopes and dreams, prayers and anticipation of this being the year that humanity redeemed itself. All I could really say was that I'd just discovered my pants were on inside-out. I knew at that moment what kind of year this was going to be. Later that day my front-load dryer stopped working. A week later I was running out for FIVE MINUTES to do one last task before calling it a day... and it was like experiencing an instant replay of a day in December of 2013... My left heel hit a patch of mud just outside and the next thing I know I'm on my butt in that patch of mud. With my ankle at an odd angle. And yes, I heard a snap. My beloved husband, Marty w...

Summers are hot here. Have I mentioned that? Hot. I'm not a big fan of the heat. My husband and I are from Connecticut and he's not a fan of the extreme cold and that's why we moved south. I would probably have been happier in New Hampshire. Except for the snow. Maybe I just should have bought a motor home instead of a mobile home, that way I could just follow 70 degree weather year round or something. I don't know. But summers here are hot. Trailers are ovens in the summer without air conditioning. They're metal boxes. Most of the trailers I clean out or paint don't have the power on, so I'm pretty much out of luck. In the summer - and when I say summer I mean any time between March and October - I try to start my days at first light and finish before noon if I can make it that long. If the water is still on, sometimes I just stick my whole head in the shower in order to... you know... not die. In the winter, I've found, things don't smell as bad....

This will probably not be my most popular posting. I saw a post online on December 26th in a Christian group stating that 2023 years ago Jesus would have been about two days old. I politely disagreed with the woman who posted the statement. None of that added up for me. Do we know exactly when Jesus was born? No. We don't. What we do know for sure is that it was not December 25th. The shepherds would not have been outside tending their flocks at night at that time of the year. It's probable that Jesus was born in the Fall. We can figure at least that much because we can historically figure what time of the year it was when Zacharias was told by the angel that his wife, Elizabeth would conceive. We know that from the setting - the service that he was performing in the temple. So, if we know when Elizabeth conceived, and we know how pregnant she was when Mary visited her, then we can draw a rough conclusion about when Christ was born. The date of December 25th was chosen ...

About twenty five years ago I was living in a little coastal New England town called Rowayton. Set on a peninsula it started out as a fishing village with tiny seasonal cottages constructed primarily by the fishermen themselves. But, as all things in Connecticut go... "the money" found it and now the cottages are gone. Now, McMansions crowd the postage stamp sized lots and it's very chic to say that you live in Rowayton. Back in those days - when I had money, and a job where I didn't come home smelling like a camel's backside - I was still heavily involved in my first love; the theatre. From the time I was very young I had a love affair going on with the stage. I was an awkward kid; very shy and kind of dorky and the only place I really felt comfortable was on the stage. See, on the stage I wasn't me, I was a character. I'd immerse myself completely in the character and there wouldn't be a shred left of me on that stage. I continued with my acting ...

Let me just start by sharing a few Bible verses. I'm sure many people have read these a number of times but perhaps not connected them with the very first lie, told to Eve by Satan. What was that lie?  Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said to the woman, ye shall not surely die. This same lie is still being told in our world today, and now we're telling it to each other. It's the very basis for the belief in the paranormal, in ghosts, in hauntings. You will not surely die. What does happen to us after our earthly, mortal bodies are worn out? If you're a Christian and believe what the Bible says, then take a look at the verses below.  Daniel 12:2 says this -  Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt Psalms 13:3  Consider and hear me, O  Lord  my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death 1 Corinthians 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all ...

The Place of Shadows What are the REAL dangers of fooling around with the "paranormal"? Find out in this incredible new non-fiction novel written by my long-time friend, Mary Quirion. I know it's true...because I was there.

The bathroom is our friend. It's there for us in our deepest time of need. It's there for us when we're at our lowest, at times in our lives when no one else would want to be near us. So why are people so mean to their bathrooms when they're moving out of a home? Why did that poor toilet ever do to them ? The first time the property management office called me and asked if I'd be willing to "once in a while" clean a vacant home for them it was at my husband's suggestion. The place he was remodeling was in desperate need of a cleaning and they didn't have anyone at that time to take care of it. So they called me. I told them I'd be happy to do it. Happy. I actually used the word happy.  I put on some old cut-off sweats and a grubby t-shirt. It was summer. In the south. It was about 90 degrees outside at midday. Have you ever been in a trailer in the summer? You cannot live in these things in the summer without good A/C. They're ovens! ...