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Retro Tuesday 10-6-2026

Write about a time when something scared you or you felt you were in the presence of true evil.

I’ve been scared many times. Like when I see a spider. Okay, I’m not as bad as I used to be about spiders as long as they stay out of my house. They have their place and I have mine. Still, the thought of running into a spider’s web makes me shiver. Or clinking up the first hill on a roller-coaster. Taking a test for which I hadn’t studied.  Going someplace new. Going somewhere on my own. (I am most over the last three now.)

The one time I felt terrified, however, was as a teenager. Back then (when the dinosaurs roamed), I could ride my bike up and down the road (we lived on a narrow back road) for hours without my parents worrying. It was dusk. I was riding my bike away from the house, wanting to take one more rush down the opposite hill before I went home. As I came to a curve, I stopped, overcome with a feeling of dread. From inside the trees by the side of the road, I could feel the purest form of evil I had ever imagined, more than I had ever imagined.

Something, or someone, was watching me with evil intent.

I spun my bike around and rode home as fast as I could, running into the house. safe only once the door was closed behind me.

It was a long time before I was able to go outside at dusk.

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Quote For The Day 10-2-2026

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”

― haruki murakami

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Word Of The Week 9-30-2026

ziggurat

noun

Definition

ancient Mesopotamian temple consisting of a pyramidal structure built in successive stages with outside staircases and a shrine at the top. The word ziggurat is also sometimes used for a similarly shaped structure.

Origin

French professor of archaeology François Lenormant spent a great deal of time poring over ancient Assyrian texts. In those cuneiform inscriptions, he pieced together a long-forgotten language, now known as Akkadian, which proved valuable to our understanding of the ancient civilization. Through his studies, he became familiar with the Akkadian word for Mesopotamia’s towering, stepped temples: ziqqurratu, which stepped into English as ziggurat.

Merriam Webster Dictonary