Always expect the magic of the fog

I have a personal method of relaxation that has never failed me. The mysteries of the fog thread my needle whether I am actually in the midst of it or reading about it. I imagine I am standing on a cliff and can jump out into the mist that is so thick that it catches me and I am borne on the air itelf. My enchantment with the mist from low lying clouds began with a tale titled FOG MAGIC.

This is a 1943 children's book by Julia Sauer. It centers around eleven-year-old Greta Addington who has a special power. One child in every generation of Addington's has the ability to experience the mystical magic setting of Blue Cove, Nova Scotia. When the fog rolls in Greta like ancestors before her travels back in time by walking through the mist. The setting changes and dilapidated buildings disappear and change into a long ago world. Greta then interacts with those who lived in the village in days gone by. Once she turns 12 she is never able to enter the past again.

I purchased a copy of FOG MAGIC from Scholastics books when I was 11 and in the 6th grade. I probably only paid about $.50 cents to $.75 cents for the paperback. I was sad to read that on Greta's twelfth birthday, it's her last time in Blue Cove. She must wait until night for it to become foggy and when Greta enters her fantasy land her friends give her a kitten. Greta leaves realizing she is growing up and will never be able to return to the land of the mist.

While reading this story it felt as though I were in the mist with Greta. As soon as we had the next foggy day in my neck of the woods I took an evening walk. I went through the field near our home and began spinning around in circles pretending that when I stopped I would find my own Blue Cove. After playing pretend I went back home damp from the mist that had fallen. I would be so excited and could easily fall asleep.

The fog does not come around often but whenever it did it became my saving grace to take my mind off of bullies who teased me because I was quiet. Although Greta grew up and never visited her fantasy land again, I became like Peter Pan. I read FOG MAGIC often and whenever there was a real fog even as an adult I would go out and stand in it. I close my eyes and still pretend I am being transported to a mystical land where my problems do not follow me.

I love Roger Duvoisin’s 1965 storyHIDE AND SEEK FOG where Cape Cod is surrounded in a fog so thick it lasts 3 days. The adults don't like it so much but the children play hide and seek and make the most of the time in the mist that clouds them. My infatuation with the fog was dimmed in 1980 when John Carpenter introduced his movie THE FOG to the world. He ruined my fantasy of something wonderful coming out of the low-lying clouds and gave me nightmares of pirates, violence, and death.

In recent years my fascination with the fog has returned and it has helped me through a lot of stressful situations. I enjoy classic black and white movies with scenes where someone emerges from the cool, damp, London fog. I devour episodes of THRILLER, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, THE TWILIGHT ZONE, and THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR where murder, mystery, and mayhem take place in foggy locations. I find myself relaxed and in a zone where I forget time.

I also love watching Sherlock Holmes as well as reading about him. When I read and watch these programs about the fog it's as if I am actually in the scenes and I tune out all that is around me. On the rare occasions that there is an actual fog in my neck of the woods, I make sure to take a walk in it. There is still that child inside of me who is always looking for the unexpected and perhaps one day like Greta in FOG MAGIC I will find it. For now, walking in the fog, watching movies where it is prominent and reading stories where it is relevant give me such a sense of serenity. I find that it is always best to be in expectancy of what the fog can produce.