The Void Project, Karaoke, & I Am Old, Drink My Scotch

"Between waking and sleep lies a place you were never meant to wander. A borderland where time bends, shapes twist, and whispers follow you. It’s the layer of night where dreams blur into nightmares—where every culture tells the same stories of shadows, watchers, and figures that shouldn’t exist. Step too far into this in-between, and you’ll discover why some doors are better left unopened."

Friday evening, Ms. B. and I drove the dark, winding backroads up to my first college alma mater, Ferrum College, up in the boonies of neighboring Franklin County. Last year, the newly opened Ferrum Park put on its first haunted trail attraction, the theme of which was to find some missing hikers—without going missing yourself. This year, the event was called The Void Project, described in the passage above. Like last year, the trail setup was not all that extravagant, but it was absolutely a hootin' good time. There were a few roving creatures, some pitch-black corridors, optical illusions, and creepy alien sounds. I hope there will be another haunted trail there next year, and I might consider helping out with the setup, especially if I can be roving monster. Ha-HA!

 

Brugger and I survived the trail experience, and afterward, since it was on the way home, we stopped at Scuffle Hill Brewing in Collinsville, where friends Scott & Jamie joined us for a few brews and some raucous karaoke. Ms. B. and I both hollered a bit, but nobody ran screaming, so we shall have to try harder next time.

 

Friday was friend and fellow writer Richard Dansky's birthday, and each year, to celebrate, he holds a pretty large gathering at his place in Durham. He calls it "I Am Old, Drink My Scotch," and he puts out innumerable bottles of scotch along with a huge spread of Meats and Cheeses™, not to mention veggies, sweets, and other culinary goodies. This year's event was yesterday, and Ms. B. and I both planned to go. I had reserved a room for us at a hotel near Richard's place, but our cat Moose has developed what we fear is diabetes, and he was not doing well, so she stayed home to be with him. I set out yesterday morning, drove to Durham, and proceeded to hunt a good many geocaches, some of which involved some fairly serious hiking (although nothing as extreme as a couple of last week's outings at Wintergreen). There was also a cache at a very old graveyard hidden in the woods ("Leigh Farm Park Cemetery," GC95G2C), which was apt for the season, and probably my favorite of the day.

I settled in at the hotel about 3:30 p.m., showered and got presentable (as much as possible, anyway), and as the event's 7:00 p.m. starting time approached, I ventured out to the grim and morbid environs of East Durham, grabbed a handful more geocacches, and finally arrived at the grim and morbid Chez Dansky, which was properly decorated for both Halloween and a celebration for turning older than dirt.

 

Indeed, there was scotch. Lots and lots of scotch. And so many Meats and Cheeses™. Silly me, I was so preoccupied most of the time that I hardly took any photos at all. The ones I did take are below. Since Brugger didn't make it and Richard was largely occupied with hosting duties, I was pretty much a stranger in a sea of faces I didn't know. I tend to feel a bit awkward in such circumstances, but I did get into interesting conversations with several folks, all of whom were very nice and sociable. It helped that many were writers or involved in various creative businesses. So, I'm hoping that there will be many more Richard Dansky events, birthdays and otherwise, and that in the future, Ms. B. can accompany me.

Thanks, Richard, for being such a perfect host.

A most appropriate card for the aged Mr. Dansky

Chez Dansky, lit up for the season

The tiniest sampling of the cheezes available at the massive spread

Godzillasaurus

In between writing fiction and online diatribes about the current criminal regime, I put together a little diorama using the newly arrived Godzillasaurus figure (from Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah) and the S.H. Monster Arts Godzilla figure from the same film. I call it "Almost There, Kid—A Little More Vibrato!" The foreground is a composite of three photos of a miniature tree set I constructed a while back, and the background is a photo from Pixabay. Anyhoo, it was a bit of fun for me. Enjoy.

Oh, Shenandoah...Again

Back in May, friends/regular travel companions, Terry & Beth, joined Brugger and me for a few days' sojourn in the wine country of central Virginia, with our headquarters at the Wintergreen Resort. On that trip, we were able to enjoy a brief but mighty nice dinner and visit with long-time friends, artist Cortney Skinner & author Elizabeth Massie. Well, that was really too little of a good thing, so Ms. B. and I decided we must return to the scene of the crime, and this time bring on board as much of the local talent as possible. This area of the Shenandoah—Staunton and Waynesboro in particular—is home to several writers and artists, all of whom I've called friends for many years. Apart from Cortney & Beth, we have Keith Minnion, Nanci & Phil Kalanta, Dave & Trudi Simms, and Matt & Deena Warner (the latter of whom did a great job redesigning my website earlier this year). We plotted a reasonably massive gathering in advance, while leaving the rest of an extended weekend for Brugger and me to wander about, discover spirits & vittles, go antiquing, hunt geocaches, and do whatever deviant things our teeny minds might concoct.

Thursday, October 16, 2025

This morning, Ms. B. and I mounted up and set forth for Wintergreen, stopping for a few geocaches, lunch in Lynchburg (Chili's), and some provisions at the Wintergreen Market. Our little VRBO is cozy, convenient to all the local amenities (wineries, breweries, cideries, and restaurants) as well as our friends. We arrived right at check-in time (3:00 p.m.) and made ourselves at home. Happily, our host provided us with plenty of necessities (like coffee), and as you can see in the photo above, we put some of our own provisions to good use.

For dinner, we trucked over to The Edge, which we'd enjoyed immensely on our previous visit. This time was equally good. A damn fine gin martini, I can tell you, and a hell of a good turkey burger with bacon. Afterward, Ms. B. and I retired to our lodgings, where had some cheesecake and a smidgen of wine for dessert. And we watched No One Gets Out Alive, which we'd seen before, but found it enjoyably creepy.

 

A most satisfying inaugural evening, to say the least. Till tomorrow.

Friday, October 17, 2025

Hey, it's a geocaching morning! I rose early, before Ms. B. even stirred, had a quick breakfast and coffee, and then set out for a cache less than half a mile from our lodgings, at least as the crow flies. Damn, those lucky crows. I took a shortcut down to the trail, as it was only a couple of hundred yards behind our place, but what a couple of hundred yards. Steep, steep terrain, mostly covered with mountain laurel, and if you've ever bushwhacked through mountain laurel then you probably understand how abusive its whip-like branches are. SWAT! WHACK! THWACK! Gracious!

Once on the trail proper, I had to cross about a dozen contour lines on the map, and we're talking terrain that is steep, rocky, and slickery with leaves. So, with all the winding up and down, that less than half a mile turned into a full mile-plus, with every step requiring a lot of caution. No kidding, a bad step in such terrain could have dire consequences.

But let me tell you, what gorgeous terrain it was. Fall color is far more advanced in these woods than in the neighboring areas. There's a flowing stream near the trail with some nice waterfalls. And when I finally arrived at the cache, I found it in good condition. Understandably, it doesn't get much business out in that area, but it was certainly worth the effort. (I don't think I paused as often to rest when I hiked nine rugged miles at McAfee Knob to get my 10,000th cache a few years back.)

Near the cache (Foraldeliben's Treasure, GC8VWBQ)

After this adventure, Brugger and I stopped at the nearby market to pick up a few picnic provisions, and then we drove down to Valley Road Vineyards, not too far away. Here we found some pretty good local wine. Our timing was good because, just as we started our picnic, a passel of tour buses pulled in with several passels of people, which just about filled up the place.

Our next destination was a couple of geocaches on the outskirts of Waynesboro, then into Staunton, a few miles farther on. Brugger went antiquing, and I went...caching. Found several fun ones, but then I realized my phone was nearly dead—and my spare external battery was completely dead. Thankfully, I was done caching for the afternoon. Anyhoo, Ms. B. and I met up again at Accordia Wine Bar, which we had discovered on our trip here in May. A little liquid refreshment hit the spot here.

Valley Road Winery

Overlooking the valley from just outside of Waynesboro

Finally, we came to the most compelling reason for our visit—meeting our crowd of ne'er-do-well friends at Thai Staunton restaurant. Keith Minnion and Dave & Trudi Simms couldn't make it, but Matt & Deena Warner brought their sons, Owen and Thomas, so our table was pretty well filled up. The food and service here were fantastic, and the company was the best there is. There were lots of memories between all of us as well as many newer stories to tell. After dinner, we hopped a couple of doors down to Kline's Ice Cream Shop, had sweet treats, and yammered a whole bunch more.

Finally, we all parted ways, and Brugger and I drove the spooky, dark backroads to our lodgings. It was quite a day, to say the least, and the evening gathering could hardly have been more fun and mentally/emotionally refreshing.

We started watching The Ritual, which is a cool, creepy film just right for the season, but since we were both tired and about ready to pack it in, we stopped halfway, figuring we'll finish it tomorrow night. I managed to stay up long enough to finish today's blog entry.

I foresee another possibly rugged hike in the morning. G'night.

Front: Thomas, Deena, Matt, Nanci, Phil; Back: Cortney, Beth, Owen, Ms. B., Old Dude

Saturday, October 18, 2025

Today, the No Kings Protests will be held all over the country, and if we were at home, Brugger and I would certainly be taking part in the Martinsville gathering. We'd thought about going to one in Staunton, but we ended up getting a very late start this morning, and we wouldn't have been able to make it in time. We are kind of sorry to have missed it. Anyway...I can absolutely assure you, those of us who protest this regime do NOT hate America. Quite the opposite. We protest the burgeoning autocracy. We protest the disregard for the rule of law and the US Constitution. We protest the escalating attacks on our free speech. We protest the demonization of those who disagree with the extreme right's imposition of its policies of pure self-interest. If you don't see this happening, right smack right in front of you; if you somehow see protest as hating America; or if you say, "If you don't like it, then leave," you are truly too brainwashed, too dim-witted to be reasoned with. This country IS my home, and I don't leave my home because it needs one hell of a house-cleaning. Right now, it surely does.

Here in Wintergreen, first thing this morning, I set out on foot after a cache at an overlook about a mile away. It wasn't a rugged hike like yesterday, but the ups and downs are still pretty extreme right here on the mountainside. At ground zero, my coordinates bounced me all over the place for a while, but I finally homed in on an apt-looking spot. Sure enough, I found a hook where the cache would have resided, but...no cache! Dammit. Anyway, I scratched around the area for quite a while with my hikey stick and finally turned up the container buried in the leaves. So, I signed the log and re-hid the cache where it was supposed to be. Ah, success!

 

Just as I completed my task, a nice lady approached me and asked if I was geocaching. I said that indeed I was, and she told me someone she knew hid this particular cache. She didn't know that much about caching overall, so I explained a few of its finer points. I've been at this activity now for over 17 years, and I still have the bug. I don't see it ever going away

Brugger and I soon headed out for brunch at Beltie's, a nice farmhouse-type restaurant where they also have Beltie cows! Big and cute, I'd call 'em. Some of them quite enjoyed being petted. I had a bucket of coffee and a fried chicken, pimento cheese, habanero-bacon jam, and arugula biscuit, which was so good I just about hollered.

From there, we found wine at Afton Mountain Vineyards, which was decent. Their best wine was a blend called Bacco, presumably from "Tobacco," since it had the distinctive and very agreeable aroma and taste of rich tobacco. That made me very happy. Then we headed over to King Family Vineyards in Crozet, where we ended up sitting with a very nice couple who live in the area but have traveled all over the world. We shared quite a few enjoyable travel tales. The wine was generally very good, particularly their blend called Seven. And finally, we topped off our little winery tour at a beautiful place called Chiswell Farm & Winery. It's probably the most scenic winery I've ever visited, and their Meritage wine was superb. The images below are from Chiswell.

From there, we drove down to the old Crozet Tunnel, now known as the Blue Ridge Tunnel. It's an old railroad tunnel cut clean through the mountain, almost a mile in length. It's now a rail trail, and yes, there was a geocache. Interestingly, Ms. B. happened upon it quite by accident. We really loved going through the tunnel—it's very dark and very chilly (and in some places, quite damp). When we arrived, it was pretty crowded, but by the time we left, the sun was going down, and we were damned near the last living souls at the place, which made it almost—and very agreeably—creepy.

L: Southeastern tunnel entrance; R: Ms. B. dancing in the dark

L: The Blue Ridge Tunnel is almost a mile from end to end; R: the northwestern tunnel entrance

Once we departed the the tunnel, we found dinner at a fairly new pizza restaurant called Trinacria, which was right next to Beltie's. The (exceptionally large "small") pizza was quite good.

Finally, we returned to our place and finished watching The Ritual, which really is a fun horror flick, and perfect for the Halloween season. Tomorrow...it's back to Ground Zero.

Peace out.

Cedar Ridge Picnic

Brugger and I have both been burning the candle at both ends lately, so, this weekend, we're gonna spend some quality time with each other and with some fantastic creative folks we haven't seen in far too long. We decided to kick things off a day early by hiking out on the nearby Cedar Ridge Trails in the Chatmoss area and having a picnic lunch. I've placed several geocaches on this trail system, and not too long ago, while I was exploring one of the trails I hadn't visited before, I discovered a lonely, half-hidden picnic table in the woods. So, this morning, we packed up some vittles and hoofed it out yonder for a nice picnic. The peaceful solitude with Ms. B. was just what the doctor ordered. A highlight was a little red fox that went running by us, though too fast for me to snag a photo. Anyhoo, what a beautiful day.

Halloween Party Horrors, Ghosts, Legends, & Cryptids

Joe, Suzy, Jennifer, Jamie, Scott, Samaire, Mark W., Kim W., Kimberly B., Terry, Beth;
the Front Man is behind the camera

The Front Man

'Tis done! Brugger and I put on our annual Halloween Party last night, which was—as expected—crashed by a plethora of frightful fiends. Sadly, several folks who'd anticipated attending weren't able to, but those who did, at least by my reckoning, somehow survived. There was cheese and there was meatballs (alas, no caviar), and long tall glasses of wine up to h'yar. Yes, we did have that and more. I think it's safe to say that no one left the premises hungry or thirsty.

We had a fun Halloween horror trivia contest — 13 questions about horror movies, books, and stories. I made most of the questions pretty easy for the layman, but a few of them required a bit more than casual horror knowledge. At least a couple of people correctly answered the question "Which 1982 horror classic featured the famous line, 'You've gotta be fucking kidding me!'" Go Suzy and Joe!

Now, I started out as the Front Man from Squid Games, but after a while the heat in there began to get to me, pretty seriously, so I changed into last year's slightly more casual costume, which still hung in our entryway closet (see below photo with Brugger). Temperature-wise, this provided some relief, and it also made it a hell of a lot easier to consume wine and vittles. In case I didn't mention it, we had lots and lots and lots of wine and vittles.

Some of us stayed up till the wee hours yakking about scary things, both real and unreal. Sadly, the real is overshadowing too much of the far more agreeable unreal. All in all, we had a fine time. Needless to say, the better part of this morning was spent on restoring the casa to habitable condition.

Horror trivia! Suzy, Joe, Beth, and Jamie won prizes.

This afternoon, I attended a presentation about the ghosts, legends, and cryptids of Martinsville and Henry County, given by Garrett Channel, who is the executive director of the Salem (Virginia) Museum. He provided a lively, very enjoyable talk that was perfect for the season. He related the legend of Sam Lion, a bit of local (very likely embellished) history, which I wrote about a few years ago (here). After his presentation, I talked briefly with him about my writing and interest in such creepy legends, and he told me he actually used my blog as one of his references. Well, I find that kinda cool, particularly since I use both the real and "altered" folklore of this area as a basis for many of my stories and books (most recently, The House at Black Tooth Pond).

As an added bonus, I ran into my seventh-grade American History teacher, Ms. Kerry Tillery, who lives up the street from us. She is a most wonderful person, and I'm so glad she is still around. It's always a pleasure to have the opportunity to talk with her.

"Castle Rock," I call it. I have a geocache here. This was supposedly a part of the original
"Sam Lion's Trail" of local legend.

Prepping!

Tomorrow—Saturday, 10/11—is our annual Halloween Party, and we're expecting a pretty good crowd. This week, we've spent a lot of time cleaning, buying supplies, cleaning, decorating, getting our costumes together, and cleaning. Come Sunday, we'll no doubt need to clean again. But at least the house will be clean before we dirty it all up again.

Brugger and I been well into our Halloween movies this week. We've watched Night (Curse) of the Demon, The Thing (2011), and The Thing (1982), which are absolute prerequisites before Halloween can come. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is also on that list, and I suspect we'll get to it in the next couple of days. We've also caught Evil Dead Rise, The Exorcist, Don't Breathe, Island of the Night of the Damned Doomed Big Heat (a.k.a. Night of the Big Heat, Island of the Burning Damned, and Island of the Burning Doomed (I wrote about it a long time ago here). Tonight, since it's finally available after all these years, we're going to watch Something Wicked This Way Comes. I don't think I've seen it since it was at the theater in 1983, and I recall really liking it way back when.

 

Oh, yeah, there's more stuff a-coming. Hope it's coming for you too. Hahaha,

An Oktoberfest Weekend

October has been my favorite month for most of my life, certainly as an adult. It's the Halloween season, don't you know! Since I was a kid, going up to the Blue Ridge Parkway in the fall has been a family tradition. Apart from colorful fall foliage, the primary attraction for many decades was breakfast at Mabry Mill; sadly, the restaurant is no longer open. The leaves haven't turned yet, but the Virginia mountains are always beautiful, so we didn't mind going a little early this season. On Friday, Brugger and I drove up to Villa Appalaccia, our favorite winery within traveling distance, where we enjoyed an excellent tasting, a partial bottle of their excellent Dolcetto, and some light nibbles that we brought along with us. Following that, we drove over to nearby Chateau Morrisette Winery & Restaurant, where we had another very good tasting, followed by dinner at the restaurant. I had Osso Buco, which was enjoyable enough, though I'm afraid it was hardly my best dinner here. The shanks weren't as tender as they should have been, and the sauce did not go well with the accompanying polenta. Still, the restaurant is beautiful, with traditionally excellent food, and consistently good service, so my enthusiasm for it is no way is in no way diminished.

Below: Ms. B. and Old Dude at Villa Appalaccia and a couple of sunset views from the terrace at Chateau Morrisette.

Yesterday—Saturday—Brugger and I hauled ourselves, my books, and bookselling accoutrements uptown for Martinsville's 44th Annual Oktoberfest. I've been a regular vendor here for many years, and predictably for an event like this, sales can be very much hit or miss. Happily, this one was not at all a miss. I sold a record number of copies (which put me well into the black) and met lots of avid readers. I also ran into several good friends, some of whom I've not seen in far too many years.

 

Happily, good friends (and frequent traveling companions) Terry & Beth came up from Kernersville both to wander about Oktoberfest and hang out with us poor miscreants. After the fest was over and we'd broken down and packed up all our stuff, we all retired to Ground Zero for drinks and dinner. Ms. B. made a fantastic Italian chicken with basil & Parmesan on pasta that made us all very, very full. And then... cheesecake. Woot!

 

Below: A couple of images of Church Street during Oktoberfest.

Today, Ms. B. spent some time fixing up the living room to usher in the Halloween season, and this evening, we watched Night (Curse) of the Demon, which means things are getting real.

Beyond our own little corner of the world, things are far less content and "normal," so who's to say how the rest of our October (and beyond) will fare? For us this weekend, the world turned out to be very nice. I sure wish we all could enjoy much more peace, tranquility, and fulfillment. That said, I desperately wish certain people and parties wouldn't make that so damned hard.

Home Wrecker

Dammit. And I had just cleaned house, too. This is the new Hiya Toys 1991 King Ghidorah figure engaging in his favorite pastime. I guess he knows how to have fun.