Where There's Smoke...

I spent yesterday morning geocaching in Kernersville, NC, with friend Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott), followed by an excellent lunch at Don Juan's, one of my longtime favorite Mexican restaurants. Brugger was returning from an artsy-craftsy event in Hickory, NC, so after I parted company with Scott, she and I barged in on our friends Terry & Beth at their Kernersville home. We downed plentiful wine and tapas, enjoyed some time in their hot tub, and then spent a good hour on their back porch watching a huge column of black smoke erupting from some point about a mile from their house. We learned later that it came from a fire at OmniSource, a scrap metal recycling center, and as of this writing, it's contained but not fully extinguished. The wind carried the smoke column away from our location, but it could seen from I-77 in Fancy Gap, Virginia, about fifty miles north-northwest. One firefighter was injured, but there are thankfully no reports of any others, as far as I know.

In an altogether happier vein, The House at Black Tooth Pond has been getting a decent amount of love, which pleases me no end. Last week, I was a guest on two different podcasts, courtesy of authors Rick Kleffel and Bryan Nowak; of course I will post links to them when they go live.

A few excerpts from recent reviews:

"The House at Black Tooth Pond is a great read for lovers of small town horror, cosmic horror, and police procedurals. I enjoyed the combination of these subgenres..."—Rebecca Cuthbert

"Rainey is one of a handful of writers who can give you the supernatural, the cosmic, and the eldritch terror in carefully measured doses that intoxicate you with their simple cleverness and their absolute dread. Lovecraft would be proud. So keep the lights on while you read..."—John M. Cozzoli (The HorrorZine)

"The House at Black Tooth Pond climaxes into a beautiful, (you know what I mean) cosmic 'Holy Crow, Are You Kidding Me?,' finale that's completely satisfying. Highly recommended.—Alice Loweecy

"Stephen Mark Rainey returns to haunted Sylvan County, Virginia, with this slow-burn weird tale in the tradition of H.P. Lovecraft, Fritz Leiber, TED Klein, Twin Peaks, and maybe even The Trollenberg Terror..."—Joe Maddrey

Speaking of Ms. Cuthbert, who was kind enough to give Black Tooth Pond a nice review, I found her collection, The Six o'Clock House & Other Strange Tales, a most engaging read, with several tales that I found superlative (my review is live at Goodreads; still pending on Amazon). She is also an accomplished graphic artist, and very kindly created a nice promo graphic for Black Tooth Pond that I am more than happy to use and share. Thank you, Rebecca!

I've started listening to the audiobook of friend/author Scott Thomas's 2017 novel, Kill Creek. Several chapters in, I'm enjoying it very much. The narration by Bernard Setaro Clark is smooth and engaging. Will give this one a full review when I'm done.

Till next time...

Geocaching, a Big Woops! & Other Winter Solstice Adventures

Two winter celebrations occupied slots on yesterday's calendar: a late morning/early afternoon Winter Solstice geocaching event at the Red Robin restaurant in Greensboro, and a late afternoon/evening holiday party at friends Terry & Beth's place in Kernersville. With several hours between the two, a geocaching excursion along the Deep River, around Ramseur and Franklinville, about thirty miles south of Greensboro, looked like just the ticket, especially since several new caches had come out, courtesy of friend Fishdownthestairs (a.k.a. Natalie). Rather than drive separately straight to Kernersville in the afternoon, Ms. Brugger opted to accompany me to the geocaching event and then on the hike. Talk about momentous!

The event at Red Robin had a good crowd — about 20 folks, many of whom I'd not seen in a while. Friend Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott) decided he'd meet us on the trail a bit later. Once done at the event, Ms. B. and I drove down to the Deep River Trail and commenced to hiking. Indeed, after a while, Diefenbaker arrived on the scene. The trail is gravel-surfaced and makes for a generally easy trek, though once you go off of it, the terrain can get pretty hairy. Between two legs of the trail, a stream joins the Deep River, and there's no actual crossing there — just an array of old pylons that present more of an impediment than an aid to getting from one side to the other. Scott and I found a partially exposed log near the pylons that allowed for a somewhat precarious crossing, but we made it without mishap. Ms. B. didn't care to follow in our footsteps, so she remained on higher ground on her side of the river.

However—uh-oh!—she took one step too far on the muddy bank and—whoosh!—down she went. Not all the way into the water, but pretty damned close. Worst of all, the bank was steep, the mud slipperier than ice. It took her a hell of an effort to get back to the top. And since this was an unexpected mishap, she had brought no spare clothes. Gracious! Fortunately, friend Beth, whom she immediately called, had plenty of clothing she was happy to offer on loan once we arrived.

On our return trek, Scott and I found a much dryer though potentially hazardous river crossing — a fallen tree about 15 above the water. We decided to brave it, and since I'm here to write this blog, as far as I can tell, we made it safely across.

On our return trip to the car, we ran into friend Tom (a.k.a. Night-Hawk), whom we'd seen at the Greensboro event, having trouble finding one of the caches. Happily, we were able to help him. Then Kim and I departed for Kernersville, where she was finally able to change into some cleaner, drier clothes.

The party was fun, with many friends, good eats, and some of the best wine I've enjoyed in ages. All in all, fine day indeed.

Caution! Winos present!

From Mountaintop Experience to Locked Up

It was a tad chilly this weekend but otherwise perfect for geocaching. Friday, as is my custom, I spent a pleasant evening at the old homestead in Martinsville, where I had some Carolina Reaper wings from Coach's Neighborhood Grill, which were passable; not as hot as all that, but fairly tasty. I spent some time digging through the old vaults trying to find a copy of Japanese Giants #1, which took some work, but mission finally acomplished. Thus, for the evening's entertainment, I made popcorn and watched Destroy All Monsters, since it was the feature movie covered in that issue of JG.

Saturday morning, after some grocery shopping, I headed out on the back roads, bound for the northern reaches of Danville. There was a cache at the site of a music festival from a couple of months ago — “Mountaintop Experience” (GC9G0TX) — which took me through some of the most brilliant fall foliage I’ve seen this season. The cache itself proved fun enough (though it wasn’t really on a mountaintop), and I went after another one nearby in Danville proper, which put me close to Tokyo Grill. I always enjoy their sushi, and I hadn’t visited since before the beginning of the pandemic, so I stopped there for lunch. I was not at all disappointed.

Odd folk hanging out at the library
in Chapel Hill

Danville mission complete, I hit the highway, bound for home in Greensboro. After some compiling and editing for a new short fiction collection (details on this will eventually follow), Brugger and I headed over to Kernersville, to Casa di Nelson, where we dined and wined with friends Terry & Beth and Joe & Suzy. A lovely evening that ran quite late.

This morning — after a not very restful night, due to freaking old man physical issues — I joined forces with the No-Dead-Weight Irregulars (Rob and Scott) and hauled us over to Chapel Hill for Sunday geocaching. Our primary targets were a trio of Adventure Lab caches: “Explore More at Pritchard Park,” “Carolina Walking Tour,” and “Chapel Hill Art Walk”; the first took us around the nice nature trails at the library, while the latter two offered scenic tours of the UNC campus. Again, the fall colors here were pretty much at their peak, so it was really quite a lovely time of it. After the lab caches, we picked up a nice little hide called “Locked Up” (GC8G3G6) at the nearby arboretum.

We finished our caching day with a somewhat late lunch at Top of the Hill Restaurant & Brewery, which is something of an old Chapel Hill institution. It’s been ages since I’ve been there, mainly because the place is typically so crowded it’s the very devil to get inside. Today, though, the crowd wasn’t bad, and the wait wasn’t long. The food and brew hit the spot after four-plus miles of hoofing it today.

Back in Greensboro again, and tomorrow begins another standard work week. Thanksgiving is coming up, though, and I must say I’m looking forward to it.

Peace out.

Il Triello: Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo

Triceratops footprint in stone along the library's nature trail

Diefenbaker toots his own horn on the Chapel Hill art walk.

Sunday Soloing

Sundays are almost always geocaching days, but it’s rare that I go out solo on a Sunday. Today, circumstances just worked out that way. A half-dozen caches came out recently on the Kernersville Mountain Bike Trail — which, until they did, I had no idea even existed. It’s been around since 2013 but no one had ever placed caches there until friend Feathered Friends (a.k.a. Big Tom) learned of its existence and set things to right.

I think the spiders got ’em one.

The park has only a wee tiny parking area, and when I arrived this morning, it was full (and then some). So, I hied myself over to nearby Triad Park and cut across country to the bike trail. It’s a lovely wooded area, with 3.9 miles of well-maintained trail. Given the number cars in the lot, I was afraid I’d end up running into quite a few cyclists along the trail, but I actually did not — I only had to yield to one bike on my entire hike. Since I mostly cut across the winding trails, I ended up putting in 1.9 miles (and burning 880 calories, according to my Health app).

The northern section of the trail winds around and across a couple of streams, with numerous accompanying deep ravines. Some of those ravines brought to mind the spider pit from King Kong (1933, not that more modern claptrap). In fact, based on the visual evidence I came upon, I’m pretty sure the spiders got themselves one.

I couldn’t have bought a more beautiful morning in the woods. I’ve another busy, breakneck week ahead of me (following a long string of the same sort), so this little respite from the pace was just the ticket. This evening, I’m going to try to make some headway on Georgia: The Haunting of Tate’s Mill, my current Ameri-Scares novel-in-progress.

Till next time.

An all-but-dried-up waterfall

Looking into one of the ravines

Why use a regulation bridge when you can cross on these?*
*I opted for the regulation bridge. This time.

Monster Stars, KVegas, and Korner’s Folly

The Socially Distant No-Dead-Weight Irregulars — Ms. Fishdownthestair (a.k.a. Natalie), Sir Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott), and a way-out old dude — managed to regroup today after too long a separation due to factors beyond reasonable human beings’ control (note that only one of us is reasonable). Since our last outing at Tanglewood Park, near Winston-Salem, NC, a few months back, a number of newer geocaches have been published, so we decided to dare the forecast for rain this morning and undertake a near-six-mile hike through the park. Hike we did, find caches we did, and get wet we did not. Well, not very, anyway. The only rain was a few drops that spat on us for about 30 seconds. Fortunately for us, that was the extent of it, for we had reached the farthest point of our hike when the dribble began.

A touch of fall color

Every year, Tanglewood Park puts on an extensive Christmas festival of lights, which draws crowds from all over the state and beyond. I have never experienced this spectacle for fear that the human multitudes would send me into a fatal apoplectic fit. However, as the show begins this coming week, the park has been fully decorated, the framework for bunches of impressive light sculptures erected. I can’t say I wouldn’t love to see the event as it was meant to be, but I would kind of like to survive the experience.

Following our scouring of the park, we moved back eastward to Kernersville, where a new-ish Adventure Lab cache — “The Hot Spots of KVegas” (GC923TV) — had come out a couple of weeks back. Kernersville is an attractive, pleasant community halfway between Greensboro and Winston-Salem — or would be pleasant if not for the goddamn over-saturation of humanity that has resulted in almost perpetual gridlock, even on off days such as Sunday during a pandemic. On the plus side, we got to re-visit some of the areas that Ms. B. and I have frequented over the years. When we were still working in the office, we were close enough to Kernersville to spend a fair amount of time there, since they had several nice dining/wine and eclectic shopping options (not to mention geocaches). Today, our hunt began at Korner’s Folly, Kernersville’s most notable historic building. From there, we hoofed it to several other stops in town before moving on to the final stage.

Triad Park, just east of Kernersville, turned out to be our ultimate destination. To locate the physical bonus cache, we had to gather information from the Carolina Field of Honor, which is an impressive tribute to NC veterans. We found the cache, all right, and that turned out to be a fitting end to the day’s adventure.

And what a week I have coming up, workwise and otherwise, as I am now going hard about the duties of being executor to my mom’s estate. For every hurdle I cross, two more pop up. A long, slow, frustrating process this is. But everyone warned me it would be. Everyone spoke truly.

Till another day.

Monster Moravian star at Tanglewood about to devour two unsuspecting victims

A charming little church at the park

An old graveyard in the middle of the park, which was built around it.

Another nay-sayer. What a poor attitude!

Korner’s Folly in Kernersville, one of the town’s most attractive historic buildings

A nice little corner behind Korner’s Folly

Old Places, Old Friends

“It’s in the trees! It’s coming!”

Good friends and geocaching partners, Gerry (a.k.a. BigG7777) & Bridget (a.k.a. Suntigres), late of nearby Kernersville, moved to Florida last year, which certainly made Brugger and me sad, at least for our sakes. I know Gerry & Bridget couldn’t be happier with their place down there, and that’s what matters. But since they recently came back to Kville for one of their regular visits, Ms. B. and I spent an enjoyable evening with them last night — at a respectable distance! — with delicious appetizers, pizza, and a few bottles of excellent wine. The night was pleasantly chilly, so we sat around their firepit enjoying the company and goodies until the old people — one of them, at least — began to fade a bit.

This morning, I hit the highway and met the mad Floridians at a lovely little cache where we found a much-needed helping hand. This one earned favorite points for creativity, gruesomeness, and humor. From there, we moved southward a bit through Randolph County, which has seen a veritable explosion of new caches in the past few months, largely courtesy of one labchic1. The majority of them are park & grab hides — meaning they are quick and easy enough to park, jump out, grab the cache, sign the log, and move on in short order. Happily, today, we found ourselves in any number of appealing settings, several of them old and haunted (my favorite kind, believe it or not), including a nice old graveyard. (Sadly, we failed to find the cache at the graveyard; it is likely missing.)

As for settings, I was most taken with the remains of a gas station, which likely went back 50 to 75 years; the crumbling skeleton of an old mansion (oddly, with a decomposing truck trailer parked in front of it); and an old plant of some sort right on the Deep River in Coleridge, where Bridget and I had once unsuccessfully hunted a cache placed by Nefarious Beast Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott). I once returned to that plant at Nefarious Beast Diefenbaker’s behest and replaced his missing cache. That replacement eventually went missing, and the cache was archived. So, today, I quite enjoyed returning to the location to hunt a new cache, which we did find, though it took quite a dedicated search.

Gerry and Bridget will be returning to Florida this coming week, so it was great beyond great to spend some quality time with them, which has been in too short supply since they moved. I so hope that in the coming year the pandemic will subside sufficiently to permit less distance between us when we are in close proximity. Given the positive results of this past week’s election, I feel there’s somewhat more reason to have hope on that front.

And so let us hope.

Bridget: “I’m telling you, I SAW a dreadful apparition.” Gerry: “That was just Mark.”

Rest rooms are in the back.

Haunted

I expect the trailer is haunted too.

One of us, at least, is very happy.

Black Friday, Red Wine

Black Friday has become one of my favorite days of the year, since I generally avoid as much of humanity as humanly possible and hie myself to some woodland haven in search of geocaches. This day, the only bunch of people I really encountered was traffic on I-40 as I made my way to Salem Lake, just this side of Winston-Salem. There was only one cache at the lake on my target list (Inception - GC89BRW), but a new park & grab hide had come out in Greensboro not long before I headed out the door. I snagged it on my way to Winston.

There's usually a fair crowd on the trails  at Salem Lake, and this Black Friday was no exception. Fortunately, the trails are extensive enough that the crowds are spread out. And the cache lurked a fair distance into the woods from the main trail. Out there, it was nice and secluded. On the trail, quite a few folks came by on horseback. In fact, I saw almost as many horseback riders as bicyclists, which was pretty cool.

Munzees. Sigh. Munzees are sort of an offspring of geocaching, but they don't feature hidden containers. Instead, you go to their coordinates and scan a QR code. Or, as has become more popular, you scan the freaking air to get credit for a virtual Munzee. You just need to be in the correct proximity. These boogers are only gratifying because they are often placed in concentrations sufficient to make for an enjoyable walk. I confess that, since I started geocaching, when I go on a walking outing, I like to have something to hunt. To claim. And Munzees offer that opportunity. Last week, I went out with friend Natalie (a.k.a. Ms. Fishdownthestair) to a nearby shopping area to snag a crapload of Munzees. Quite a few of these little fuckers reside at/around Salem Lake, so yeah, I put in some extra hiking to scan them. Good for me, right? At the end of the outing, I had put in over four miles of trekking around the woods, so that, indeed, proved a good thing.

Pretty far out in the woods, I came across a kind of lean-to shelter, pictured below. I occasionally encounter such constructs when I'm out and about. This one might be especially fortuitous in that I've been trying to come up with images that might fit the Grassman theme for my upcoming Ameri-Scares novel, Ohio: Fear the Grassman! It's apt because "evidence" of the Grassman includes the discovery of such shelters, although sized for Bigfoot. This one wasn't small, as it extends back about twelve feet.

While I went off on my woodland adventures, Brugger had joined friends Beth and Bridget (a.k.a. Suntigres) for their annual "Crunken Dork Day" gathering — which is all about arts & crafts with wine corks (and wine, of course), so named due to the misplacement of syllables while vocalizing in an inebriated state. After my hike, I headed to nearby Kernersville to join up with them and their respective spouses — friends Terry and Gerry (a.k.a. BigG7777). Wine and dinner (chili!) ensued, as did an entertaining round of Cards Against Humanity.

It was pretty late when I got home last night. And I slept in this morning, which I suppose the old brain and body needed. Today, I plan on making substantial progress on the Ameri-Scares front. This, too, is much-needed.

Sights along the trail: a great blue heron, on the watch for enemy submarines

A garland of stones, flowers, and little pumpkins around a tree next to the trail

The Notebook(s)

From the mid 1970s through the late 1980s — even into the 90s — I managed, documented, and illustrated my life via a succession of spiral notebooks, most of which I've kept to this day in the deepest, darkest recesses of the vault. This evening, a fragment of the lyrics to an old song I wrote, probably in 1983, sprang to mind, and I got it into my head to try to find them in their entirety. I figured if those lyrics exist anywhere, they'd be in one of those old notebooks. So I ventured into the vault, grabbed a bunch of the notebooks (a portion of which are shown above) and commenced to searching.

I had almost forgotten how many hundreds of thousands of words exist in those pages. Some go back to high school, when I doodled pictures and wrote things that almost resembled stories. Most are from college and post-college days, many chronicling dreams I had (in those days, analyzing and learning to manipulate the events in dreams was a hobby of mine). Looking at them tonight, I found some of the descriptions vivid enough to jog actual memories of those dreams. Some pages are random musings — thoughts and observations from whatever chapter of life I was living at the time. The page reproduced below indicates I had apparently encountered a child somewhere.

One page from one of those volumes has the words "Hey Cutie!" scrawled on it. That was from a trip to Washington, DC, I took in 1978, with my college roommate, Charlie Perkins. We were driving up U.S. 29, somewhere around Charlottesville, VA, and an exceedingly attractive young woman kept passing us up and then dropping back. Eventually, I managed to scrawl that message in the notebook, which Charlie held up for her to see. At that point, there was serious laughing and waving, and it's a wonder neither car ended up in a ditch or up a tree.

Later volumes, from the mid 1980s, feature original drafts of novels I attempted to write. Some include the first drafts of stories that eventually got published — such as "The Gray House," "Threnody," and "The Spheres Beyond Sound." There are a few almost polished drawings from my days living in Chicago, such as the character in the photo at left — some chap named Czerim Aignar, who was an original creation used in a role-playing game that several of us played on a regular basis. One notebook was a ledger from Deathrealm magazine, circa 1988. On the first page I turned to, the first name I noticed was film producer/director Frank Darabont, who was apparently a regular subscriber.

I found the lyrics to dozens and dozens of the songs I wrote between 1978 and 1986. Except for the one I was looking for. I couldn't find that one. It's unlikely, I imagine, that those lyrics will somehow round themselves up and reform in my mind, so perhaps they are relegated to the dustbin of my personal history. And given the relative merit of some of those oldies, perhaps it's just as well.

And on that note, just a reminder that, if you're in the Piedmont Triad of NC, come on by to Eclection in downtown Kernersville tomorrow (Thursday) night, 7:00 PM sharp. I'll be making a racket at open mic night, and I'd be more than happy to see you that I might just shake your teeth loose.

Musical Horrors at Eclection

Beware! On Thursday, December 10, noise-making, guitar-playing, ruckus-raising horror writer is scheduled to do the open-mic thingy at Eclection, in downtown Kernersville, NC. If you value your insanity, you should surely come! I plan go on about 7:00 PM, give or take a few minutes, and I'd love to see you.

Eclection quite lives up to its name. In the refreshment department, it offers a juice, coffee, beer, and wine bar, nicely stocked, along with sweets and small plates from various local establishments. You'll also find innumerable aisles and corridors filled with antiques, crafts, artwork, jewelry, apparel, home furnishings, and more, all provided by local artisans and vendors. You can enjoy a drink at the bar, in one of several intimate alcoves, or in the main entertainment area up front. Or you can carry your glass of wine with you while wandering among the booths and cubbies filled with handmade and one-of-a-kind items that even an old curmudgeon with no general interest in such things does mightily approve.

I'll post further reminders as we get closer to the date. In the meantime, I plan to practice, practice, practice, so that when the time comes, no one will leave the place unchanged.

Here's a little sample of the kind of shock you'll be in for:

Valentine's Day Eclection

I've never been particularly fond of Valentine's Day — in my book, it's just another irritating Hallmark Holiday whose less-than-romantic origins have become irrelevant — but in recent years, Ms. Brugger and I have had enough pleasant February 14 experiences to actually overcome my disdain for it. This year's celebratory outing was about as enjoyable as one could be. We ventured over to Kernersville, which, if you're not from around these parts, is a fairly small community between Greensboro and Winston-Salem, with a rather classic small-town central business district that offers a handful of shops, bars, and restaurants suitable for an evening's entertainment. We had an excellent dinner at Bistro B, which we have visited on numerous occasions, all highly satisfactory. Their wine list is impressive; the chef turns out some of the best and most varied small plate dishes I've had anywhere; and the service has always been impeccable, as it was again last night. For Valentine's Day, they had a special pre-fixe menu, which suited my tastes wonderfully, but as Ms. B.'s palate can be rather peculiar (he said from the safety of his keyboard while she is many miles away), the staff happily accommodated her in substituting a couple of items on the menu. In the end, it was as good a Valentine's Day dining experience as any we've had.

A couple of years back, after a dinner at Bistro B, we discovered a little shop down the way called Eclection, which quickly became one of Ms. B.'s favorite places, well, anywhere. Its name couldn't be any more appropriate — they offer a juice, coffee, beer, and wine bar, nicely stocked; sweets and small plates from various local establishments; live music on weekends; and innumerable aisles and corridors filled with antiques, crafts, artwork, jewelry, apparel, home furnishings, and more, all provided by local artisans and vendors. You can enjoy a drink at the bar; in one of several intimate alcoves; or in the main entertainment area up front, which is relatively new — the last time we were there, it was still under construction. Or you can carry your glass of wine with you while wandering among the booths and cubbies filled with handmade and one-of-a-kind items that even an old curmudgeonly dude such as ye writer with no general interest in such things does mightily approve. Indeed, I've come away from Eclection with a few nice items myself, such as the living room lamp you see pictured above right.

Last night, live music was provided by Joey Barnes, formerly a member of the band Daughtry. It was an enjoyable one-man show, and the house was full — the first time we've ever seen such a crowd there. Back before the shop began bringing in honest-to-god live acts, I made a little guitar noise there at one of the improvised jam sessions they used to host. The folks they bring in now are much better, yes. I quite hope the shop continues to pull in plenty of customers for the long haul because it really is a treasure, the likes of which I would love to see gracing the business districts of little towns everywhere. It's the consummate small business, and supporting it benefits both the establishment and the artisans who provide their eclectic wares. If you're in the area, I strongly encourage you to stop in — it's Eclection, 221 Main Street, Kernersville, NC 27284. You'd be hard-pressed not to find something you absolutely positively just gotta have, even if it's a good glass of wine, coffee, or craft beer.

Eclection, 221 N Main St, Kernersville, NC

Joey Barnes plays to a full, enthusiastic house

Ceramic Anne Boleyn, complete with axe, with a rather David Lynchian hounds-tooth pattern backdrop