A North Myrtle New Year

Tuesday, December 30, 2025

To celebrate New Year's, Brugger and I usually go... somewhere... more often than not with friends. This year, we'd settled on North Myrtle Beach, including special guest stars Terry & Beth and Bob & Yvonne. As it turned out, Bob & Yvonne couldn't get away on Tuesday with the rest of us, so they opted to come down on Wednesday morning.

Brugger and I took off about 9:30 a.m. this morning, bound for a nice condo called Crescent Sands we'd found in North Myrtle. On a previous trip southward, we'd stopped for lunch at La Cabana Mexican Restaurant in Rockingham, NC, which was really excellent, so we visited it again this time. Again, excellent. I highly recommend their margaritas.

I snagged a handful of geocaches along the way, and we rolled into our lodgings at the beach about 4:00 p.m. Terry & Beth had just arrived themselves, so we opened a couple of bottles of wine—the really good wine—and generally made merry. Just before sunset, I hoofed it up the beach to find a cache. Done and done. We enjoyed some fabulous smoked pulled pork for dinner, courtesy Terry & Beth's son, Brian, and then spent the evening shooting all kinds of shit. As of now, as it's closing on midnight, we're about shit-shot out, and our beds are calling us loudly.

 

Till tomorrow.

Wednesday, December 31, 2025

I was up and at 'em first thing this morning, heading into the wilds of North Myrtle for some caching—after a bucket of coffee, of course. I set my sights on two relatively nearby hides. I found one; the other one, a puzzle cache, was missing a vital piece of information for the final coordinates, so it was, unfortunately, a bust. The scenery was cool, at least.

Shortly, I got back to Crescent Sands, Bob & Yvonne arrived. We had a fairly massive charcuterie spread for lunch, courtesy of Beth, Kimberly, and Yvonne, along with a few lovely beverages (Dark & Stormies for Brugger and me). During the afternoon, I went trucking around the long outdoor corridors to get in my daily steps and burn off the lunch drink. It was pretty danged cold out there, I can tell you.

 

Toward the end of the afternoon, we gathered ourselves up and headed to Wine Therapy, a nice little wine bar a couple of miles up the road. It was happy hour, so we sampled several wines, all of which were very good, and some were even better.

 

We had reservations for 6:00 p.m. at The Brentwood Restaurant in Little River, not far up the road, so we arrived right on time and had a fine feast for our last dinner of 2025. I had escargot, duck confit, and bread pudding, with a very good Willamette Pinot Noir to accompany. I think everyone was satisfied with their choices, and our servers were excellent. They've been implementing a new payment system, though, and it didn't work properly, so we had to spend a fair while afterward trying to sort things out. I think it's all good, but if not, I think everything will be made right. (This was NOT a cheap dinner.)

I picked up a nearby cache afterward, and then we retired to Crescent Sands, where we played dice games and generally made merry for most of the evening. A little before midnight, Ms. B. and I went walkies on the beach, though we found neither fog nor fireworks, which have traditionally been the hallmarks of New Year's Eve at the beach. It was frigid and windy out yonder, so we didn't walk far.

At the strike of midnight, we old folks enjoyed a champagne toast and then crashed for the night. Happy New Year.

Thursday, January 1, 2026 Bob & Yvonne made a fantastic breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast this morning, and talk about hitting the spot. It hit the spot, yes. Afterward, I ventured out on the caching trail, i.e., south toward Myrtle Beach proper. The highlight was a long walk on the East Coast Greenway, where I found three caches and a couple of cool sights—a large fossil rock and a big tree trunk carved into a bench, labeled "Caution." I found it amusing. At the end of it all, I found eight caches, which, for me, cleans out most of the Myrtle Beach area, except for several way down south toward Surfside. I expect I'll have an opportunity to hunt those on a future trip—and it'd be nice if some new ones come out between now and then.

L: Interesting fossil rock found along the trail; R: My first signed log of 2026

Don't sit on THAT bench!

Once back at Crescent Sands, I had a wee lunch, courtesy of Yvonne, who made some ham & cheese sliders. Soon, the women all went shopping, leaving Bob, Terry, and me to our own devices. These devices included going to a nearby liquor store and buying Bloody Mary fixings. We took advantage of those and made Bloody Marys. Twice over.

During this little spell of mellow time, I made reservations at a nice VRBO in Providence, RI, in August, when Kim and I will be heading up to Necronomicon and very likely Newport.

 

For dinner, we opted for Landshark Bar & Grill at nearby Barefoot Landing, a resort area where we spent many good times in years past with my late, much-lamented friend Bridgett and her husband, Gerry. Dinner was very enjoyable—good food, drinks, and service.

 

And so that pretty much completed our New Year's adventure. In general, this trip turned out to be fairly low-key; a bit more mellow than some in recent years. All in all, though, this made for a welcome respite from some of the lunacy in our "normal" day-to-day states of being.

 

May 2026's light shine bright for all of us.

A Smashing Hot Christmas!

Amid all the turmoil out there in the world, Ms. B. and I have managed to have a pretty mellow Christmas season, for which both of us are very grateful. Recently, we both have had to deal with some unpleasant health issues, expensive cat health issues, and the loss of a dear loved one a couple of weeks ago, so a little holiday joy has gone a long way.

Last night, we went to visit and have dinner with friends Bob & Yvonne, which was a lovely time. We had some delicious food, excellent drink, fun games, and great music. One of their (several) cats, Frei, hung out with us as well, which gave us a few good laughs. Since they don't live very far away, I walked both ways (though Ms. B. drove because she transported the foodz, presents, and other goodies), and I enjoyed seeing so many nice holiday decorations around the neighborhood. Down at nearby Lake Lanier, there's a floating wire Christmas tree, about 25 feet tall, which is quite lovely at night, as you may see in the photo at left.

 

This morning, Ms. B. and I opened a fair passel of lovely presents we got for each other. I got a Space Godzilla figure, which I'm sure y'all will be seeing amid one of my miniature sets very soon. To celebrate, as you can see above, Godzilla took a festive Christmas morning stroll. The cats enjoyed some fun wrapping paper adventures. After all the gifts were opened, I went for a stroll around the neighborhood, only to find it unpleasantly hot out there. It's not like I'm all that keen on freezing winter weather, but Christmas morning ought not feel like it's late summer. But I did enjoy getting out there, walking around the lake, and taking a few photos of the scenery.

This afternoon, we'll be having Christmas dinner with friend Samaire. And to all of you who visit this little corner of the virtual world, Scary Christmas to those who celebrate it, and Happy Horrordays to all.

Old people making merry at Bob & Yvonne's

Old dude, Yvonne, Fred, Bob

Frey, nonplussed by all the excitment

L: Our Christmas tree; R: Ms. B. is festive on Christmas morning!

Do you see Mr. Moose?

Working up a sweat walking around Lake Lanier

The boathouse

Apparently, this is where Great Pumpkins go to die.

Merry, Merry

Ms. B. and I put up some Christmas stuff last night. We've resolved that we're gonna be merry this season if it fuckin kills us.

Scary Christmas and Happy Horrordays!

CHRISTMAS EVE MORNING... I got up fairly early, well before Ms. B., and made my usual Christmas Eve morning slapjacks. Tradition, don't you know. On a whim, I took a photo of the cast of the 1974 original Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, the lot of whom are hanging out on the shelf in my office. Then I did a little Photoshop job to post as a Christmas greeting. And as you can see, these guys are sure having a great time!

Brugger and I had ordered a bar set a while back as a Christmas present to each other, so we spent most of the afternoon hammering it all together. It's really quite lovely, and I made an extra run to the liquor store to insure we had sufficient spirits to stock it up. We put it to good use during the evening, as friends Charles and Samaire came round for treats. We ended up going till the wee hours; a most enjoyable little gathering.

An absolutely lovely Christmas Eve at Casa di Rodan

CHRISTMAS MORNING... Quite early, our houseful of housecats set to hollering impatiently to get their gifts from Santa, so that was all she wrote for dad getting any more sleep. The afternoon weather forecast wasn't looking promising, though the temperature was lovely, so once Ms. B. was up and going, she and I took a pleasant walk around nearby Lake Lanier. Then she started dinner cooking — a big ol' pot roast in the crock pot to make shredded beef to go on jalapeno pasta a friend gave us a while back.

Wacky people taking a Christmas morning walk around Lake Lanier

Friends Terry & Beth recently picked up a brand-new huge-screen TV for themselves, so they very kindly donated their old one to us. Brugger and I spent the early afternoon getting it set up. Then I made mulled wine. Allison originally intended to come round during the afternoon, but she had gone to visit her mom in Greensboro and their festivities ran a bit late, so we'll be seeing her at some later time. Mid-afternoon, Kimberly and I opened our presents to each other, and there were good things. A new S.H. MonsterArts Gigan figure is a particular favorite, and he's now up on the shelf with the rest of the daikaiju figures that currently haunt our house. I took a photo of him and futzed around with the scenery. After all this, Brugger set to work building a chess pie for tonight's dessert.

 

The cats made out like bandits, by the way.

Our shredded beef on jalapeno pasta with roasted brussel sprouts turned out fantastic — amped up with a bit of Smoky Bourbon Ghost Pepper that Santa put in my stocking. And Brugger's chess pie for dessert was out of this world. For our second dessert, we watched Destroy All Monsters on the big-screen TV, which came purty near duplicating a fun theatrical experience (my most memorable Destroy All Monsters experience is detailed here: "A Random Godzilla Story," September 7, 2014).

 

And so ended another lovely Christmas Day. Christmas was my parents' favorite holiday, and I always find myself a bit wistful, since I am the last of the family I grew up with. I tend to not dwell on that fact, but at Christmas, it's easy — and, for me, desirable — to reflect on what a wonderful family I did have and to express my love and appreciation for my current family: Ms. B., my daughter, and, of course, our four lovable yet terrible catses. I could hardly ask for more.

L: There's nothing like relaxing with a hot cup of coffee and a bear hard on your trail.
R: My new coaster has bigger feet than your coaster.

Christmas Comes to Supper Club

Throughout the year, our good friends, Joe & Suzy and Terry & Beth, get together with Brugger & me for a regular, (almost) monthly dinner & drink gathering we simply call "Supper Club." We alternate hosting the gathering at our respective residences, but Terry & Beth pretty much have dibs on December, since it's Beth's favorite time to entertain. Last night was this year's Christmas Supper Club.

As it happened, friends Natalie and Scott, of the No-Dead-Weight Irregulars geocaching team, were both available for a day of geocaching (an all-too-rare event these days), so we met in Winston-Salem yesterday morning, hiked and drove, and drove and hiked, and found a good many caches. Then we split up and I buzzed over to Kernersville to Terry & Beth's place. It wasn't long before our dinner gathering was complete, and out came the wine.

So, so much wine, including several of the bottles that we brought back from our Pacific Northwest/Alaska trip back in the fall.

Beth's dinner, as always, rocked rockets. Onion tarts, ham & cheese sliders, BBQ chicken sliders, veggies, cheeses, and other small plate fare, plus eclairs and chocolate for dessert. Much later in the evening, we went out among the natives to gawk at the neighborhood's impressive Christmas decorations. It wasn't really a caroling outing, but some in the area might mention that they heard somebody belting out the happy strains of "Timothy," by the Buoys (1971), which is easily the best song about cannibalism ever to hit the American Top 40. Okay, it may not be a Christmas carol, but it's kind of about feasting and celebrating, and we were starting to get hungry again.

An Early Midland Christmas (or a Late Midland Thanksgiving)

Most every year, Ms. Brugger and I head to her folks' place in Midland, Michigan, sometime in the late fall or early winter for a dual celebration of Thanksgiving & Christmas. This week was it.

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Thursday, November 30, 2023: Hurry Up and Wait
Getting a decent price on flights out of Greensboro usually means taking an ass-crack-of-dawn flight, and now that we're an hour (rather than 15 minutes) from Piedmont Triad International Airport, our pre-dawn wakey-wakey time has become pre-pre-dawn wakey-wakey time. Our United flight — Greensboro to Saginaw by way of Chicago — was scheduled to depart at 6:45 a.m., which meant getting to PTI about 5:30 a.m., which meant leaving Martinsville at 4:30 a.m., which meant getting up at 3:45 a.m. Both Brugger and I had gone to bed relatively early on Wednesday night, but thanks to a houseful of restless cats, neither of us bagged much sleep — less than two hours for the old dude, I fear.

We arrived at the airport with just enough time to get through security (already busy at an early hour) and visit Starbucks for coffee and a light breakfast. Boarding began right on time. As soon as we settled in our seats, some alarm on the plane started chiming nonstop, and there we sat for twenty minutes waiting for the crew to figure out what the hell. Eventually, the captain informed us that the issue required maintenance, and they would be there in about five or ten minutes (which, in airline lingo, means no less than half an hour).

Half an hour later—right on time!—the maintenance crew arrived, and after another twenty minutes, the captain called the all-clear. So, off we taxied to the runway, number one for departure... only to sit in place for another twenty minutes, probably waiting for an open window to Chicago. We had only a 45-minute layover at O'Hare, so to say things looked dicey for making our connection is fairly polite.

But our pilot hauled ass. The flight typically takes an hour and a half; this one lasted barely over an hour. There was no circling or holding around O'Hare — we barreled straight on in and were parked at the gate no more than ten minutes after touchdown (twenty-to-thirty-minute taxis in Chicago are far more common). Our connecting flight was at a relatively nearby gate, so Ms. B. and I made haste, this time without plowing over anyone (which might have happened on a hairy Chicago connection a couple of years ago). We arrived at our gate with a few minutes to spare before boarding. Whew!

Anyhoo... our flight to MBS was quick and easy, although a couple of bumps in the air raised a few wary murmurs onboard. No worries, though. Kimberly's parents, Del & Fern, were waiting for us at arrivals, and we made the easy drive back to their place in under twenty minutes. Still... wakey-wakey time to darkening their doorstep was a good six-plus-hour endeavor, and on less than two hours of sleep the previous night, Old Mark was a zombie for the rest of the day and evening. Regardless, come sunset, Ms. B. and I headed out for dinner at Molasses, a nice BBQ joint in downtown Midland, and the brisket sandwich mostly rocked (the meat was a tad dry, alas, but the flavor was still incredible).

Our typical evening with the Brugger folks consists of relaxing in the family room watching news and/or cooking shows. This evening's edition was slightly abridged, but all things considered, all's well that ends well.

The old dude finally got a good night's sleep.

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Friday, December 1, 2023: And So It Begins...

It's rare to be in Michigan at this time of year and see no snow. There was none on the ground when we arrived, but shortly after we were up and at 'em, the white stuff started coming down in earnest...

Del & Fern regularly recruit Kimberly and me to play chef for at least one, usually several dinners on our trips here. I always enjoy this opportunity, and since the folks are particularly fond of my spicy meatloaf, I volunteered to provide today's midday dinner. I don't do the spice for the parents-in-law at the level I otherwise would, but it still has a wee kick via the chipotle ketchup and black pepper that I hit it pretty hard with.

You know what? I love this stuff! And Ms. B.'s roasted veggies rocked.

After lunch, the rest of the crew sought and found treasures at local shopping areas. I busied myself blogging, promoting Deathrealm: Spirits, and otherwise spilling words into the pixel realm. For our evening drinks and vittles, Ms. B. and I headed to Three Bridges Distilleries & Taproom, which we've enjoyed in the past. It's loud as hell (it's that open industrial architecture that has not one sound buffer, which will no doubt result in total deafness for anyone spending more than two hours at a time there, particularly when they have live music, as they did tonight) but the interior is attractive and otherwise welcoming. A Rye Old Fashioned for me (decent), a red blend for Ms. B. (okay, I'm told), and smoked mixed nuts for the both of us (not bad).

From there, we wandered next door to Grape Beginnings Winery, another traditional Midland stop for us. Kim had a local shiraz, which she really liked, and I tried a spicy, pepper-infused white that, perhaps surprisingly, I loved. It was a blend of jalapeno, habanero, and ghost pepper in a sweet white, and the spice knocked out the sweetness that I otherwise would have poo-pooed. As an accompaniment, we had a bruschetta app that was, sadly, kind of meh.

For dessert, we wandered another door over, to Aviator Cookie Company and picked up an assortment of their homemade cookies to take back and share with Del & Fern. My favorite was this big honking cranberry-white chocolate monstrosity that made me holler for help to get out of my chair.

And we finished up the night with our traditional family time and episodes of Guy Fieri's Drive-Ins, Diners, & Dives to keep us hungry.

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Saturday, December 2, 2023: Godzilla and Other Goodies

I preceded Ms. B. out of bed by an hour or so this morning (as I usually do!), had a lovely waffle & sausage breakfast, and wrote some words in my current horror tale. Once both of us were feeling lively, we hit the road for Live Oak Coffeehouse, another of our traditional happy stops, and caffeined ourselves. I'm cooking up yet more dinners over the next couple of days, so we hit the nearby Meijer to pick up the necessities. A quick geocache. Then back to home base for a brief spell before the day's big highlight: heading over to Saginaw for Godzilla Minus One, which has been on the highest priority list since the day I first heard it was going to be A Thing.

The show was at 3:05 at the Quality Ten Powered by Emagine Theater in Saginaw. I'd purchased tickets well in advance, just in case. Ms. B. and I left a bit early so I could grab a few geocaches on the way. Done and done. For Ms. B., the theater held some special personal significance because she and her old gang used to frequent the place (in an earlier incarnation) when they were wild and crazy young mutants.

I'll write a separate review of Godzilla Minus One (which is now here), so suffice it to say that I enjoyed it muchly. I've heard it from many quarters that it's the best Godzilla ever. I wouldn't go that far, but it was certainly a no-nonsense good flick, and it'll occupy an honorable spot in my personal Godzilla collection as soon as it's available.

Another geocache, and then dinner — at Veedu Indian Restaurant in Midland. Veedu used to be Whine, our favorite wine destination in this area, and damn, we were sorry to see Whine close down. However, Veedu serves excellent Indian fare, and the bar is still a lovely place. I had a super-spicy Biryani with goat meat (fantastic!), and Brugger had a Channa Masala (also fantastic!).

And then home for family time. Ms. B. and I traditionally watch A Christmas Story on Christmas Eve, but we have plans for Christmas Eve, and it was on TV this evening, so we watched it. Needless to say, Godzilla made my day. Not to mention the caching, the food, the drink, the company, the place... all these things.

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Sunday, December 3, 2023: Christmas (or Thanksgiving) Piccata and the Lovecraft eZine Podcast

I spent most of the morning working on my fairly comprehensive Godzilla Minus One review (right here: Godzilla Minus One). I cooked again for the family, this time our "Christmas" (or "Thanksgiving") feast — Chicken Piccata — so I got that going a little before noon.

Damn if it didn't turn out merrily, monstrously good.

We were just finishing up our midday dinner when I received a shout from Mike Davis, the proprietor of Lovecraft eZine, letting me know they'd be talking about Godzilla Minus One on today's podcast, and would I care to join in? Why... sure! So, for the next couple of hours, the podcast gang and I carried on about monsters and such, and it was fun. (Link here: Lovecraft eZine Podcast 12/3/2023).

I wrote for the rest of the afternoon and early evening. Along with A Christmas Story, Ms. B. and I traditionally watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation on Christmas Eve, but we have plans for Christmas Eve, and it was on TV this evening, so we watched it. Then some cooking stuff, including Beat Bobby Flay, for which I have developed a fondness.

The weather has not been conducive to outdoor walking, and I miss it. A lot. I'll be cooking again tomorrow, but it might be a better day for walking and geocaching. Here's hoping.

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Monday, December 4, 2023: Geocaching at Last!
Since the weather has not exactly been conducive to outdoor activities, I have only managed to snag a handful of caches since we've been here, usually while going or coming from someplace or another. Some snow came down overnight, but it was little more than a dusting that coated the layer that already covered the ground. This morning, the temps weren't bad, so it looked promising for those outdoor activities.

I had promised Del & Fern that I'd clean their gutters while we were here, and today was the first day since we arrived that this was even a conceivable project. So, bright and early (or, more like kinda dim and early), I bundled up, hauled out Del's ladder, and set to work. The leaves in the gutters were mostly coated with ice, so I found a crowbar and kind of scraped the gutters free of obstructions. My gloves are pretty heavy, but my fingers turned frigid nonetheless.

Then, since I'm cooking another family meal, I got a nice big pork shoulder going in the crockpot for BBQ tonight. I think it'll be good.

Del & Fern are kind enough to allow me to use the car when I go geocaching, so out I went. There were only a handful of caches near the inlaws' place that I hadn't already claimed, so I set my sights on these. Happily, three of the five were on trails through the woods, so I got a fair amount of walking in. It was still pretty chilly out, but by the time I was done, I'd worked up a fair sweat. Fun caches. Finally. Yay!

Ms. B. had to work her day job, so I spent the afternoon making progress on my latest horror tale.

For dinner, I believe I ate the best BBQ pork butt I've ever fixed. And believe me, I've fixed a lot of butt. The rest of the family went at it whole hog, so I think the cookin' for this trip was a big success.

Afterward, Ms. B. and I went out to have a couple of drinks at Whichcraft, which serves all Michigan-made spirits. I tried a rye and a bourbon, and, rather like the Michigan wine we've sampled, it was pretty damned good. Color me surprised. Kimberly ran into an old friend she hadn't seen in something like twenty years, so she enjoyed the opportunity to catch up.

On the way back to Casa di Brugger, we drove through some of the nearby neighborhoods looking at Christmas lights. They do Christmas up big time here, and I really enjoy the spectacle. Kinda gets the spirit flowing, don't you know.

Then there was the hanging out with the folks in the family room. We leave tomorrow morning — thankfully, not too early. Hopefully, the pilot will drive carefully, and y'all will hear from me again. Till then.