I ordered the Lamb Gyro Pita with a Greek Salad. The Greek Salad had a couple of Kalamata olives, some Feta cheese, onion, tomato and a bunch of greenery. The lamb was tender and along with diced tomato & onion was tzatziki sauce. The hummus seemed to be overpriced so I chose the Greek Salad, but would have probably preferred the hummus as most of the veggies sans the greenery were in the Gyro Pita. Good flavors.

I asked my waitress if Leonnie still worked as a waitress, but she said Leonnie had gone elsewhere.

NOTE [ 10/20/23 ]: I’ve rethought my ordering the Greek Salad with the Lamb Gyro sandwich. I definitely like the tanginess of the vinegar dressing, and the exceptionally flavored Kalamata olives in the salad. The Gyro doesn’t have that vinegar dressing, nor the olives, so those two items, done well, work really well with the sandwich… and today, they worked really well! *This is one of those meals that is really pleasing to eat. A “This is the One” Margherita Pizza from “Sticks -n- Stones” Pizza in Greensboro, NC is another one of those distinctive dining pleasures. Well worth the two hours, one way, trip from Fayetteville and Greensboro. The country ham breakfast at Helen’s Kitchen is good, but it doesn’t quite rise to the level of the two meals listed above.

My Zucchini, Kielbasa & Shrimp dish, at home, is consistently good, and can hang with the two best meals above. The spicy heat, and distinctive flavors of the items make this a favorite of mine. And, when I do my Pastrami Reubens (Rachels) at home, with the homemade Thousand Island dressing, sauerkraut, toasted buttery, Seeded Rye bread & melted Swiss, and add the spicy ice cold dill pickle and wavy salty potato chips, hmmm… that’s good eating also.

You know, something so simple as a waffle, with margarine, sugar free syrup, some Agave Nectar and microwaved bacon is very satisfying for breakfast.

A few months ago Pharaoh’s Legacy had a fire and they completely gutted the place and have since rebuilt and reopened the restaurant. I’ve eaten there once since the fire.

It had been a while since I had eaten at Pier 41 in Lumberton, NC. This is a classic Southern Fried seafood restaurant. The hush puppies are slightly sweet and it is easy to eat far more of them than you should.

I ordered the fried Trout & Shrimp special and asked for a baked potato with that. It comes with slaw. This was sweet and the cabbage was finely chopped. The waitress also brought cocktail and tartar sauce and a plastic tube of Daisy sour cream.

You can probably tell that the dining area stretches the width of the building, and I realized that my waitress having waited on me against one wall, was later waiting on a table at the other end. Not sure a waitress should be called to walk that much. Perhaps would have been better to section off the restaurant and assign waitresses to a specific area. *Not sure I received as good attention because I was close to being “out of sight, out of mind”.

You pay your bill, up at the counter. The clerk was friendly and I saw a small “Einkaufswagen” on the counter. I said that there was a place where I shopped that had childrens’ sized shopping carts and I had thought about getting one of those because I could afford what I could put in that size of cart.

I did leave with a “to go” water. *Interesting to me that I often have some of the Lime flavored packets for water. I’m tired of this lime flavored drink at home, but like it after a meal when I am out.

NOTE: There is a seafood restaurant in Yadkinville, NC (Yadkin Valley Seafood Restaurant) that I would like to go back to.

I think I’ve eaten at this restaurant a couple of times. Hwy. 421 goes past the front of this establishment. One of the hardest rains occurred when I was attempting to run inside. I finally got in, but I was really wet.

The seafood was good here, but I actually remember an attractive young blond waitress. I’m an old man, but a good looking young woman is still interesting.

• Jackie Brown
• Pulp Fiction
• No Country for Old Men
• Lewis (PBS)
• Agatha Christie’s “Miss Marple”
• Agatha Christie’s Poirot
• Fargo (Series)

Robert Forster

An example for a mature, single man.

The morning after my 50th high school reunion, I found a site with links to digitized (PDFs) high school annuals. There were a couple of guys in Carteret County that had digitized annuals from their county schools, but Swansboro had made it in, beginning with 1950 and going past 1972.

Mary Ann graduated in 1956, so her classes for 6th – 12th were there.

I started in 1960 and went thru 1972.

The cafeteria above is where I learned, quickly, to hate sauerkraut. One day we had sauerkraut. I don’t see trays in the picture above, but we had trays for our plate of food and to put the Maola milk carton on. I would not normally do this, but on that day, I did not finish my milk (the carton was about half full). I also didn’t eat any sauerkraut. The little window about center top of this picture and next to a back door was where you brought your dirty dishes. That day there were a few teachers standing near this window. Well, I see that other boys have put their sauerkraut in their milk cartons, so this time I tried it. One of those teachers must have seen what I did because as I neared the window, she stopped me and lifted my milk carton. Feeling that it wasn’t empty, she told me to go back and finish my milk. I turned around and went back to try and finish my milk. Needless to say, sauerkraut and milk don’t go well together. I tried, and gagged, and fortunately she did not stop me a second time. It took me years and years to learn to like sauerkraut. But, I do like it now, on a Pastrami Reuben (Rachel) on rye, with sauerkraut, Thousand Island dressing and Swiss cheese. The dressing “turns” the sauerkraut much as sugar would turn vinegar into a more pleasing taste.

The co-Best Looking male, Ronnie Ross, taught me “drivers education” when it was time for me to learn to drive. I recall that I must have drifted over the center line once, and Mr. Ross said something to the effect that, “I’m going to have to beat you over the head with a wet noodle.” I remember the “wet noodle” part of what he said.

Roger E. Kammerer

I hope I have it written down somewhere because I find it difficult, already, to recall the dates (years even) when I visited my dad down in Stockbridge, Georgia. Springdale Road was still unpaved when I first visited.

NOTE [09/16/22]: I was working with “Region P” Community Development Agency in Jacksonville, NC in the late 1970s. Their headquarters was on New Bridge Street and almost directly across from where I lived at the time on 204 Johnson Blvd. One day I walked home for lunch, and while there, got a call from a NC Highway Patrol officer. He asked me some “identifying” questions, and then said something to the effect that, “Your sister has been trying to reach you.” At which point I was thinking to myself, “I didn’t know that I had a sister.” Before the patrolman hung up, he said, “She will be trying to reach you shortly.” *The only phone in the house was on the wall in our kitchen. This was well before cellphones became prevalent. [end note]

The above images show that the location where Billy Gibson had built his home has now almost completely overgrown. At the time, there was an unfinished wooden garage, and a sprawling flat rooved home, and about 14 “junk” cars sparsely distributed about his yard. *As I recall, the guest shower rarely worked, and Bill had a way of “doling out” propane gas for the cook stove and heating the house. He had a little tank that he could carry around by hand. I suppose this gave him control over Sara, his wife, and Donna, his daughter by Sara.

It was amazing to me that he had started to build a surprisingly large home on this location. The back door opened into a small kitchen, with a large pantry. There was a large dining room just off the kitchen area, and a large window from which you could see the spillway to the small dam across the street. I think the road was still that red Georgia clay, and dusty sometimes. A large living room area was the central portion of the home, and there was a wood stove here. A bathroom with toilet, shower and sink was off the living room. I think Donna had her room off the living room, and the master bedroom was off of here also. All the rooms, except for the kitchen were very large.

*The last time I stayed overnight at Bill’s house, there was no heat and the air was uncomfortably musty, but they gave me enough blankets to keep warm. Still, the air made me cough through the night. When I said the bathroom “didn’t work” and by this I meant that the shower didn’t work properly. The water dribbled out of the shower head. Only once do I recall the shower working properly, so that you could lather yourself up, and then comfortably rinse the suds off. Most of the time, if you lathered yourself up, you would have to press against cold shower tiles in order to get under the dribbling water, or cup your hands to get enough water to splash on yourself.

The large dining room was filled with junk, both on the table and on the floor near the window.

Bill had a good recipe for Brunswick Stew. And, I think I was told that they got bread dough from a monastery in Milledgeville, GA which they used to make dinner rolls. These yeast rolls were delicious. *Years later, in 2018, I visited Milledgeville at the time when Hurricane Florence came through and did all it’s damage. *I checked and there was no monastery in Milledgeville. I see there is a monastery in Conyers, GA, Monastery of the Holy Spirit and it does have a bakery.

I ran from the storm and got far enough inland, Milledgeville, to not be affected noticeably by it. I stayed at the Days Inn by Wyndham in Milledgeville for several days. But, the problem was there was a lot of flooding that almost completely closed off Fayetteville, NC from automobile traffic for about week. Highway 95 South was closed due to flooding. After waiting several days, one morning in Milledgeville and a nearby town, were beautiful and sunny. I decided to try to make it to Fayetteville that day. My game plan was to drive up to Greensboro, NC, and then drive down Highway 421 to Fayetteville. I think I stopped in Siler City that night, and ate Chinese at Lum’s Restaurant next door to an inexpensive hotel. The motel was AmeriVu Inn & Suites.

I tried to come home a day early, but was turned around due to flooding. I then drove back up to Raleigh where I intended to stay at a LaQuinta Inn, in Cary, where I once stayed for a conference. They were “full up” so I drove all the way back to Siler City and stayed another night there. I headed down Hwy. 421 next morning and noted flooding at various points along the highway. One “on” ramp was flooded and the Deep River was near reaching the top of the Hwy. 421 bridge. After I got on Hwy. 501 at Sanford, I drove down to Pinehurst/Southern Pines/Aberdeen. Along the way, I began to wonder if I wasn’t going to get trapped by flooding, and not be able to retrace my path, if necessary. But, I did a circuitous route which took me to Raeford and back to Fayetteville on Hwy. 401. And, I was back at work the next day.

NOTE: Regarding walking home for lunch, when I was working at Region “P” and living at 204 Johnson Blvd. in Jacksonville: Once, my mother hired a Mr. Kellum (who was an itinerant preacher) and his “boys” to put vinyl siding on the house at 204 Johnson Blvd. Mom bought the siding which came in large cardboard boxes, and sheets of insulation (to be put on the house wall before adding the siding). They began their work which I think took several days, and mom was working, on Base at the time, so she went to work aboard Camp Lejeune.

One of the days, I walked home for lunch. I walked around the outside of the house and saw one of the “preacher’s boys” up on a ladder putting up the siding. I don’t recall what we said to each other, but just something in passing.

I went inside and made something for my lunch, but I must have seen something in the work that made me go back outside to check. The worker had gone to his lunch, but the ladder was still leaning against the wall. I climbed up the ladder and sure enough, part of the cardboard box for the siding, had been used instead of the proper insulation.

I climbed down the ladder and went and got something to write with. I don’t recall if I used paper or part of the cardboard box to write a message to the worker. My note said something to the effect to “please use the insulation we’ve bought, we don’t need a house built of ‘cardboard'”. I left the note under the worker’s hammer, and then walked around under the carport and counted the sheets of pink insulation leaning against the wall. There were nine sheets. I then walked back to work.

When I came home after work that day, the worker was gone, and the vinyl siding had been completed on that end of the house. The note that I had written to him was torn up and had been thrown on the ground. I went around and counted the sheets of insulation still under the carport… 9, hmmm. I told my mom about this and she told Mr. Kellum, and the siding was taken back off and the proper insulation used beneath the siding. But, mom had to take off from work to be there to make sure the job was done properly. “Thieving magpies!” [end note]

NOTE: I just thought, how did my mother know how much of the newly installed siding was installed properly and how much not. Did they just pull off some of the work from the previous day until they reached siding that had pink insulation underneath? How would you know that there weren’t other patches of cardboard box nailed on the walls? [end note]

“Nuclear” was a film I chose to watch last night, and other than having an abandoned nuclear power plant on a bleak Welsh landscape, I’m not sure why I did… and yet, by the end of the movie I had more questions than answers.

Emma is a 14 year old girl that we see running through the woods at the start of the movie. These are the same woods where we see Emma’s older, half-brother, chasing down and then “kicking the shit” out of Emma’s mother and leaving her in the woods “for dead”. After her brother has gone, Emma goes to her mother, who surprisingly starts to stir from her deathly pose upon Emma’s touch. And Emma and her mom begin the road to flee from the violent son. *And at this point, it is unclear to me that this was her son. In my mind, it was more plausible that this was the woman’s husband/boyfriend.

Mother is played by Sienna Guillory, who I last saw in the remake of “The Time Machine” where her character dies early, oft, and repeatedly, and provides the impetus for Guy Pierce’s genius to try and bring her back into his life, alive, by changing the past. But almost “monkey’s pawish-ly” no matter the change, the outcome is always the same, her untimely death(s). *And Guy Pierce appears in one of my favorite Sci Fi films, “Prometheus” but is unrecognizable to me there.

SPOILERS: I have to admit that after seeing the son/brother kicking his mother violently in the woods and leaving her motionless body there, I thought there is no way that woman is still alive. And was surprised when Emma touches her, and she begins to stir.

So as Emma is driving their getaway “taxi” with the word BITCH scratched on one side, her mother’s violent reaction to seeing the Japanese lady causes Emma to wreck the station wagon. Mother and daughter walk on, leaving their taxi, and find an abandoned house which they break into.

Somewhere, the Japanese lady serves us tea with an explanation regarding those that are killed quickly being unable to process it all at once. *In my recent visit (a week or so ago) to the Mitchell’s, one of the boys explained about a special “woods” in Japan where a high percentage of people visit to commit suicide. And at the very first, upon seeing the Japanese lady, this is what I thought of. Every time the Japanese lady appears to the mother, there is a foreboding sense that something bad is going to happen to the mother.

The house is abandoned, but signs on the walls lead you to believe this house is used by a religious group. Perhaps by monks who have taken a vow of silence. There is running water. Then there is electricity. Emma is able to start a fire in a fireplace. And, eventually Emma picks up a phone in an attempt to call her father. *When she picks up the phone, and it is working, I am asking myself “who” would leave an unoccupied house in this condition? Are there more of these homes? If so, I would like to come visit for a while and save any money I might have spent on hotels/motels. I’ll try to not even break a window to gain entry. And now I think, did Emma even try turning the doorknob to get in. Or, if you are going to leave the electricity and water on, why not leave the door unlocked as well. Okay, maybe you would give a key to anyone who actually was supposed to visit.

When Emma’s father calls her back, he tells her that her mother’s dead body had been found in the forest. And, it is here that I begin to question all reality, up to this point. Sure enough, Emma goes up to the bedroom and no sign of mom. Only one set of dishes in the kitchen, only a single toothbrush in the bathroom. And we are let in on Emma being so traumatically affected by her mom’s death, that she has refused to accept her death, yet.

Emma’s half brother arrives with a half-hearted explanation that he could “smell” Emma at one of the way stops. *I found this an unbelievable explanation. And, if he was already dead, what is the meaning of his finding the abandoned taxi, and pulling off the duct tape that is covering the scrawled word BITCH.

Eventually Emma and her brother meet in the abandoned nuclear plant, and she pushes him into a reactor pond, which we have already been told, by “the boy” is something deadly. You don’t go swimming there. It’s radioactive! Emma knows this is a “no no,” but she hesitates and then jumps into the water to rescue her brother.

Now Emma’s brother asks her why she did “this” to him, and shows her his blood stained T-Shirt. Apparently, she had used a knife she had to stab him at some point, in the stomach, in the woods. And, he seems to disappear from beside the radioactive pool, Emma’s imagination? And, we see what is apparently his lifeless body, sitting and propped up against a tree, in the woods.

Now, I am really questioning what we can trust from Emma’s perspective. Her mother was dead in the woods. Emma was driving by herself, when she wrecked the taxi. Emma’s mother was never with her in the abandoned house. Her brother never came to the abandoned house, because Emma had killed him with a knife and he was laying dead, back in the woods, against a tree. He had never been pushed into the reactor pond, so Emma had jumped in alone.

I’m going to have to re-watch the ending, because Emma returns to the woods, apparently driven by “the boy” in his blue van.

One valid question might be, did the brother actually kill their mother. Or has Emma imagined the whole thing, killing her mother & brother.

Hell, I don’t know.

I was looking at the Apex web cam view this morning and noticed a small cloud above the buildings in downtown Apex. I think the cloud had a bluish color at first but soon I noticed that it had turned to a pink hue. It took me a little longer to realize that the cloud wasn’t moving, and then it dawned on me that this was the Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant venting steam from it’s cooling tower. *And, pretty soon after that, the cloud got much bigger.

In years past it surprised me to find that I could drive relatively close to the nuclear plant. I’ve included a Google StreetView of the plant entrance. There is a guard at the gate.

NOTE: Interesting to note that the above image was cleaned up (by Google) so that you can see the ground around the cooling tower. If you look closely at the rounded top of the cooling tower there appears to be a gray/whitish cloud just inside the top of the tower. But, if you look at the shadow being cast from the cooling tower, you can see a shadow of the tower & the shadow of a tall steam cloud coming from it.