It's a (zombie) wrap

The zombies have left the building. Driving by downtown Senoia today, it was clear that this round of Walking Dead filming was done. The trailers and cars and signs redirecting traffic were all gone. Which is kind of scary because it means all those zombies are roaming the countryside, perhaps on their way to your community. Actually, they're probably going to Atlanta.

It makes sense that they'd have to finish up if any of the Walking Dead cast members are going to attend DragonCon in Atlanta this weekend. If you've never been to DragonCon, may I recommend that you slip into your Star Fleet uniform, jump in the car, and make your way to Atlanta. They do this massive sci fi/fantasy convention every year over Labor Day weekend, and it's crazy. Think tens of thousands of your best friends overflowing from multiple huge conference hotels, all talking about sci fi/fantasy movies, TV, books, gaming, and everything else you can imagine. I've never experienced anything quite like it. Bring your camera, your autograph book, and money for double espressos to keep you awake for the 24-hour festivities.

This year, some of my favorites are scheduled, including Data from Star Trek TNG, Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Monroe from Grimm. How can you help but have fun with a crew like that?

Have a happy DragonCon weekend!

Walking Dead still in Senoia

Roads are still closed and parking lots are still full of cars and trailers for the Walking Dead filming in Senoia, GA. According to the signs along Rt. 16, today's supposed to be the last day for road closures.

Rumor has it there was a private party for Walking Dead cast and crew last night at McGuire's  Restaurant in downtown Senoia. Of course, fans waited outside for their favorite cast members to emerge. Their patience was rewarded when Rick, Darryl, and a few others came out. The person who told me about this had been outside the restaurant and listed some other character names, but frankly, I stopped listening when I heard Darryl. All I could think about was whether he had his crossbow and motorcycle. And it gave me hope that he survives this upcoming season.

I also got a cool idea from one of the fans. She said she found a bag of plastic human ears at the dollar store. (Why would those exist? Maybe for Halloween?) She poked a hole in one and strung it on a chain and was wearing it around her neck a la Darryl in Season 2. Totally cool.

Happy zombie hunting, everyone! I'm going to go wait by the front door for UPS to arrive with the Season 3 DVDs that Amazon allegedly shipped yesterday.

Filming in Senoia, GA

If you're looking for Walking Dead filming news, I've got a bit to share. Driving past Senoia, GA today on Rt. 16, there's an electronic sign that says Pylant Street (the one the library's on) will be closed during the day starting today until August 28. Of course I stopped to check it out. I'd read that the Walking Dead people had requested permission at the Senoia City Council's last meeting to do some filming and have some road closures. Needless to say, I've been on alert for evidence of the crews ever since.

Today, they had a good portion of the downtown area between the Post Office and the library blocked off. So I parked and took a little stroll. Back behind the Post Office is an empty lot, and that's got a "crew parking" sign pointing to it. At 3 o'clock this afternoon, it was filled with cars. Parked along the street were various trucks, including the one below with the Jolly Roger flying from it. Nice touch!

There was another lot filled with trailers parked in a square, not to mention the usual collection of police cars with lights flashing and barricades to hold back fans who were eager to get a glimpse of what was going on.

 

If you want to stop in Senoia and check out the action, I recommend grabbing a coffee or lunch at the coffee shop at the corner by the old railroad tracks. They have chairs out in front where you can sip an iced coffee and watch for celebrities. Have fun, and happy zombie hunting!

 

Living among the Dead

What's really scary is a new theme for my blog. I've been focusing on anxiety-producing problems for the past few months, but it's been called to my attention by my cousin Annmarie Ortega (who doesn't pull any punches) that the most interesting thing I've currently got going on is that I just moved to the area in Georgia where they film The Walking Dead. She suggested that my blog should share tidbits and rumors and photos about this very popular topic. She's right, of course. Annmarie is a master (or mistress, if you will) of promotional ideas. So here goes: My inaugural edition of the new blog format Living among the Dead!

Just in time to celebrate te new format, my aunt (Annmarie's mom) sent me a housewarming present for my new house. Not the usual new dishtowels or houseplant. Not in my family. No, today's mail brought a box with a zombie gnome inside.

Keep in mind that this same aunt, along with her daughter Annmarie, gave me normal gnomes for my birthday last year. They're scattered around my yard, looking all cute and gnomish. Well, now they've got a problem because I unleashed Zombie Gnome to disrupt their idyllic little garden life. While Grandpa Gnome sits under a tree to read books to Child Gnomes or Brother Gnome snuggles up against the garden bench, they're being stalked by a red-mouthed gnomish menace. Zombie Gnome is lurking in a large pot of fragrant rosemary to conceal the smell of rotting flesh. He's terrifying. And he's just the perfect addition to a home located in the Walking Dead's backyard.

Stay safe, zombie fans! The gnomes are out there – and they're hungry.

Royal babies!

A newscaster just announced excitedly, "The royal water has broken!" Gross. But apparently this means Prince William and his wife the former Kate Middleton are about to become parents. The birth of someone else's baby isn't usually something that would cause me to panic, but in this case I've just started worrying.

The U.S. government loves to release controversial information and bad news at times when the media is off its game. Lousy economic results, for instance, can be counted upon to emerge on Fridays at 5 p.m. before a three-day weekend.  So today when every news outlet in America has its eyes trained on Princess Kate's birth canal, there's the perfect opportunity for government to release the most offensive news that it's been keeping under wraps for months. They could let us know that Congress voted to spend $10 trillion to convert the moon to a Death Star. The Constitution's been amended and George W. Bush is eligible to be president again. Federal tax rates have been increased to 150% of gross earnings. The possibilities are endless and equally terrifying. Although the thing about George Bush being president again is obviously the most chilling.

So stay alert and pay special attention to any news coming out of Washington today. It's definitely something they don't want you to know.

Dead People!

Sometimes I worry about dead people. In horror movies, zombies are pretty creepy because of their single-minded focus and complete inability to be reasoned with. Individually they're not a huge threat, but in large numbers (and they always come in large numbers), they're a force to be reckoned with. Vampires as depicted by Hollywood aren't terribly scary. Sure they're merciless murder machines, but it's usually over quickly and they're still human enough to maybe be talked out of killing a victim. In fact, if movies and TV are to be believed, vampires are more interested in falling in love and spending ridiculous amounts of money on humans than slaughtering them.

Ghosts freak me out because I actually believe in them. I make a point of avoiding movies and TV shows about hauntings or general ghost activity because they might prevent me from ever sleeping again. I worry about someday buying a house that's haunted, then not knowing what to do to get rid of it. You've got to disclose that to a potential buyer, right? And they'd probably insist that you drop your asking price. Talk about scary.

Anyway, speaking of scary things, I've just released a new book. I started writing it years ago when my husband and I moved into a house located next door to an old cemetery. (Much as I worry about dead people, old cemeteries aren't scary – just cool.) On one of our many walks through the graveyard, we noticed a headstone that marked the grave of a woman who had been born 150 years ago. Oddly, it didn't have a date of death carved on it. She had to be dead, but why wasn't her year of death on the gravestone? It piqued my curiosity, and I started doing some research to figure out what had happened. Unfortunately, I knew nothing about genealogical research, so the whole thing was a learning experience.

This new book of mine, called Graveyard Kids, is the fictionalized account of my search to figure out what happened to the tombstone's owner. It's a fascinating story that I tell from the perspective of a seventh grade girl who's living at the cemetery because her father is the graveyard's caretaker. And I might have added a little vampire intrigue to keep the readers' interest. The book is available at Amazon in both hard copy and Kindle versions, and it's also available everywhere else as an ebook. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Happy reading!

The Day We Fled Illinois

The Day We Fled Illinois

It's been a ridiculously long time since I've posted a blog, but I've got an excuse. And it's not one of those lame made-up excuses like "My dog ate my homework," or "The president's motorcade stopped me to ask for directions to the airport." I just moved from Illinois where I'd lived my whole life under a regime of prison-bound governors to the Great State of Georgia where the overalls are baggy and the grits are homemade. Am I worried about this major life change? If you've read any of the fretting blogs here, you know the answer to that. But it's also kind of exciting. And it seemed like the timing was right, both for the move itself and for our escape from Illinois on Saturday, June 1.

Why did we choose Georgia? My husband was offered a relocation at his work, so we decided to take them up on the adventure. Since our son's in college, we didn't have to worry about making him change schools, and we were 100% ready to never live through another Northern Illinois winter. So it was off to Georgia with four annoyed cats and a bunch of winter parkas that we refused to get rid of because we don't quite believe that it doesn't snow down here.

We were planning to leave on a Saturday morning, so the movers came and took away our furniture Friday. Without beds at our house, we decided to stay Friday night in a hotel. As we drove past the high school next door to our house, I saw a line of porta-potties in the parking lot.

"Do you suppose tomorrow's that charity run?" I asked my husband. Every summer since we'd been in that house, there had been a charity run that started at the high school, blasting music from the 80s and 90s through our windows at 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning. That's one thing I definitely wouldn't miss about our old house, and it seemed fitting that it would be happening on the day we were leaving.

"No!" my husband cried in horror. "We'll never get out of here tomorrow morning!" That's when I remembered the other associated inconvenience that came hand-in-hand with the charity run.

The police shut down our road before the race and it stays closed until the last pathetic straggler has completed the whole course. It takes hours. During which time we're not allowed to pull a car out of our driveway. So our plans to leave Saturday morning were just shot through the butt. Unless…

"If we can get out of the house really early tomorrow, we might be able to beat the road shut-down," my husband suggested.

"What time are we talking about here?" I asked nervously.

So we went to our favorite pizza place one last time before leaving town to consider our options. And sure enough, when we walked in, we came face-to-face with a bunch of people wearing charity race t-shirts. They were signing up late participants. We asked when the road was being closed the next morning. We were told 7:45 a.m. It was harsh, but at least we had a goal for our escape.

The next morning, we woke up at 5:00 a.m. and were down in our hotel lobby for the free breakfast when it opened at 6:00 a.m. By 6:30 we were back at our house. Of course, Michael Jackson tunes were blasting from speakers next door at the high school parking lot. But we didn't have time to think about that. We only had an hour, or we'd be trapped and we might not check into our hotel in Clarksville, Tennessee until midnight.

I handled the four cats: Feed them, clean litter boxes, put litter boxes into big plastic garbage bags and toss them in my car, give sedatives to the cats who weren't too old to handle the drugs, then capture them all and stuff them into their cat carriers.

My husband handled everything else: Clean out the fridge, last minute cleaning out of cabinets and drawers, sealing up the suitcases. We had thought we'd have plenty of time to do all this on Saturday morning, but that was before we knew the swarm of locusts…I mean charity-minded individuals…was about to descend upon our street and render us immobile for hours.

Everything was crammed into our two cars and we jumped into the drivers' seats. As we pulled out of our driveway one last time, we could see them coming. The runners were setting off early – it was only 7:30 a.m. – and the police were leading the way as they approached with their barricades for the road. As we put them in our rearview mirrors, it felt like the villagers were running us out of town with their pitchforks and torches. What a perfect way to take our leave of Illinois.

About a mile away, my husband and I pulled over to set our GPSs and make sure we hadn't forgotten anything vital, like one of the cats. But we were all there, and the drugged cats were already nodding off.

Six hours after racing out of what had been our hometown for the past 10 years ahead of a sweaty mob, we crossed the border into Kentucky. At the gas station, I realized the parking permit from the job I'd had to quit in order to relocate was still dangling from the rearview mirror. With a huge grin on my face, I tore it off and tossed it in the trash.

Time for a new adventure in Georgia…