Ducks on the March

For years now these ducks have made a daily pilgrimage from the lake to a house just past Dogwood Road. Their route takes them up Pine Drive and past my house. After they cross the intersection at Dogwood (no doubt looking both ways), they take a left and go somewhere behind the house on the corner. It always gives me a kick to see them saunter by.

Geese and Gosling at the Lake

We Protect and Serve

Here are some vintage photos of the Pine Lake Police.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

A group of Miata owners prepare to drive the Chereohala Parkway in close proximity at high speeds. The red car closest to the camera is mine. Fortunately, alcohol was not involved.

I'm a member of the Peachtree Miata Club, which consists of mostly retired men and women with a passion for the little two-seater roadster. It's an active group that sponsors all sorts of drives and get-togethers.

When I told my girlfriend Heather I was sad I wouldn't be able to make the planned Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour in October, she started laughing. "What could possibly go wrong with that?" she said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Think about it," she said. "A bunch of senior citizens already half high on prescription medications will be stopping at five distilleries where they'll be given free drinks.They'll buy highly flammable alcohol, which they'll cram into the tiny little trunks of their Miatas before zoom-zooming off to the next distillery on the curviest roads they can find, going as fast as possible while following one another closely. It's a recipe for disaster! And you wish you could go?"

AJC:75-Year-Old Woman Drives Miata Through Front of Liquor Store-- Again. Read it here. 

"I visited the Jack Daniels distillery once," I said, "and nothing bad happened."

"You weren't in a Miata," she said.

"No," I said, "but I was in a 1963 Fiat Cabriolet that looked and drove an awful lot like a Miata."

When I was in college I bought this beautiful 1963 Fiat Cabriolet roadster for $450. It was in mint condition, with only 33,000 miles. The body was designed by Pininfarina; the mechanics included a four-cylinder 1500cc engine featured a Weber downdraft two-barrel carburetor; rack-and-pinion steering, front disk brakes, and radial tyres. People at gas stations had no idea the car was ten years old and many thought it was a Ferrari. Best. Car. Ever.

"Isn't the Jack Daniels distillery in a dry county?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. "It's in Moore, the smallest county in Tennessee, and it's dry, which means they couldn't give us a complimentary dr--

"I did get a great woodcut of the Moore County jail," I finished lamely.

"I rest my case," she said.

In the 1970s visitors to the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg were mailed a complimentary signed and numbered woodcut by Dan Quest, a local artist. This woodcut from my visit in 1972 or 1973 hangs in my bedroom.

Making Pure Vanilla Extract

Vanilla is the world's second most expensive spice (saffron being the highest-priced), which, I suppose, is why I always find it in tiny little bottles at the grocery store. I use vanilla liberally in baking, so those 1- and 2-oz. bottles of McCormick's or Watson's don't last long.

A bottle lasts a while, but the price always makes me wince. What's that you say? Use imitation vanilla? Do you know what's IN THAT STUFF? Snopes doesn't lie!

"Castrorium, baby!"

This time last year I learned how absurdly easy it is to make vanilla extract-- and for that matter lemon, orange, almond, mint, maple or any other extract one can think of. Of course I had to try it.

I had long seen television chefs scraping vanilla beans when making desserts, but I never actually saw one of the critters until a packet of six arrived from a seller on eBay. The beans seemed a bit decomposed, which is due to the processes of killing, sweating, drying, and conditioning in their processing.

The only other ingredient I needed was liquor at 70-80 proof (35-40% alcohol ABV).

Fire and Hope in Pine Lake

Here's a follow-up article on the 1996 arson at Pine Lake Baptist Church.

Green, Melissa Fay. (1996, July or August). Fire and hope in Pine Lake. Atlanta Journal/Constitution, A11.

Throughout our history, racial intolerance has sparked church burnings. But today, amid a new rash of these acts of hate, a spirit of hope is rising from the ashes. 

Red-brick, white-steepled Pine Lake Baptist Church-- 10 miles east of Atlanta, a stone's throw from Stone Mountain-- dignifies an intersection otherwise offering speedboats, Amoco gas, Yamahas, and emission inspections. Last month, a 48-year-old sanctuary on the church grounds burned to the ground. The cause of the fire is undetermined, the investigation ongoing, but the spotlight the incident has thrown on this community is enlightening, for Pine Lake tells a very different tale that recently conveyed by the outbreak of black church burnings.

Church Burns

Did you know there was an arson at Pine Lake Baptist Church in 1996?

Morris, Mike. (1996, 7 June). Fire Hits Pine Lake Church. Atlanta Journal.

Here's the text:

Federal and DeKalb County arson officials are investigating a "suspicious" fire that destroyed the old sanctuary at the Pine Lake Baptist Church today. 

The fire, which was reported just before 3 a.m., gutted the 48-year-old structure that housed the church's youth department, said Pine Lake police sergeant Fred Semp. No one was injured in the blaze. 

The fire apparently started on the front porch and quickly spread through the wooden building, the officer added. 

"A lady who lives across the street from the church heard a loud car stereo, then she heard the car speed off," Stemp said. 

The neighbor looked outside, and the church was on fire," he said. 

An accelerant-sniffing dog was brought to the scene in the 4800 block of Rockbridge Road to help search for the cause of the fire, which also was being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. 

The building that burned was once the church's main sanctuary, but it has been replaced by a newer brick building.

"The saddest thing I've seen was the people who are about 40 who came by here who were baptized there," said Glen Chrisler, chairman of the church's board of deacons. "There's people who have sentimental ties to that building." 

As for the possibility that today's fire could be connected to a string of recent black church burnings across the South, Crisler said, "Any connection would be speculation." 

"I just think it's tragic that we're seeing this all across the country," said Eric Mathison, senior pastor at the First Baptist Church of Avondale. "Burning churches-- I don't see what kind of a message people would try to send with that."

There were indeed many church burnings in the 90s and early 2000s, most of Black churches. They occurred all around the South, and to my knowledge the perpetrator(s) have never been caught. Just beside the article is a short article about a second church bombing-- a Black church in Rocky Point, NC.

For the record, Pine Lake Baptist Church is open to all races and has a mixed congregation.

My next post will feature related articles in the same issue of The Journal.

Pine Lake Song

A song I wrote about our fair city is up on my website here

Other songs are here..

Fall Colors at the NJ Botanical Gardens

The New Jersey Botanical Gardens are a treat any time of year, but they're especially lovely in the fall. Here are some photos I took last weekend.

Lake Fest 2013 Flash Mob!

Welcome to Dogwood Springs

If any of my readers would like to read some words of fiction about a small town that might resemble Pine Lake in a slight way, feel free to go to my website and take a look at Welcome to Dogwood Springs.

Here's the link. What? You missed it? Here it is again. 

New Floors