Wow. Where did 2024 go?

For that matter, where did the rest of 2023 go? 

Can it really be that the last time I wrote a post it was exactly a year ago?

Well, yes. Yes, it can.

What’ve I been doing besides writing for this website? 

Life. You know.

Actually I’ve been proving beyond a doubt that the old saying is absolutely true: You can be busier after you retire than when you were working.

I have also learned something else about retirement that explains why so many of us are busier, and wondering how we got anything done while still working: Friends.

Generally one retires at an advanced age – and believe me I know just how lucky I am to be able to retire. In this country with the economy and government we have, many people just can’t. So, gratitude. A lot of it. 

Retired or not, when you reach your late sixties and early seventies, you realize your roller coaster has just topped that first big hill and has paused long enough for you to contemplate your fate. You realize that from here on, it’s all downhill, with some unexpected and stomach-lurching turns and drops before the ride is over.

I don’t care much for roller coasters.

The difference between life and roller coasters is that you don’t tend to lose fellow passengers along the way. Life is more like a thrill ride that’s out of control and where the people around you start flying out of their seats, never to be seen again, often when you least expect it. 

OK, enough with the metaphors. What I’m talking about is friends. You see them getting older and older, dealing with more and more difficulties, and you realize they are not always going to be there to call, visit, lift a glass with. If you’re lucky enough to have gotten to this age without losing most of them, you still know there is no guarantee any of you will still be around tomorrow, or next week, or next year.

So you make as much space as you can to see those folks you care about. Each minute becomes precious and you prioritize time together.

That said, I actually have been working on the new book, which will be called Starcrossed. I’m very close to having a first draft completed – which means there’s still a lot of editing ahead. Progress, slow progress, is happening.

We’ve also done more research travel, so I’ll catch up here with a bit more from our 2023 trips. Starting with …

The Bronson Caves

Anyone interested in filming locations wants to see the Bronson Caves. They’ve been used in hundreds of movies and TV shows, usually as part of a remote wilderness area, and sometimes as a whole other planet. Star Trek, Batman, The Lone Ranger, Combat!, Gunsmoke, The Searchers, Flash Gordon, Hail, Caesar! …the caves offer a lot of shooting possibilities just a short drive from most studios.

^{2024 Deb McCaskey}

One of the most famous scenes is from The Searchers (1956), where John Wayne’s character finally catches up with his niece, played by Natalie Wood, and you think he’s going to kill her, but – OK, no spoilers from me, even with a movie that old.

Anyway, it looks as though they’re somewhere near a vast prairie or desert. But that’s because in the finished film, scenes of actual vast wilderness – which might be hundreds or thousands of miles away – are edited together with scenes of the caves so it all looks like one setting. Movie magic!

And remember the old Batman TV show? Guess where the entrance to the Batcave was shot.

In reality, the Bronson Caves are not in a true wilderness and are not caves. They’re a couple of short tunnels, the remains of an early 20th-century rock quarry, and are in Griffith Park, just across the I-5 from Glendale. The caves are a shortish hike from the parking lot. 

Even though it’s not wilderness, the first thing we saw after leaving our car was a small pack of coyotes trotting down the street. Two kept on their way while another stopped to look at us briefly before joining its friends. Hollywood coyotes.

We shared the road to the caves with only a few other hikers, all from out of town (we asked), but by the time we got there we had the place to ourselves. It’s pretty quiet if no film crews are around.

Not many hikers actually went to the caves – there are other things to do in the park – but as we approached, a group of boys came through the tunnel, talking animatedly. Nice kids. I couldn’t help but wonder if they were scouting locations for their own movie, like young Spielbergs. We poked around, admired the way the light came in, and discovered the stone labyrinth beyond the caves’ back entrance.

It’s easy to picture the scenes from familiar movies and shows, once you’re standing in the caves, and they do exert a certain pull on the imagination. Even when you’re right there, and you can see how small and non-wild they actually are, it’s like when a magician shows you how one of their tricks works.

You see what’s behind the illusion. And yet, you still want to believe.