back and try it all over again!
Often we couldn’t help but wonder, “Was it really there?!” But because of limited time and a stubborn showerhead, I guess we’ll never know.
All was not lost though. We did receive a great parting gift that evening, which I found out about when we got back home. “Klepto-Kasey” had lifted a small black and white picture she found on the floor partially hidden under the rug in the dining room. It was a photo of Dick when he was a 13-year-old cadet in military school!
One last bit about Dick (as I sit here editing this four years after I first wrote it). I just came across a small tin wind up cat that he had given me. Sargent used to collect vintage and antique tin windup toys.
The living cast, the bronze cast and me! The coldest June day in Salem, MA 2005.
Darrin Stephens, 13 year-old cadet.
Chapter 26
Farewell to the 1990s
1999 saw an increased activity in our writing. With all the holiday parties we had hosted, and the decorations we’d carefully hand-made, Kasey and I decided to give Martha Stewart a run for her money! We found a publisher willing to take a chance on Kasey’s name, and together, created our first craft book, Halloween Crafts: Eerily, Elegant Décor.
Trying to find a location to shoot the pictures to be included in the book wasn’t an easy task. Feeling strongly that Hallowe’en should always have an antique or Victorian look, we were somewhat disappointed having just been turned down by a chain called The Spaghetti Factory, which showcased a lot of really impressive antiques. But luckily I then remembered having driven by a museum called The Stagecoach Inn in Newbury Park, about eighteen miles up the road from us.
We met with the director, Sandy Hildebrandt, and she was happy to accommodate our request.
This particular location couldn’t have been more perfect — a rustic, Victorian looking hotel with a barn, pioneer cabin, parlor, and a haunted cradle. It was just right!
We shot pictures in every nook and cranny we could find, and ended up using the same location for our next three books.
(Trying to make the pioneer cabin look like Christmas with artificial snow in 100-degree heat was an incredible challenge, but not impossible.) Some shots called for us to put on turtle necks and coats in order to make the picture look like the dead of winter. Because of the stifling heat, we were pretty miserable, but laughed about it later and were very pleased with the final result.
As repayment, Kasey and I decorated the museum for every major holiday over the next two years. Later, we got involved with the museum’s annual October program called “An Evening on The Conejo” (Conejo means rabbit and is the name of the valley in which the Stagecoach Inn sits).
During the event, guides would take visitors on a walking tour through the park trails, while encountering actors playing people from a century past. They would eventually take us into the barn, the cabin, and finally the hotel itself. Everyone being dressed in full period costumes of the era and the festivities taking place at night by lantern light added greatly to an entertaining and pleasurable evening — one with an extremely authentic feeling.
Kasey and I were in the first scene the guests saw on their journey. Kasey played “Momma” and I played “Professor Montenari,” the Medicine Man.
The scene would open as Kasey is heard complaining how I brought her out to this “Godforsaken” land. I’d turn a deaf ear and continue to hawk my snake oil to the audience!
I must have been pretty convincing because on more than one occasion, there were some guests who actually wanted to purchase my doctored-up beer bottles for a buck each! Not wanting to step out of character, what else could I do but gladly accept their money?!
“…with this elixir, you will soar as the falcon soars, run with the speed of gazelles and command the powers of Earth and Sky! It is the same magic,
Often we couldn’t help but wonder, “Was it really there?!” But because of limited time and a stubborn showerhead, I guess we’ll never know.
All was not lost though. We did receive a great parting gift that evening, which I found out about when we got back home. “Klepto-Kasey” had lifted a small black and white picture she found on the floor partially hidden under the rug in the dining room. It was a photo of Dick when he was a 13-year-old cadet in military school!
One last bit about Dick (as I sit here editing this four years after I first wrote it). I just came across a small tin wind up cat that he had given me. Sargent used to collect vintage and antique tin windup toys.
The living cast, the bronze cast and me! The coldest June day in Salem, MA 2005.
Darrin Stephens, 13 year-old cadet.
Chapter 26
Farewell to the 1990s
1999 saw an increased activity in our writing. With all the holiday parties we had hosted, and the decorations we’d carefully hand-made, Kasey and I decided to give Martha Stewart a run for her money! We found a publisher willing to take a chance on Kasey’s name, and together, created our first craft book, Halloween Crafts: Eerily, Elegant Décor.
Trying to find a location to shoot the pictures to be included in the book wasn’t an easy task. Feeling strongly that Hallowe’en should always have an antique or Victorian look, we were somewhat disappointed having just been turned down by a chain called The Spaghetti Factory, which showcased a lot of really impressive antiques. But luckily I then remembered having driven by a museum called The Stagecoach Inn in Newbury Park, about eighteen miles up the road from us.
We met with the director, Sandy Hildebrandt, and she was happy to accommodate our request.
This particular location couldn’t have been more perfect — a rustic, Victorian looking hotel with a barn, pioneer cabin, parlor, and a haunted cradle. It was just right!
We shot pictures in every nook and cranny we could find, and ended up using the same location for our next three books.
(Trying to make the pioneer cabin look like Christmas with artificial snow in 100-degree heat was an incredible challenge, but not impossible.) Some shots called for us to put on turtle necks and coats in order to make the picture look like the dead of winter. Because of the stifling heat, we were pretty miserable, but laughed about it later and were very pleased with the final result.
As repayment, Kasey and I decorated the museum for every major holiday over the next two years. Later, we got involved with the museum’s annual October program called “An Evening on The Conejo” (Conejo means rabbit and is the name of the valley in which the Stagecoach Inn sits).
During the event, guides would take visitors on a walking tour through the park trails, while encountering actors playing people from a century past. They would eventually take us into the barn, the cabin, and finally the hotel itself. Everyone being dressed in full period costumes of the era and the festivities taking place at night by lantern light added greatly to an entertaining and pleasurable evening — one with an extremely authentic feeling.
Kasey and I were in the first scene the guests saw on their journey. Kasey played “Momma” and I played “Professor Montenari,” the Medicine Man.
The scene would open as Kasey is heard complaining how I brought her out to this “Godforsaken” land. I’d turn a deaf ear and continue to hawk my snake oil to the audience!
I must have been pretty convincing because on more than one occasion, there were some guests who actually wanted to purchase my doctored-up beer bottles for a buck each! Not wanting to step out of character, what else could I do but gladly accept their money?!
“…with this elixir, you will soar as the falcon soars, run with the speed of gazelles and command the powers of Earth and Sky! It is the same magic,
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