I’ve always stayed away from books about espionage. From Glenn Beck often hyping them and my coming across a few for 50 cents each, had me picking a few up. After reading so many non-fiction books about Orlando I was ready for any fiction and started with Vince Flynn’s ‘Intent to Kill’. The worse part about this book was that I figured out the ending, even the twists, within the first few pages of the book. The best part is the depth and exciting action of the 700 page thriller.

I went next to a recent purchase that I thought was about the newspaper business circa 1957. Instead it is a book about a National Enquirer type publication. The shocking part was the intense language and scenes typical of todays fiction.

After ‘The Yellow Press’, I was wanting more Vince Flynn, so I went to the second Flynn book I had picked up. This one was exciting also. Full of over-achieving Muslim terrorists. The way Flynn writes the terrorists as a bundle of happless types where everything goes their way to a point is the way I feel the terrorists were that pulled off September 11th. Flynn really well defines how their blind faith propels them to their own doom. If you are something other than a Muslim and want to understand how one can go off track and get into the terrorist mindset, Flynn’s book really unfolds this without demeaning the Muslim faith itself.

Me drawing a soldier during rehabilitation in the Center for the Intrepid.

Bruce Higdon drawing a soldier who continues his pace.

Bill Hinds in the front. Rob Harrell, Bruce Higdon and myself in the back.

We were set up one the first floor of the Brooke Army Medical Center to draw. From right to left: Jeff Bacon’s back dressed in black, Bruce Higdon, myself, directly behind me and mostly hidden is Tom Stiglich, behind the lady Tom is drawing for is Mike Ramierez. To the right in blue jeans is Steve Moore.

It seems Washington is in a deep fog and wants us in one, too.

My dear friend Lucile Fair marks her 101st birthday today! Above is a card I made for her.

 First off! If there is an U.S.O. facility in your area, PLEASE carve some time out of your lives, even if it is once every 6 months for an hour, and volunteer for our greatest American heroes. You don’t have to draw like me to volunteer. There is plenty to do beyond that. Please go to www.USO.org to see how you can help our soldiers, our country and yourselves. Need motivation? Volunteer for the U.S.O.

There are other groups and organizations that help out our troops. Many have groups that help out at many V.A. locations, such as the Lions Club, The Red Hat Society, etc.

There were nine of us all together. We travelled from all over the country and met at a Marriott hotel in San Antonio. We are all members of the National Cartoonists Society and were in Texas to perform for the troops for the USO at the Brooke Army Medical Center and their rehabilitation center, The Intrepid.

Our group consisted of our leader, Jeff Bacon, myself, Bruce Higdon, Milburn Taylor, Bill Hinds, Tom Stiglich, Steve Moore, Rob Harrell amd Mike Ramierez.

We nabbed a bite to eat that Wednesday night, discussed the next day ahead and prepared for a very busy Thursday, the 22nd. Above I sketched Jeff Bacon while he used a phone at the Marriott.

We started off the Thursday with breakfast at a very neat restaurant in the Downtown, Schilo’s. The place was originally a bank. They now use the bank vault as a cooler. Above is a photo of us finishing breakfast. To thye right is the telephone in the telephone booth that occupies a corner of the restaurant.

Jane Carpenter with the USO was our escort and along with two colleagues got us to the medical center by bus. Below is a photo of the Intrepid’s dedication area.

Much of what we saw in the hospital wasn’t photographed for obvious reasons. I will post what I get permission to use later.

I want to write that it was definitely a moving experience. We saw brave soldiers facing very difficult changes in their lives. The Intrepid is an incredible facility that rehabilitates those soldiers that need it. There’s even an apartment where soldiers can re-learn how to cook using mechanical hands and arms. I wish more could see it. See above message!

The Brooke Army Medical Center is one of the first stops in the U.S. for soldiers after injury overseas. We saw many tough scenes of men and women who had just returned. However, nothing can charge you up more than to hear these folks itching to go back into action.\

So often I see the yippy-yappy valley-girl talking kids (boys and girls) with their limited vocabulary of ‘like-a’s, ’sooo’s and other needless over-used superlatives about the least important things in life. I wish we could march these young people through these facilities and see what a powerful view of life can really be. I wish all Americans could or would volunteer for the U.S.O. or any military or V.A. charity and get the opportunity to see what an American can be. Again, see above meesage!

We finished at the USO offices in downtown San Anotnio. There we all had a home cooked meal which was all part of a volunteer appreciation dinner. After dinner we all drew again. The fellow above has quite a resemblance to Frank Sinatra. He’d never heard that before.

I left the USO late wanting to finish those who were waiting and joined my colleagues sitting in the bar area of the Marriott. After a while Tom Stiglich and Mike Ramierez got up to stroll the Riverwalk. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to later and joined them on their trek. The result was the finding of a top notch jazz band playing in a small place under the Hyatt. Considering the mighty impact of the earlier day, this was whip cream and a cherry on top. It was oh so very nice to sit back and watch the quintet barrel out the blues and jazz. Below are sketches of the players. I didn’t have my sketch pad with me, so I borrowed some paper from the trumpet player. 

After we three closed the jazz club, we hit another restaurant with Karoake. Below is a sketch of Mike Ramierez belting out a tune (Something he’s very good at, along with the editorial cartoons).

Friday morning many of us headed back to Schilo’s for breakfast. Before flying out I had the opportunity to briefly visit with my cousin Janet and her husband Byron who live near San Antonio. It’s the first time in a long, long time that I’ve visited with Janet for so long. We went to a burger place where I got an excellent pork burger that ACTUALLY tasted like a burger.

I had  acartoon all readey to go and then President Bush pardoned Compean and Ramos. It was late, we’d been travelling for two days through 17 counties and two meetings. So i nabbed the Wacom pen and just did the whole thing in the computer. I admit the quality is down, but it was nice to jump in at the deep end and create a cartoon from scratch in a short period of time.

Sandra and I made our way south from Safety Harbor and stopped in Arcadia. There we stopped at  Wheeler’s Cafe, which opened in 1929 and still survives today. Above is a sketch from what I saw through one of their windows.

We continued south and stopped at Gatorama in Paldale off U.S.27. Above is a sketch of one of the residents there.

From there we made our way to Moore Haven on the west side of Lake Okeechobee. Then back north through Okeechobee to home. We stopped in Okeechobee for dinner at Skip’s Bar B Q and that’s where I made the sketch below.

We came out to find ice on our cars. For the illustration in this post I’ve putting in this photo I drew in the ice on the windshield of my car.

We drove down to the Suncoast Inkslingers meeting. It was held in the clubhouse of artist Jim Fern’s complex. It was quite a gathering and Jim had a terrific layout of food he provided. Above is Dan Smith, a fellow who sculpts superheroes (Forgot his name) and Lars Eric Robinson whose portfolio the other two are perusing.

Here’s Vince Guerrera, “Chainsaw” Chuck Manchiewski (with one of his paintings) and Danielle Shockley (with one of her sculptures).

I’m not sure if we’ll have an infrastructure bubble as Ken Culotta indicates in writing this cartoon. it is sure that if we over accelerate that kind of construction, American taxpayers will be the victims of pork barrel projects of unneeded roads and overpriced boat docks. This ain’t the 1930s. Folks aren’t going to create infrastructure like they did in the ’30s for a dollar a day. Much less without health care insurance. It will be expensive and our country is not only broke, but in debt also.

I decided to start the year reading about the history of the City of Orlando. Prodding me further was the Orlando historic walking tour I lead back on the 9th. I’ve read many parts and used information from all of these books for decades, this is the first time I’ve actually read them from cover to cover. Above are the six books I read since the start of the year.