Met with Ken Culotta, James Saunders and Robert Baurle at Denny’s in Winter Park, Florida. We talked politics and worked on gags for cartoons. I did a quick sketch there, to the right. The photo below is of Ken and James trying to figure out Facebook.

I headed over to Cocoa Beach to participate in ‘Hands Across the Sand’. My #1 reason was because I know tourism is far more important to our commerce and quality of the state than having oil platforms dotting our shores of Florida.  I should mention I’m not nutty and flat out disagree with other reasons the hundreds of people got together Saturday. Above is a sketch of a few in the very long string of people at the beach.

Parking near Lori Wilson Park gave me a chance to take their nature trail and do the sketch above.

Afterward I attended ‘Jeannie Day’ not far from where ‘Hands Across the Beach’ was. That is better covered at ‘Swampy’s Florida’. To the left is a sketch of the organizer, Ray Osbourne.

I then shimmied over to Titusville for a shake at the Moonlight Drive-In and a stop to say Hello to Lauralee Thompson at Dixie Crossroads. Then lots of stops for lots of photos including to a few parks. The sketch above was drawn as the sun set behind a cabbage palm.

I made a pit stop at ABC Pizza for dinner last Wednesday night in Zypherhills. The sketch above is of part of the interior. The building was once a Biff Burger changed over twice to be an ABC Pizza. More Sunday on Swampy’s Florida!

WOW! I got behind posting the books I’ve read! This should catch is up. To date, this year, I’ve got 25 under my belt.

Here’s this list:
Dade’s Last Command : The non-fiction story of Francis Dade and his soldiers in 1835 and the massacre that followed that started the 2nd Seminole War. Excellent!

Separation of Power: Vince Flynn’s 3rd novel of Mitch Rapp and his war on terrorism. Not the best of the series that I’ve read yet.

The Lincoln Lawyer: A fellow cartoonist recommended author Michael Connelly, so I read this. Maybe I should read another…

Night of Thunder: I continue to read a few contemporary authors and continue to be disappointed. This would have been OK, if I hadn’t figured out the ‘Big Twist’ as soon as the character was introduced.

A Brief History of the Everglades City Area: Good stories, but could have used some fleshing out. The stories are a bit too short. I’m just glad this volume got put together to help document the area in Collier County.

Blackwater Sound: Back to Florida fiction and James W. Hall does it again. I’d put off reading this for a few years and it was great riding an adventure with Thorn again.

True Tales of the Everglades: A fine collection of stories by an author who knows them.

Nuclear Jellyfish: A fun Serge Storm’s story as the serial killer continues his hilarious mayhem across our state of Florida.

Cracker Florida: Don’t know what author Washington was thinking, but most all profiled in this volume are not Crackers. All of the stories are about folks in later years in Florida and what happened from their time moving to Florida or the few with a lifetime here.

The Dreadful Lemon Sky: I bought my friend Jeremy a copy of this book when it struck me it had been 30 years since I read it. So I read it again. WOW! What a difference part of a lifetime makes. Still one of my favorite books, but my understanding and working knowledge of Florida really assisted me in appreciating the story.

Pelts, Plume and Hides – White Traders among the Seminole Indians 1870 – 1930: An excellent examination of the Semino0le and Mikasuki people and their interaction in terms of trade with the white man during the years stated. Terrific book!

Here’s an illustration I did awhile back that I came across and thought I would share.

I intend to post parts of projects I’m working on here and then forget. Here’s part of an illustration I’m working on.

Here are a few caricatures from this past weekend.

After the National Cartoonists Society annual meeting I found myself hanging around Philadelphia courtesy of Debbie Schafer. I pulled out the sketch book and doodled these last June 1st around Downtown Philadelphia.

Some photos from a recent gig.

Headed over to Silver River State Park about 5 miles. Above is a sketch from across the Silver River at the boat landing at the end of the River Trail.

After that I took the Fort King Military Trail. Below is a sketch from that I added color to.

At the boat launch all these little children were squealing about seeing a turtle. The softshell poked more of his head out and part of his body. He was a huge sucker. I pointed out to the little folks that the turtle was about the size of a little red head there and he was probably hiding under the launch to keep away from hungry gators. Their eyes got all big and scampered back so they might spot the shy critter again. Below is as much of the turtle I could get in a photo.

There’s more about this hike at Swampy’s Florida.