Attended the Orlando Remembered meeting on the 18th. Above are sketches. Page 1 is of Bob Buck and Betty Bandy. The second page has Steve Rajtar, Leon Handley, Grace Chewning, Joy Wallace Dickinson and Hillis Bandy.

Below is a sneak peek at the meeting!

Our Chairman, Bill Milligan, and secretary, Grace Chewning, discuss Orlando Remembered business.

My last Christmas visits had me a bit closer to home and a chance to see lots of Christmas lights. Above are lights in Leesburg at Venetian Gardens and in Downtown Ocala. I just wish I would think more of taking photos when passing along Christmas cards. Something to work on next year!

After nearly 30 years got the opportunity to meet with a classmate in high school, Steve Brewster. He was also a fellow artist at the time. Now he lives in Gainesville. One of his hobbies is showing old horror movies on Blog.TV. You can tune in here on Saturday nights to see Steve in action.

Steve also has a mutual interest in cartoon toys and has his own collection. I did a drawing of him during the meeting.

Below is another classmate, James Holding and his wife, Susan. Though, James was a few years younger than me as we went to through school. I tutored cartooning  with James when he was attending Robert E. Lee Jr. High School.

James still cartoons to compliment a business he is in as a biblical apologist. You can see much, much more on his site by clicking here. Click here to see some of his animated spots on YouTube.

The annual Christmas Eve visit to, my dear friend, Lucile Fair, is always fun. A month before her 104th birthday and she is as full of energy as ever.

Started the day at the Junior’s Diner near Audubon Park in Orlando having breakfast with, cartoonist, Charles Treadwell; former Orlando Sentinel editorial cartoonist and comics historian, Jim Ivey and, long time friend of Jim and I, Craig Zablo. Pens and paper got drawn all over. There’s Craig with a drawing I drew.

I made a number of stops along the way. Here’s cousin Martha Bisplinghoff and, friend, Shawn Anderson.

Later met with a bunch of friends back in Audubon Park. The plan was to meet at Stardust Video there, but when I had called them about a group gathering, they failed to mention they were basically closing the palce for an in-house play. Above it Rich Scott, James Saunders, Ken Culotta and Cindy Mackey.

Above is Robert Baurle and Ken Culotta and the Christmas tree at O’Stromboli, where some us went across from Stardust Video. Also, above, are some excellent cookies given to me by Rich and Cindy. They are home made by Cindy. Thanks, Cindy!

Headed out to Brevard County on Saturday, December 10th, and got all sorts of things done! First, got to drop off some Christmas cards to folks in the area and visit and camp out over at, my friend, Jim Fern’s house (Thanks, Jim) the night before which better prepared me for this busy day.

Went up Merritt Island to it’s northern point for the Sams House Open House. The homes and area was well decorated for Christmas and activities for everyone were everywhere.

The Sams House is part of the Pine Island Conservation area and is the earliest still standing home in Brevard County. It’s pine log construction has withstood many a hurricane since it’s 1875 construction and be well maintained today. The Sams family built a newer home at the site in the 1950s. Both are open for touring with a guide or can be self guided with interpretive exhibits. Yes, this was a Swampy’s Florida stop for me. Thanks to Ray Osbourne, local Brevard County historic advocate, for giving me the heads up about this event!

My next stop was in Palm Bay at The Shack Restaurant where I met with Fay Brewer, her daughter and art teacher friend, Janene. Fay’s daughter had a school assignment to interview a cartoonist and I was the subject. At the end of the interview, I created a drawing illustrating things Fay’s daughter likes to do, which I’m holding in the photo above.

I wrapped the day drawing a plethora of individuals at a corporate event in Melbourne for five hours non-stop. See the photos below. I later returned to Jim Fern’s home ready for rest!!!