We continued the International Movable Feast at the Claddagh Cottage Irish Pub in Orlando. Friends Sarah Butler, James Saunders, Robert Baurle and Allen Currin delved into a bit o’ Irish vittles. Great food! Most go for the bar apparently, but this place has a tasty Irish stew!

Above is a sketch of an area of the pub.

Met friends Robert Baurle, James Saunders and Dena Wild at Cypriana’s Greek Restaurant in Casselberry, Florida. Great food and great company!

Made a trip into Longwood, Florida, to Polonia Polish Restaurant to get with long time friends: Sarah Butler St. Gregory, her husband, David, their children and James Saunders. Below is a photo of us all, minus David, who took the photo. Sorry about the glowing eyes!

Above is a sketch of a bottle of some sort of liquor that I didn’t take note of. Oops! A shelf of the bottles were in Polonia.

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.

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!

I attended a 3-D showing of ‘The Creature from the Black Lagoon’ on March 16th, 2010. I had a great time visiting with friends I was surprised to run into there, Paula Large, Jerry Darkey, Priscilla Rose, Dan Stapleton, etc. I got to finally meet Holly and Dolly of ‘Holly and Dolly’s Bar and Grill in Casselberry. The twins were also former dancers at Church Street Station and mermaids at Weeki Wachee. To the left is a sketch of someone at the theater.

The best part of the film viewing is that Ginger Stanley attended. Ms. Stanley was the stand-in for Julia Adams in ‘The Creature from the Black Lagoon’. She spoke before and after the film about her experiences in the film and answered questions. After the viewing she was outside the theater greeting fans and signing autographs, which she did for hours. Below is the autograph and below that is a photo of Ms. Stanley and myself.

I had a little bit of extra time after this past Monday’s UStreaming of me drawing the editorial cartoon. So I tossed out to viewers the Illustration Friday word of the week. I ask for another word to make it more fun. Dick Daniels came up with “Rubber Duck”. So, I quickly I focused on ‘Focused’ and figured out how to create a gag with ‘Rubber Duck’. Above is my contribution to ‘Focused’.

Click here to see the UStream video.

I wanted to post the birthday card for my dear friend, Lucile Fair, whose birthday was last Tuesday. She is now 102 years old! One the other side of this card are signatures from my fellow cartoonists who were on the trip to San Antonio, Texas, the week before. I’ll keep those private as the messages are meant for Lucile…. but there are some pretty cool drawings on it!

I was going to do something very different for her birthday until it struck me in the hotel room in San Antonio that maybe my friends might sign a card. So, I whipped this up in about 20 minutes. It’s watercolor on Carolina one-sided card stock.

Also, Tuesday Sketch’s theme is “Happy Birthday!” and since Tuesday was also Lucile’s birthday, this really fits in.

I’ll be presenting the card to Lucile at a special birthday celebration for her on Sunday after church.

The Illustration Friday word is clumsy. As I drew this live on UStream last night, two viewers, Coffeeness & HotPopcornWater, suggested the critters. I then cobbled together the drawing. You can see the film by clicking here. It’s the last ten minutes.

Here are a few of the folks at the Suncoast Inkslingers Holiday wing-ding: Kurt Wright, John Stevens, Jim Fern and Ann E. Sabo. It was held at The Captain’s Italian Restaurant in Safety Harbor. Below is Dan Smith, caricaturist extraordinaire.

Above is a caricature I drew of this Army hero, Jesse. I have Jesse as a hobbit trying to use his computer skills to defeat the dragon as Gandalf loses his patience with the slowness of the digital world.

Cartoonists gathered at the Sawgrass Marriott in Ponte Vedra, Florida, to welcome home 500 Army soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. We were part of a Yellow Ribbon event put on by The Florida National Guard. The cartoonists attending were Michael Jantze, of the comic strip ‘The Norm’ and teacher at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Don Perlin, co-creator of Ghost Rider and at one time or other has drawn most of the Marvel superheroes, and Aaron Olson, National Guardsman himself and student at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Above artists Aaron Olson, Michael Jantze and Don Perlin draw for soldiers. Don’s wife, Becky is at the the end.

After the soldiers had gone Dana, Aaron’s wife, and Aaron Olson speak to Major Sarah McLevy, who did a great job organizing the huge event. Seated is Michael Jantze, drawing a Hulk cartoon for the Major.

Me, Michael Jantze, Arron and Dana Olson.