We attended Criss and Steve Specht’s annual gathering fullof good food, fun and a roaring fire.

Here’s their fish tank in the Specht house.

This morning someone I truly admired passed away.

Andy Serros was the heart and soul of a group I’ve been with since 1986, Orlando Remembered. The group gets displays placed in buildings of what used to be in Orlando back in about the 1950s. Andy was a founder of the group back in 1979 when the storied San Juan Hotel got prematurely demolished. He and Dan Acito and Bill Demetree came up with the idea of historic displays to be placed throughout Downtown Orlando to remind people of Orlando’s greatness. The group had chalked up many a display by the time then Orlando City Clerk, Grace Chewning, introduced me to the group that was meeting in the Orlando Mayor’s boardroom. It was clear from then on that Andy Serros, insurance executive (and self-proclaimed bottle washer), not only created the group but was leading the way.

Andy was amazing in his ability to know every project. He would know the various objects from various businesses or individuals that was to be part of a display.  He was quick to advise where to find artifacts or what to do if such an item souldn’t be found so that the project would keep moving. Andy hated a dormant project. A phrase I will never forget that he used alot, and I picked up from him, was to get something ”off dead center”.

Besides Andy’s leadership abilities, I also admired his incredible good humor and bright outlook to life. I’m sure Andy got mad. In all these years I missed that. I saw him get testy and frustrated but never actually angry. More people should have his good nature.

Andy’s health had been deteriorating this past year. He was brought back to the hospital a week ago. His brother Robert reported that just before Andy died he gave Robert some advice reguarding Orlando Remembered matters.

I last saw Andy at the Orlando Remembered meeting in September. He had arrived in the parking lot when I did and we made our way to the meeting. He was moving in a way I had never seem. A bit of a shuffle. Clearly all was not right. He still was his humorous self. I now treasure that last handful of time I got to experience with the great and always to be missed Andy Serros.

Today bloggers are suppose to blog about their volunteering. Sooooo, I have to pick one of the issues I volunteer for. That one is the Veterans Administration visitations I make. One of the missions of the National Cartoonists Society, of which I belong, is to visit the V.A. hospitals around my state of Floirda. I help our members get to the ones in our state and often go myself. We’ve visited a number of places around the state. Most specifically in Orlando and Tampa.

There I draw our greatest American heroes and try to bring a brief bit of laughter in their life. The Orlando V.A. location is a nursing home for American veterans. I’m usually in the cafeteria area where most are confined in wheelchairs. Also usually Bingo is being played or some such. Natalie, the activities director, will point out folks who want to be drawn or have a drawing of something made for them.

In Tampa, Steve (Dang! I forget his last name again!) is the leader. There we’ve mostly gone room to room to draw folks. Unlike the nursing facility, in Tampa I’ve mostly seen soldiers who have recently returned home for treatment from the current war in Iraq. One of the great experiences I had there was making a recently returned soldier have the greatest laugh he’d had since arriving at the hospital. This fellow came back in a state where he could no longer communicate or functionally move. He had a very reduced ability to make noises to let people know how he was. He no longer had the realization of the world around him and was basically back to being much like a baby. His method of laughing was by crying after I drew the drawing and his wife showed it to him, he bawled nearly out of control. Steve let me know that was the most he’d reacted since arriving at the hospital. The drawing above is of that brave soldier.

My next stop to the Orlando V.A. is Wednesday and I and ‘Marvin’ cartoonist, Tom Armstrong, will hopefully be back in Tampa in January. Below is from August and is of Tom, myself and a REAL volunteer. The lady in the middle had clocked in over 32,000 hours of volunteer work at the Tampa Haley V.A.

We had a Christmas gathering at the Belleview Biltmore with lots of friends and family of the Suncoast Inkslingers. Lot of art talk and the passing around of cards and gifts. It was a great time! Here are some photos.

Above is “Chainsaw” Chuck and one of his new achrylic paintings. He temporarily used a bit of Biltmore wall space. Below  are a few more attendees: Ann Sabo, John  Stevens, Dan Smith and Sioux Hart.

‘Gator Creek’ by Carol Overstreet tells of the well-known Overstreet name, the people who have carried it and of the reason we should hold them in such high esteem.

The book tells the story of the Overstreet family from the 1800s to present. The Overstreet family have been major cattlemen for generations and have had major landholdings all across Central Florida.

It was odd for me to go from one book focussing on the life of Charlie Wall, gangster and all around bad egg, to Charlie Overstreet, just the opposite. Oddly their parents were very similar. It was very much like looking at what might have happened to one person depending on the direction they took.

Unfortunately, this book is going to be tough to find. Though, I do urge you to see if your library has it if you live in Florida. Mrs. Overstreet could’ve used an editor and there are too many loose ends. I admit the book is frustrating in that way. However, it is a great tale - Very uplifting - of people and their practical and realistic approach to the ups and downs of life. I wish children were made to read this to read what hard work is all about.

Another personal aside: My friend Susie Noell let me borrow this book to read ( I can’t find it) and is featured in the book. She was a connecting force that brought the Overstreet family together again after an accident that then only made them stronger.

Got to the Orlando Remembered meeting for the first time in a few months. This month it was at the Citrus Club with breakfast and always good fellowship. To the left is Andy Serros, one of the orginators of the group, and below is his brother Robert.

After the meeting I donated some time at the Orlando V.A. nursing center and entertained with caricatures.

We stopped at the ice cream social being held by the Loxahatchee Chapter of the Florida Trail Association in Green Acres at a giant park that is adjacent to the Florida Turnpike. Sandra got to see a lot of old friends and, having my caricature equipment with me, drew attendees.

Amongst those I drew is the oldest member of the Floirda Trail Association, a fellow named Henry, who is 92 years old. That’s him at the top.