Been trying to grow azaleas in the yard for 6 years. FINALLY! – There are flowers!

Had originally planted 6 bushes. But due to a neighbor from up north who mowed the yard and believes a yard should only be grass, as the bushes came up, he would mow them down. I got the opportunity to ask him to stop mowing the yard. 3 were left standing. One is struggling. Two are flowering!

Coming back from overseas, I brought back the infamous Kinder Eggs, made in Italy. It’s been fun opening some of them and finding the toys inside. Terisa Glover surprised me Sunday when she passed along these Kinder toys she acquired via EBay. These figurines are just terrific and very clever, as Kinder always is!

Made a trip to pick up the new Swampy’s Florida Lakeland coloring book. Along the way stopped at a Steak ‘n Shake and had a burger and shake with my father and looked over some comics I recently pulled out and took the photo below. Above is a sketch I made there to wrap up the March Sketch-A-Day.

Heading home I stopped for something to drink at a convenience store and came out to a car that wouldn’t start. I quickly called the Allstate roadside help number and waited. This the the third time this has happened since December. The car has been looked at a number of times. Replaced batteries, changed out wires, etc. And here I was again. After a while a car pulled up with a Pop-A-Lock sign on the top. A locksmith with a battery charger had been sent. I was hoping for a bit more… and I got it. The fellow asked what happened. I said I’ll show him. I got in the car and turned the key…and the car started. Was I embarrassed! We stood and discussed the various earlier efforts to fix it in the past and potential causes. The fellow, Julius, figured it out. It’s the starter. It’s missing internal teeth. The car will usually start. BUT if you happen to try and start it when the starter is in a spot of a missing tooth, it won’t start. Now I know the problem. First I have to get through a busy weekend and then next week deal with a bad tooth.

This the March 29th sketch for Cedric Hohnstadt’s ‘March is Sketch Book Month’. Fellow artist William Palacio contributed the subjects of hound dog and jump rope. Thanks, William!

This Friday, April, 1st, is the debut of the new Swampy’s Florida: Lakeland coloring book at The General Store as part of Downtown Lakeland’s First Friday event.

The coloring book has lots to color and learn about Lakeland’s history and great places to visit. I was able to price the coloring book at $3. If you’re in the area come by and say HI! and get a free drawing between 6 to 9pm.

All of this happening at a store that I think every town should have, The General Store. You can’t miss the rocking chairs outside! Also, if you haven’t met Downtown Lakeland’s infamous Sparky at The General Store, now’s your chance! By the way, that’s Sparky in the middle on the cover.

The Marion County Republican Executive Committee had our Lincoln/Reagan Day Dinner Saturday night and I contributed by serving on the planning committee and drawing caricatures at the event. Political talk show host and potential presidential candidate, Herman Cain, was our guest speaker. Before going out to speak to the assembled crowd Mr. Cain was out where I was in the corridor. He came up and asked if I drew black people. After a hearty laugh he sat down and asked if I’d draw him. So I did. Above is Mr. Cain, myself and the drawing I did.

What a very open, extremely friendly and funny person! And I don’t mean in a ‘Like Me- I Wanna Get Elected’ way. I’ve met and worked with a ton of politicians in 25+ years of working campaigns and I know the difference between going through the motions and being genuinely friendly. Of course, most all politicians become like that over time to some extent. You have to when you meet so many people, realize you serve the people you meet and have a career to look after. It’s not really a bad thing politicians shake hands and do their best to make you feel comfortable with them. Otherwise, they would be like me and admit they can’t remember everyone and apologize all the time, which doesn’t win me any votes. If Mr. Cain gets into the presidential race, eventually he’ll have to modify his meet and greet also. Right now he exudes an openness that is very refreshing.

Equally impressive is his staff, particularly Mark Block who was a key to setting up huge wins for Tea Party/conservative candidates in November’s Wisconsin races and  the challenges we see in the state house in Wisconsin today.

Below are two more photos. I’ve been off the past few days in my drawings. I felt it Thursday while guest speaking at a cartooning class. My friend, who visited the same class, noticed it also. I see it very much in these drawings. I gotta shake whatever fog is in my head and sharpen my pen and draw better.

The one above was one of the better drawings I did.

I have no idea why I put so much hair on top of Jan’s head. Again, my head is not translating well right now. By the way, Jan, above, and her partner Kay did a terrific job running an auction we had at our event. Turns out both also went to Rollins College.

I saw this headline when looking for Charlie Callas’ obituary:
“Curfew ignored…Flights suspended…Charlie Callas dead at 83″

No kidding. Here’s the actual link:

http://www.9and10news.com/Category/Story/?id=280094&cID=3

I have some very fond childhood memories of Callas. Seeing him on Carson, Griffin and Mike Douglas where he talked about being in Paris at J.C. Pen-ay. He and Don Rickles were two that I would shut everything down, tune in and just watch the improvisational magic!

I never missed the CBS series ‘Switch’. I remembered when I learned he was going to be a part of ‘Switch’ and how I hoped he would be as crazy in the series. He wasn’t, but he was great in it. Everyone was in the series. That was a great cast: Eddie Albert, Robert Wagner, Sharon Gless & Callas.

Callas was very much part of my childhood memories and I have always been a great fan of his manic genius.

Here’s a terrific New York Times obituary below. Click the title to to the site and read the whole thing.

———————————————————————————-

Charlie Callas, Zany Comedian, Dies at 83

By DENNIS HEVESI Published: January 28, 2011

Photofest / Charlie Callas in 1986

Michael Murphy, the coroner in Clark County in Nevada, confirmed the death.

A string bean of a man with a Cyrano-size nose, Mr. Callas appeared on virtually every television variety and talk show in the days of Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson. He was a regular on “The Andy Williams Show” and “The ABC Comedy Hour,” a semiregular on “The Flip Wilson Show” and a co-host of “The Joey Bishop Show.”

Click here or the title above for the rest of the obituary…………….

I’m digging up all sorts of items from the past as I clear through boxes. Below is a page from a sketchbook from around 1986. I love hearing all sides of an issue. Back then I had more time to do that. A dear friend told me about a retreat with …radical Abbie Hoffman and I went to see first hand what this fellow was all about. During the retreat I made a ton of notes and sketches. Was I shocked to open the pad last night and there at the top is Hoffman’s autograph. I don’t recall getting it, butI did.

After the retreat, which was somewhere near Umatilla, we all gathered at East India Ice Cream Shoppe in Winter Park. I remember former classmate Missy Gaston working there that night. She was shocked when I told her later who she was serving.

What I have always remembered from the retreat was Hoffman speaking of the need for “one world” “an order” “a world dollar”. It was just a couple years later that George H.W. Bush started preaching a “New World Order”, essentially what Hoffman had described at the retreat. A major reason I have a problem with the Bush family.

We had our first Suncoast Inkslinger meeting in a few months. We gathered at Bay Coast Coffee Market in Clearwater. Below is a photo of the gathering. To the right is a sketch I made during a discussion with Ron Johnson and Jim Fern about the possibility of Ben Franklin being a mad scientist.

A couple weeks after the kidney stone affair and a trip the the doctors office to have a stint removed I attended with Sandra the annual Florida Outdoor Writers Association meeting. I picked up the pen for the first time since the medical mess and tried drawing. I had a heck of a time with focus and depth perception. A doctor there said I was still suffering from a form of disorientation from the anesthesia. As I drew I was able to better focus, but the whole thing was very disturbing to me. After 30 years of drawing I hadn’t felt like that before.

Above Sandra adds to her multi-numerous awards! Here presenter Ralph Allen congratulates her.

Here’s FOWA members Sandra, Pat Pochurek, Charlene Johnson and Doug Kelly.