Late Thursday I had been drawing caricatures. To the left is one of the drawings I had done. A few hours later I was awakened by extreme pain and rushed to the hospital by my dear friends the Singers.

The folks at Sandlake hospital did a great job getting me through emergency room and into a hospital bed. The pain was as you may have either felt or heard of. Just horrible.

The next day emergency surgery was done to blast away a 7 millimeter stone that was blocking my kidney. Just before I was put under I asked for a piece of paper and pen to sketch something to put in the sketchbook. To the right is a quick sketch I drew of the anesthesiologist.

I woke in a hospital bed with all sorts of tubes connected to me. I learned from the urologist, Dr. Hilwa that there had been complications and the normal 45 min. work went on for 3 hours. I had pain return that was as bad as when I had entered the hospital. I was released the next day. My friend Ann Alexander at the hospital was great to visit and bring flowers and a balloon. The balloon helped me with concentration to get around the pain. Below is a photo of me by Sandra just before leaving the hospital.

Sandra and I made our way through Palm Beach County to visit a few parks in the area. We started off at Serenoa Glade Park. The posey below is from there.

From there we visited Sugar Sand Park. The sketch to the right is of a very rare plant sprouting from a sabal palm. We also stopped at Blazing Star Preserve.

The film above was shot at Grassy Water Preserve. Below is the sketch I made.

On the way home we saw this was the weather we encountered.

I attended the Friday luncheon of the Florida Press Association at historic The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida. During the luncheon the Florida Press Association presented awards to those of the daily papers. Also given were awards from The First Amendment Foundation. The Pete Weitzel/Friends of the First Amendment Award was given to Pat Gleason, who is an assistant to Governor Charlie Crist on many things including open government. She is a great lady. She assisted Sandra and I when visiting the Governors Library & Sandra donated many of her books. Governor Crist was at the luncheon to present the award. Below is a fuzzy photo of Pat Gleason speaking, to the right of the photo.

I was honored to receive the Sunshine Award for my editorial cartoons on the subject of Sunshine Week. Below the photo are the two Sunshine Week cartoons. My time at Orlando City Hall greatly helped my constructing these two cartoons. Director  Barbara Peterson was a big help!

To the right is a colored sketch of drapery in The Breakers.

While at the Florida Press luncheon I met Mark Mathes who once editted a ton of cartoonists when he was with Tribune Media Services. Amongst those is cartoonist and editor, Dick Kulpa. Dick was one time editor of the infamous Weekly World News.  I once penciled a week of comics strips for Dick’s comic strip ‘Ghost Story Club’ many years ago.

Anyway, Mark invited Dick over and we went to dinner. Dick and I drew each other and a photo of such is below.

The next day (the 9th) I slipped over to the 1713 Powder Magazine. Please click on the links to lean more of each location.

The first tour for Tuesday was to Patriot Point. Photos below. Patriot Point is home to the U.S.S. Yorktown naval ship which is so large that inside is a naval air museum full of airplanes.

The locations honors our Medal of Honor recipients. Below is a photo of the wall of those who earned the honor.

Below our exemplary guide, Ken Goodman, helps writer Stuart Newman locate a school buddy of his who posthumously received the first Medal of Honor during WWII. The terminals are set up to look up all those honored with the Medal of Honor.

From Patriot Point we made our way to Fort Moultrie. The fort is where Seminole leader Osceola was imprisoned and then killed. More about that soon at our Genuine Florida site.

Our next tour was a movie set tour. Amongst the places we stopped is the current working set for Lifetime network’s ‘Army Wives’. Below are sketches from around the sets we visited. We got to get a very private tour just for our group that included watching scenes being shot.

Below are photos from the costuming area. Buckets of military boots and racks of military shirts.

Later that evening we were driven out to Middleton Place and had a farewell dinner with some fine entertainment from this bluegrass band. Middleton Place is a fantastic site of gardens and history.

The next morning (the 8th) was a breakfast meeting for the SATW. I went out and got a photo of one of two neon signs left in Downtown Charleston.

The first of our tours of Charleston was to The Citadel.

I loved these hand painted metal soldiers. I wish I had that kind of patience to paint such intricacy!…Well, a lot of people wish I had that kind of patience!

The second tour was to Magnolia Gardens. Below is a page of sketches made there.

Below is a few photos from Magnolia Place.

We made our way north to the annual meeting of the Society of American Travel Writers/Atlantic-Carribean Chapter in Charleston, South Carolina. Upon arriving the Chapter board hit the town and had dinner at a snazzy spot (I forget the name of). Above is a sketch of folks at the bar just beyond our table.

The next morning (the 7th) I ran outside and got photos, including the one above of a staue of the father of our country.

There was a reception for the membership. Afterward we went on a ghost tour. Photos below.

My first entry of my new Rob’s Video Sketchbook. Friends, J.R. Griggs and Mark Shilensky suggested this and I’m giving it a go. The first one is clunky, but it’s a start. below is the sketch. All done at the Steak ‘n Shake on 17-92 in Winter Park.

More and more most of the art I draw is at a local coffee shop where I get away from the phones, internet and various other distractions. Here’s one of the tables at the Chelsea Coffee shop with the drawing board that friend Richard Menard got me years ago, along with pens and an editorial cartoon. I clip the I-pod to the side of the board and listen to political talk shows.

Easter Sculptures! Two items received. The one above from my friend Diana Eberle from Germany. It’s a Kinder hollow chocolate rabbit. I love the cartoon bunny. Below is something the Eater Bunny delivered, Quax, a chocolate ducky.

I learned of Paul Newman’s death this morning. My favorite Newman films are ‘The Hustler’, ‘A New Kind of Love’, ‘Harper’ and, the Florida based, ‘Absence of Malice’. As I worked on other projects, I starting playing Newman films in the player. Above is a quick sketch I drew of him from ‘The Young Philadelphians’.

I spent a good part of the day at McCain HQ putting together a ton of signs (See above) and various other chores.