I spent the day at Silver Springs State Park hand drawing and painting Valentine’s cards for a special price. While there I also promoted our Silver Springs Festival and Marion County Museum of History and Archaeology. I, as usual, fumbled trying to sell cards and went about cheerleading what I was promoting. Finally, folks got wise they were missing out on a great deal involving Valentine’s Day cards and I was put to the test to knock out many as the day closed. Notice it is nearly dark in one photo.

Tim and Daniel Reynolds, of The Knowledge Exchange, the publishers of all things Swampy, delivered over a thousand copies of my brand new ‘Swampy’s Florida: Silver Springs State Park’ book to Deb Wilson, ranger, at Silver Springs State Park. – http://swampysflorida.com/?p=9928

Terisa Glover and I had a blast in Tarpon Springs Sunday while doing research for an upcoming Swampy’s Florida coloring book. Above and below are a couple sketches done during the trip. Unfortunately, a trip to Ozona, Florida found that one of my favorite Bar-B-Q places, the Ozona Pig, was closed for the day. Sooooo, it’s a trip across the street to Molly Goodheads for fish food. Because of that the drawings ensued.

Earlier in the day we teed off in Tarpon Springs and was welcomed by the sign below. I figured it meant ‘Beware of Hurricane Ahead’.

It’s fried shrimp time at Hella’s Restaurant! Wanna see what Swampy had? Check out Swampy’s Florida Sunday.

Penny for your thoughts? Getting a scrunched official Tarpon Springs penny.

For those who know the story, Sunday, the 5th, is also Taylor’s 19th birthday. I had my annual banana split at a restaurant in downtown Tarpon Springs in honor of his birthday. These folks don’t usually make banana splits, but did an excellent job!

Here’s artwork for a Swampy’s Florida coloring book I just wrapped up a preliminary version of Gatorama , in south Florida. I’ll be showing this version at the Florida Historical Society meeting starting Thursday.

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.

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.

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.

Butch Wilson is the curator of the Clewiston Museum. He also has a large family. He left his home with forty people there to open the museum for our group of mostly hikers the day after Thanksgiving. He gave us a tour, a twenty minute talk and all the courtesy one could. It is heartwarming to see such dedication to educate and inspire others of the history, heritage and culture of our great state of Florida. A sketch of Butch is below along with sketches I made of inhabitants of the Lake Okeechobee region at one time.

Sandra made our way into Palm Beach County and made a stop at Lion Country Safari. They’ve recently celebrated 40 years at their location. We saw plenty of critters including the spring monkeys above that I sketched.

 Made a trip into Gainesville to pick up materials for the McCain campaign. Quickly sketched these University of Florida students waiting for the light to change, as I was, at a Gainesville corner.

After running around for the McCain campaign, I headed over to the Springs Festival dinner for sponsors, the Springs Festival committee and politicians at Silver Springs. Sandra has been gone in Southwest Florida this past week working on stories and updating a book. She had driven from there to be at the dinner.

There were a number of speakers. Below is one of those continuing to sducate us about the fragility of our water supply in Florida.

We made our way onto the Big Cypress Reservation to the Billie Swamp Safari. Above is a croc that lives around the swamp buggy ride we took.

Above is a tree, with bucket chapeau, I sketched along the swamp buggy trail.

We also took an airboat ride. I sketched these as the airboat roared along.

Billie Swamp Safari is a terrific place that all Floridians and non-Floridians should make a must-stop!

Later we had dinner with friends Kathy Wolfe, Phyllis Malinksy and the ever-jolly Rob Labby at Tropical Acres Restaurant. Above is Rob entertaining us all.