Sketch Society was hopping at the Java Junction. Craig Zablo has photos and more info you can see by clicking here. I did some computer artwork and pencilled and inked some spot art. The little boy is one of those. It was great fun and fellowship.

We made a trip to White Springs so that Sandra could drop off a ton of materials for the upcoming hiking festival and to test a hike she will be leading a “V.I.P.” group on Saturday. The test was to see how much of the trail was passable due to recent high water levels of the adjacent Suwannee River. We tried getting through a number of ways but kept running into the Suwannee running over the trail or thick clusters of saw palmetto being impossible to find a way around the water. The hope is that the water recedes and the trail will be passable Saturday. Otherwise, Sandra will have to take them down boring dirt roadways used by government vehicles to do whatever they do. It was a lot of walking for me, but much needed. Above is a sketch of a native azalea. Click here to see a photo of the azalea flowers at Genuine Florida.

Here is a sketch of the former Adams Dry Goods Store that has clocked a hundred years and still stands proudly at the main crossroads of White Springs.

It was Sandra’s birthday and that evening headed to Alachua and had dinner at a great and very popular spot, Conestoga’s. Friend Phyliss Walinsky joined us. We had a terrific meal of steaks and, courtesy of the restaurant, birthday cake ice cream. Below are a few drawings of  a few sitting near us. The middle lady was a bit odd and ended up creating a bit of a spectacle in the restaurant. The end guy looked a bit Burt Lahr-ish.

We had dinner with a couple of Sandra’s hiking buddies. The couple were the ones that Sandra on the trail of being a professional hiker. The dinner spot was ‘Charlie Horse’ in Ocala.

The drawing is of an oar that is part of the various wall decoration at the restaurant.

Today is Lucile Fair Day in Orlando! Lucile turns the big 100! With an exception of 2 months, Lucile has lived in Orlando, Florida her whole life.

Above is a portion of the card I drew and given to her this past Wednesday at a celebration for her. At the event, City Commishoner Robert Stewart presented Lucile with a proclamation declaring today ‘Lucile Fair Day’.

Over the years Lucile has painted cards for folks for holidays. I have a small gallery of a few of the cards from the past two years. That is  she was 97 and 98 when she painted these. I’ll add more to the gallery as I can.
Here’s the gallery:
http://robsmithjr.smugmug.com/lucilefair

We started off at the Orlando Remembered meeting where we celebrated Lucile Fair’s upcoming 100th birthday. Above is a photo of Peggy Jo Van den Berg handing a card I drew for Lucille’s birthday. Beside that Banning Radler signs the card. Amongat the guests that came is City Commisioner Robert Stewart. Here he is with Lucile below.

Sandra then went on to meet up with our friends the Singers. I went on to accomplish a number of chores and then an afternoon meeting with Kris Woodson at the Orlando Public Library and the owner of the 8 store Coliseum of Comics, Phil Boyle. We’re cooking up big plans on May 3rd. Moreto come soon!

I then went on to do an oral history with Terry Ivy, a fifth generation Florida native.

After that I met with Sandra at Harris Rosen’s new spot, The Shingle Creek Resort. We had dinner at ‘A Land Remembered’ , named after the book by Patrick Smith that I think should be mandatory reading for all Floridians. We had a  yummy dessert they serve at the restaurant, Key Lime Custard.

Below is a drawing of  the back of a person at the restaurant who gestured quite a bit. Beside that is a photo of the butter serve. We had to watch it’s bite.

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.