Well our intent was to see Rock City. A continuous rainstorm washed those plans out. This is a drawing I did from the gift shop.

We’re on our way to The Festival of Cartoon Art in Columbus, Ohio! Whenever we get the chance to stop in Chattanooga, Tennessee. So our first overnight stop was there. Tuesday morning we roamed through the Downtown and stopped at a great coffee shop. The drawing is an interior drawing of the shop.

I was at the Citrus Club for a gathering. I took a peek outside and thought I’d sketch my old haunt of Orlando City Hall. Now snug between other structures here City Hall peeks beteen.

Being such a big fan of The Rat Pack, I’m very sorry to read of the death of Joey Bishop. Bishop was the last of the Pack living. I remember him oh so well guest-hosting The Tonight Show and his many appearance on television. After reading of his death I broke open a DVD set of his early ’60s TV show and played them as I worked.

The art is part of this weeks ‘It Takes A Village’ from the Glenn Beck site.

By the way, I’ve been couped up working on a very large project that I fianlly finished yesterday. It’s been quite a haul getting it done. But it is done. I can’t write much more about it. If and when I can, I will.

Today begins multi-weeks on the road for one reason or the other, so this blog should get more active beyond the books I’ve been reading.

We broke away from the FOWA group to nose around Crystal River. We stopped at their Heritage Village and an ice cream shop. After the fall from the night before I was skiddish to try sketching. However, I did find a link to cartooning. At the Poe House Bookstore in Crystal River I found a copy of the life of cartoonist “Ding” Darling. Darling later lived in southwest Florida and had a significant impact on environmental issues around the country thanks to his political cartoons. So much so that a park was named in his honor on Sanibel Island.

I also love the pulp covers on the paperbacks published prior to 1960. Here’s the cover of a Zane Gray (Once a Keys resident) western yarn I also picked up at Poe House. Click on the image for a larger version.

The Friday night dinner was in the Riverfront Resort’s little meeting area. The food was OK, but the temperature was not. It was very warm and fans set up didn’t help. Apparently they are unaccustomed to hosting many group functions and couldn’t get the temperature to comfortable areas.

 After the dinner was an auction. The drawings are of an observer and below of the auctioneer, the famed fish forecaster on film, Jim Wilson.

One item I wanted from the auction and didn’t immediately bid on was for a trip down to South Florida to have some fum with the Seminoles. involving swamp buggy rides and the like. A friend bid and won the trip. Afterward we were talking to her and she said we should take the trip. So we headed back to the auction to take care of it. As I was trying to make my way to the building I was trying to walk around a large pick-up truck with large plastic kayaks on top. Because of it’s size, it blocked the light to the ground. Also because of it’s size it made getting to the building difficult. As I made my way around the truck, I couldn’t see the oversized concrete parking barrier and tripped over it. Aas I tried to get my footing on the other side of the barrier I came down and tripped again on a large rock in the median area next to the building. I came down on my right hand and right knee. I had some nursing help from a FOWA member and kept it iced. Not sure what is wrong with the hand and only hope it gets better.

After returning to land from the island lunch we headed over to Homosassa Springs State Park. Sandra had frequented the park often through her life. She has seen it as a tourist attraction and, after the state bought it, as a state park. This was my first visit inside the park. Lots of animals everywhere. Even the hippo Sandra had fed lettuse to as a young girl was still there. The hippo’s name today is Luce. The name is not honoring the creator of Time magazine, it’s a shorter version of his original name, Lucifer.

We went into the underground viewing area of the river and saw mostly snook and a few other fish. We were surprised by the giant figure that filled the plexiglass window. A mantee rounded the viewing area twice. It was a quiet day at Homosassa Springs and Sandra and I had the underwater area pretty much to ourselves. The drawing above is of one of the snooks.

We were at the annual Florida Outdoor Writers Association meeting in Homosassa Springs. We started off with an outdoor steak dinner. It also started the toughest part of the event: The Heat! Gosh, it was hot. But there was more heat to come.

The event was held at the Riverfront Resort. Sandra and her family started staying at it more than 35 years ago when visiting Florida.

I was sorry to hear of the death of another celebrity illuminary. She was great in many films. My favorite is her part in Frank Capra’s ‘Here Comes the Groom’. I love the scene of her and Crosby singing ‘In the Cool, Cool, Cool in the Evening’. One of the funnest scenes in film.

‘Hurricane Punch’ is Tim Dorsey’s 9th novel about his comdeic serial killer anti-hero. The more you know about our great state of Florida, the funnier the books are. This has some great scenes. Covering everywhere from Everglades City to Bok Tower in which the state is understtack by innumerous hurricanes.