Near the Elliott Museum is the House of Refuge. Click here for more information. This is the last of 9 that once existed. Very neat historic landmark and quite a place to be and realize it’s history.

The sketch is of a bear trap hanging on a rather elaborate hook that is part of an exhibit in the Refuge building.

As we headed home we made a stop at the Elliott Museum in Stuart. See the website for details. Amongst the items in the museum is the gun above purported to have once belonged to John Ashley of the notorious Ashley Gang. Learn more of the Ashley Gang by clicking here.

New at the museum is a great exhibit of Floirda native, Frances Langford. Langford was an actress, singer and is best known for her joining Bob Hope on his many military visits. The display itself is worth the trip if you’re a fan as I am.

There are art classes taught at the museum also. I’ll highly recommend these. I saw quite a bit of the results coming out of the classes and was very impressed. Whoever was teaching got a lot out of 6 year olds.

We stopped at the ice cream social being held by the Loxahatchee Chapter of the Florida Trail Association in Green Acres at a giant park that is adjacent to the Florida Turnpike. Sandra got to see a lot of old friends and, having my caricature equipment with me, drew attendees.

Amongst those I drew is the oldest member of the Floirda Trail Association, a fellow named Henry, who is 92 years old. That’s him at the top.

 A quartet came to the James A. Haley V.A. Hospital in Tampa. Cartoonist, Tom Armstrong, his wife, Glenda, mayself and my brother, Jeff, all came to bring a bit of cheer to our greatest American heroes. Tom, who draws the comic strip Marvin, and I were guided though the many cooridors by the V.A.’s Steve Wilson, who is very good at keeping the area he’s in very bright with his sense of humor.

We saw many service folks and their families. Tom drew Marvin and characters along with a hilarious Elvis for a ’50s music fan. I drew caricatures. We had a great time.

The photo is of Tom, V.A. volunteer, Helen, and myself and the drawings she received. Helen is about to celebrate 35,000 hours of volunteerism. That’s over 21 years of work. Wow! I urged her to make it to 100,000 hours!

Book: Keep It Crisp by S.J. Perelman (1947)

Hilarious!

A terrific collection of his work that is now out of print. Perelman relates stories of dogs leaving letters for their owners, a take-off of detective pulp novels and of how wealthy parents break the news to their son that they are rich because they own- Gasp!- ten-cent stores! There are some collections of Perelman still being published you could look for. The best place to head to is your local library where I first discovered Perelman as a child.

Had dinner with friends in Jacksonville at a Mimi’s Cafe near the University of North Florida. I was fortunate to be able to dine (From left to right) Don & Becky Perlin, Ed & Emmy Hall and Marsh Moreno. Good food with the exception of the very long hair that was literally tightly wrapped around a porkchop of Ed’s.

Lots of cartooning gab since most of us are cartoonists. Don is a legend in the superhero arena, drawing everybody from Ghost Rider to the Defenders. Ed Hall is a prolific editorial cartoonist who’s with the same syndicate I am. Marsh Moreno is a hotdog caricaturist who has drawn one of the best caricatures of me ever drawn. Wives Becky Perlin and Emmy Hall had to endure another evening of cartoon talk!

EXCELLENT!!!!

 ‘Raised Eyebrows’ is an excellent overview of the last three years of the life of one of America’s cleverest comedians, Groucho Marx. Author, Steve Stoliar, crafts an excellent tale, that reads almost as a novel of fiction, weaving in complex individuals as a person with borderline personality disorder; her employer, an aging individual who realizes his life is slipping; the family and friends and the legal battle that ensues.

This is a book to read and learn more of the elderly, for one. I work with a lot of folks who are aging and see so much true in what Stoliar writes. The baby boom generation, I think, needs to be in tune with what awaits them in the future and this is great guidance. Despite was Dennis Hopper might say in a financial commercial, you don’t dictate your aging. Coming to terms with aging is a far heakthier track to take.

Also, this is a very good unintentional study of someone with borderline personality disorder, Groucho’s assistant Erin Fleming. These stories are hard to find. Mostly because the people are hard to monitor and those that have such a person around them typically become co-dependent.  I was unfortunate to have the experience with my ex-wife and feel bad that anyone has to experience such a warped life. Fleming made the mistake of having independent observers who could see the problem. Yet we are fortunate that Stoliar stepped forward and wrote about the experience.

Another dental visit for a teeth cleaning.

This would have been my mother’s 69th birthday.
As a minor celebration my mother’s sister, Nickie, her husband, Connie, and myself indulged in cake at their home in north Tampa. Above is my slice.

I decided to mark the 30th anniversary of Groucho Marx’s death by heading over to the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City and purchasing a hand rolled Tampa cigar. The Columbia has a gift shop adjacent to the 102 year old restaurant. There gentlemen cigar rollers create cigars right there in the gift shop. I purchased a cigar that had a waiting period. You  are to wait two weeks before smoking the cheroot. I, not a smoker, will add the cigar with the one I purchased for the 25th anniversary – A Groucho coffee cup.

The drawing is of the desk that the cigar maker uses to make the cigars. The boxes in the desk hold the completed cigars for them to be readied for purchase.

I headed over to the Tampa Comic Con after the Inkslingers meeting. I was heading out there to spend time with some friends that would otherwise be tied to a drawing board (not unlike myself) and they take the occasion of a comic book convention to stop and relax and then go home to half-kill themselves at the drawing board again (not unlike myself). I bot to visit for awhile with comic book greats John Beatty and Jim Fern.

Though I certainly have no reason to ad to any more purchases involving comic book anything, friend Geoff Brenneman had a stack of artist supreme Fran Matera’s comic strip, Mike Nomad/Steve Roper, originals for sale. AND though, I slready have a healthy lot of Matera originals, I had to purchased more. I LOVE Matera’s work. Most of his work has been of the serious comic strip and comic books variety. His simple and direct style amazes me. At different times his strip took place in Florida, where he lives. That his depiction of Florida landscapes are so expertly rendered in a strip that he had to produce seven days a week is remarkable. We’re out in the wilds of Florida alot and my wife and I see many Florida artists and Fran Matera’s illustrating of the real Florida is tops!

Above is a panel from one of the strips I purchased yesterday. Look at those mangorves and that stilt house. WOW!