This week it’s from the humor side with Harpo Marx from my favorite comedy team – The Marx Brothers.

I’ve loved the Brothers since I first saw one of their films on Channel 9 in Orlando in the ’70s when I was small. I specifically remember watching Marx Brother marathons overnight after the start of the new year on Channel 9. That early appreciation of satire has me appreciating the sharp humor of Dorothy Parker, S.J. Perelman, George S. Kaufman today.

This year I was away for New Years Eve in Fort Lauderdale. When I returned to my hotel room I pulled from a DVD set I had brought with me and started my own Marx marathon by slipping ‘Go West’ in my portable computer.

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Next week: Jameson Parker (Simon & Simon) – and the story of why I’m drawing him!

A visit to Silver Springs in Ocala. After 125 years of being around, they must be doing something right. I drew pages of sketches. Here are a few. 

Had dinner at an Outback Steakhouse and sketched the bread on the table.

Drew this of a collection of cottages that are part of an old fish camp in Leesburg. I was having a meal with my father at a Steak and Shake on 441 and drew this place while seated inside the restaurant. The fish camp is now part of a trailer park.

Here’s a painting I created for my father for his birthday. This is a service station and store just a couple blocks from where he was born. I found the image from a postcard that was very hard to make out what was what. I did a bunch of guessing.

This anchor is at the Jupiter Lighthouse park in Jupiter.

The anchor is from a ship that was coming back from plundering South America, the “San Miguel de Archangel”. The ship crashed its way into Jupiter Inlet in 1659. Lots has been recovered from the thieving ship from cannons to bullion from various spots in South America.

Here’s a sketch of the Hall’s HArdware sign in West Palm Beach. The sign is in the shape of a hammer about ten feet tall.

Hall’s opened in 1960 on US 1. Though the business changed hands in the ’80s, the sign stayed and the business is the great hardware store we remember that always has a helpful employee at the ready.

I was down in the Fort Lauderdale area for the New Year. drving home on the first I did my typical Florida history site seeing.

Here’s a sketch I drew of an original Dairy Queen from 1955. The take out only stand sits on U.S. 1 just north of Fort Lauderdale in the city of Lighthouse Point. According to the fellow who was working there, this Dairy Queen opened with the giant neon Dairy Queen sign on top. Eventually zoning laws had the sign taken away and destroyed. After stand was opened a strip shopping center was built behind it in three parts over the years. Over time the shopping center was completely made over and no longer reflects it’s origin. Thankfully, the Dairy Queen has maintained it’s integrity and still looks as it did in 1955.

The employee provided a photo of how the area originally looked. I took an unfortunate blurry photo of the photo. Nevertheless, I boxed in red the Dairy Queen. At the time it was pink. You can still make out the blue neon sign with an ice cream cone on it. Doesn’t that giant green shopping center sign, now gone, look cool!

Had our Suncoast Inkslinger meeting.
See http://www.suncoastinkslingers.com/

My annual card is finished! Here’s a sneak peek of a tiny portion of it!

I fell very behind when I found myself sick! Sandra had gone down to the annual “Big O Hike”, which involves hiking Lake Okeechobee, the day I started getting sick. Unfortunately, I was so busy it wasn’t until Saturday, when dizziness set in, that’s when I realized something was wrong. Found out I had a fever. That’s when I pulled the plug. It’s extremely rare that I get a fever and I know I’m in big trouble. Early Sunday morning my fever measured 102.9. I stayed in bed until Sandra got home Monday late afternoon. Started getting better Tuesday and fought through feeling lousy to get the editorial cartoons done. Sorry for any and all delays! No drawings during this time. I had trouble negotiating the hallway!

Also I feel terrible I missed the great Jack Kazanzas and the rising of the Orlando Christmas Star in Downtown Orlando. I was suppose to take pictures that Sunday morning, but there was no way I could be there. Plus, what I had, I caught and that illness is no gift I want to give Jack!