Started painting this this morning and just finished it here during the Florida Parents Educators Association convention in Osceola County, Florida. The setting is Tarkiln Bayou Preserve State Park near Pensacola..

Got together with friends this evening at Stardust Video & Coffee. It was great fellowship with Neal Davies, Robert Baurle, Rich Scott and Cindy Mackey. Lots of drawing, talking about cookies, world events and Florida memories.

Before we gathered, I got a bunch of cartooning and illustration artwork done. Will post a composite soon.

Got together with my friends during our Orlando Remembered meeting at the Orange County Regional History Center in Orlando this morning. Here’s a few of the attendees. First row: Ann Bennett, Shirley Cannon, Joy Wallace Dickinson and Tana Porter. it’s me and Grace Chewning in the back.

Had a great meeting with lots of plans to preseve Orlando history!

You Bet Your Life by Stuart M. Kaminsky

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A real fun book of the constantly depressed Toby Peters out to calm the anger of mob guys after Chico Marx, of the Marx Brothers. Much like the rest of the series, Toby encounters others known of the era of the ’40s.

Pretty well written, as always. However, there are a few loose ends that, I believe, may have been part of an effort to throw the reader as to who-done-it. Though, to me, it was pretty obvious from near the beginning. This was the first of the Toby Peters series I have read where the bad individual was figured out fast.

The depictions of the Marx brothers, of which I am a solid fan, is quite off from what they were off screen. Harpo was known to have, and I have heard it myself, a deep New York accented voice and Groucho was known to be far more subdued in regular life. Chico’s depiction by Kaminsky is what I have read it was.

This book also shows Kaminsky’s adept ability to write about Chicago and not Florida, at the time. Chicago is written in such depth, while only a glancing blow is made of an opening scene in Florida. This changes dramatically when Kaminsky writes his Lew Fonesca series based in Sarasota, Florida.

Overall, I recommend the book.

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Hernando de Soto among the Apalachee by Charles R. Ewen & John H. Hamm

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A terrific literal mapping out of DeSoto’s trek across Florida and his visit near Tallahassee. Very thorough and lots of cross referencing done within the volume itself. The best of this is reading the translated journals of those who chronicled the hike.

The focus is the Christmas encampment near Tallahassee. The well noted archaeological work, what is found, theories based upon mostly empirical data and the journals can ease the reader into a comfort of more historical facts than in some similar works.

In my case, i am sure to return to the journals and re-read them. Parts of it are quite something. At one point a journalist queries as to why, in that God had brought DeSoto to conquer the land for the Kingdom of Spain, the hikers couldn’t get the indians to see the conquistador’s superiority. Afterall, the Spanish visitors have “cut off their [the indian’s] noses and their hands”. Why can’t they all be friends?, he wonders. I can see how this attitude would greatly perplex those with today’s flowery, “reality” television laced and sugary view of the world today.

A definite book to read for better understanding of the impact of the Spanish on the indians in Florida – Despite much of what is going on this year of 2013 in Florida involving something called ‘Viva 500’ where much of what is written in this book is flipped for seemingly politically correct reasoning. Forgive me if I take my history with more factual accuracy than the fictional white washing today.

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Took a short hike in a park I’d never visited before in Sumter County. Lake Okahumpka Park sits in between Leesburg and Wildwood in north Central Florida. It is clearly created for the nearby The Villages, that houses mostly out of state retirees.

Attended the 8th Annual John Young History Maker Celebration put on by the Orange County Regional History Center. Grace Chewning, Peggy Jo van den Berg, Charlie Gray, Shirley Cannon, Bob & Texann Ivy Buck were there from our Orlando Remembered group.

Curtis Stanton was honored as a past History Maker for his extensive work as leading the Orlando Utilities Commission to what it is today. As Present History Maker, Rita Bornstein was recognized for her being president of Rollins College from 1990 until 2004 and her philanthropy.

As usual, I took no photos of myself but of Swampy. Above is a photo of Swampy with History Center volunteers with stacks of mini cupcakes handed out to attendees as they left.

Here are caricatures drawn today during an event in Moss Park in south Orange County, Florida.

Got a chance to pick some oranges in a grove in Tangerine, Florida, today.

Found a great sight for a future Swampy’s Florid watercolor painting! See the pitcher plants? Saw a boatload of them at Clear Creek Nature Trail near Milton in the past hour.

Trail from St. Augustine by Lee Gramling

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Folks have been telling me for years to read Lee Gramling and, over the years, I picked up the Pineapple Press series. I just read my first one after starting to collect them in the 1990s. I almost wish I had not cracked open the book and just ride the praise I’ve heard of them.

The story starts in 1700s British St. Augustine and continues in the northern part of the state. That is, if you want to call it a story. It’s a very flimsy premise that is cloaked in a novel length chase toward a common goal. The writing is almost Ok and the narrative about the outdoors is less than that. His best writing is during the many scenes of action.

What might have my opinion extra low is reading prior to this Frank Slaughter’s ‘Storm Haven’ that is so beautifully written and well researched. This book pales in comparison. Gramling, being a fifth generation Floridian, I am sure did his best to construct the best novel he could about early Florida. He just needed direction in plotting, narrative and story telling.

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