Here’s a page depicting discussions our Socrates Cafe group had at Chelsea Coffee Company on Tuesday.

It was park day last Sunday, October 2nd. It was also the 121st birthday of Groucho Marx. A trip to Homeland Heritage Park and Mosaic Peace River Park was in store. Had a great time with Terisa Glover and Sparky as we traversed the area of Homeland, Florida. More photos of the trip will show up at Swampy’s Florida.

It was from the boardwalk at Peace River Park that I drew the sketch above. Below is video of part of the sketch.

Above is a photo of the natural wonder you can take in at Peace River Park.

Here’s a church, which is part of the Homeland Heritage Park.

I later ran over to the week old opened Marshall Hampton Reserve near Lake Hancock in Lakeland. There’s a photo of that soon to appear on the Swampy’s Florida site. My non-Swampy photos didn’t turn out well. Very wild there. Posted as open to foot and equine travelers and apparently to bikers, who nearly ran me down.

I attended Presidency 5 on September 22nd and 23rd at and near the Orange County Convention Center. The gathering is of Republicans from all 67 counties in Florida, along with delegates who participate in a straw ballot to determine who the state is supporting for the presidency on the G.O.P. side.

I found myself wearing many hats during my time there which was okey dokey with me. Manning the information booth at the Rosen Plaza for a few hours for the Florida Federated Republican Women, of which I am an associate member, had me making use of my extensive knowledge of the area. On the 23rd I went onto the main concourse of the Orange County Convention Center and helped out in the Herman Cain campaign booth folding t-shirts and making tickets for an event the night of the 23rd, which I’ll detail further in Part 2.

The sketches above are from day 1, the 22nd. Below is a view of the concourse at the convention center from one point in both directions. This is at the end of the day and we were closing down. The night before this area was filled with people waiting to get into the Presidential debate.

For a short while I drew caricatures for the Florida Federated Republican Women. This is George Mann, who is a multi-generation Florida native whose family has been in the cattle business for over a century in Florida. He also is a Cracker storyteller.

On the left is Ann Archer (with her daughter Pam Archer) who is the longest serving on the Florida Executive Committee. At this point over 60 years. She was at one time in Dade County. On the right is the first black woman to serve on the Dade County Republican Executive Committee. I introduced these two and they shared stories of their times in Dade County.

Did the caricature thing Saturday. Here are some photos from the fun event!

Had a dental emergency last Friday which threw behind a stack of artwork I needed to get done. So I jumped on Justin TV and knocked out some 30+ illustrations in about five hours. Included in that are the two cartoons shown here. The one above is taking in two suggestions from watchers on Justin TV and quickly coming up with a funny scene. Above is involving Terisa Glover’s “Rollerblading” and Joe Read’s “Boxer”.

Below is a second one from Read and a friend also watch Justin TV. There suggestion involved their Aunt and flowers.

Below is a bunch of the artwork I drew today.

While attending a Socrates Cafe, I doodled a page from the topics that came along.

During the Justin TV broadcast asked for two contributions from those listening. “Artform” provided ‘tripping on a shoelace’ and “Filler1008″ wrote ‘Chef”. I took it from there and the artwork is above.

Been attending meetings in the past couple weeks. Here are sketches form Orlando Remembered (above), an executive Republican meeting (image 2) and the Marion County Springs Festival meeting (bottom).

Been promising a Dean Martin drawing to my friend Cathryn Grayson and was able to get it in today. The 7th would’ve been Dean’s 94th birthday. I’m a huuuuuge fan and hope one day to get to the annual Dean Martin Festival in Dean’s hometown of Steubenville, Ohio.

Saturday was ‘Take a Hike, Florida’ day! I joined in at the Grand Opening of the Charles Bronson State Forest in east Orange County near Christmas, Florida. There was a great turnout for the hike and the trail is EXCELLENT! It was great to run into a number of Florida Trail Association friends. As I hiked, I sketched. Above is one where I kept walking and sketching.

Here are some photos!:

The next morning (the 8th) was a breakfast meeting for the SATW. I went out and got a photo of one of two neon signs left in Downtown Charleston.

The first of our tours of Charleston was to The Citadel.

I loved these hand painted metal soldiers. I wish I had that kind of patience to paint such intricacy!…Well, a lot of people wish I had that kind of patience!

The second tour was to Magnolia Gardens. Below is a page of sketches made there.

Below is a few photos from Magnolia Place.