The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first book of Hammett’s I’ve read and wish I’d read him in the past. This is a very good story. Well written. The skips in time by chapters does keep one wondering who might be involved with the central murder. There is no detective here. Just a fellow trying to help a pal. That fellow and just about everybody featured in the book are caught in an upcoming political election that is well described and helps move the story move beyond the average who-done-it. I look forward to reading more Hammett in the future.

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I joined the Thursday morning hiking group of the Florida Cracker Chapter of the Florida Trail Association for, what turned out to be, a strenuous 6 mile hike through San Felasco State Park. There are many more photos at the Swampy’s Florida site. You can see those by clicking here.

Along the way I got some sketchin’ done, too. Not as much as usual. Below are a couple of the slight scribblings I made along the way.

While hiking it’s always good to be prepared for emergencies by carrying a well stocked Pez container!

We found ourselves in an empty bed of a cypress swamp.

This should be under at least some water. Below is a lonely cypress knee.

Did this illustration of a fishing alligator catching a bass between Friday, December 2nd, and Saturday, December 3rd. Began the illustration at the First Friday event in Downtown Lakeland in front of The General Store. Finished it while at the Pioneer Florida Museum and Village in Dade City the next day. I wasn’t sure what I was going to illustrate at first and then my author friend, Bob Bass, stopped by with his new book about fishing bass and I knew what to draw.

I first sketched out the drawing in pencil on watercolor paper. Then i went over that with ballpoint pen.

Next I added the watercolor. As I painted i was thinking I wish I had slid the gator a bit farther back. The two do look a bit too close.

Finally, I went over the illustration with a dark grey Pitt brush marker. Now it goes off to the printer to make prints of.

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

For those who know The Rest of the Story – Here’s my annual tribute for Jacob’s birthday. Now off to get the annual banana split!