Scare for a Moment

We had a scare. For a short time we thought our favorite Asian food restaurant in Topeka had closed down. It wasn't until that moment that I realized how much we loved it and would miss it. Then I thought of life without Jade Garden. Was it possible? Ah, that's just plain silly . . . or is it? We have a few good Mexican restaurants, and three descent Italian restaurants. Between Topeka and Lawrence we have some good choices, but only one really good Jade Garden. That put me into a funk. You don't know what you have until it's gone.

Then we found it wasn't true . . . and I feel great!

Sketch Crawl Oct/2012

Our sketch crawl this month was at The Elms in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. The group has been there many times, but I don't make it as often as I'd like and it was my first trip there. I fell in love with the stone masonry on the front porch. Wish I would have fallen in love with something in the lobby, which had a big fireplace going on this cold day.  I huddled with my warm coat on my three-legged stool and sketched away.

After the masonry I looked inside and it was part of the Kitchen. The wait staff was walking briskly through the room and gave me the eye through the window, but were nice or neutral. A couple came to say hi and see what I was doing. They seemed to like the sketch. One even asked if I needed anything to stay warm! I'm not sure exactly what my options were (a coffee? a bourbon and water? a blanket?), but I declined and thanked them anyway.

Talked to an employee who was cleaning the brass on the luggage cart. He was young and we talked about the Brasso he was using and got into its uses in guns, which I found we both had an interest in. Luckily the guests weren't needing help, because I was sure slowing up their staff. They have a nice coffee shop where I bought an espresso drink to nurse as I sketched. Then we all went to a local restaurant to grab a bite and a talk and pass around sketchbooks. A good day by any measure.

Bike & Sketch

These Fall days have been great! The colors make me stare, which can get dangerous when driving. That's why I decided to pull a day's vacation and pedal around Topeka for a day. It's been TOO long since I've sketched (please don't look at the posting date of my last entry) (I told you not to!) so I wanted to merge the two activities into one meandering day sketching through the urban and rural bike trails.

We live southeast of town, and we're lucky to live close to the Landon Trail (a rail-to-trail). I can catch it into town and pick up the Shunga Trail along the Shunganunga Creek to spread out around town. This ended up being a full day's jaunt. I need to do this more often. Temperature was moderate, air was filled with the smell of dropping leaves, and the trails don't have much traffic. Coffee breaks are required and my pace is casual by design. Too bad this isn't a paying gig.

I did the pen sketching and color work on-site and added text once I get home, after I've had time to absorb it all. Like I said, it's been too long. Really miss the sketching routine, so maybe I can motivate myself to get back in the saddle. I've determined that I'll be sketching the rest of my life, but I just don't know how often since other duties call, too. Choices no different than everyone else has.

Spring 2012

Things around here have been growing like crazy, like most place in the country this year. No long freezes this year. I think the plants were primed and ready to start. This is only my second year in a new herb garden bed, and they're going to town. No basil to plant yet, but we're eating the perennials now. The air is just right now, too. Our summers can be oppressively hot and humid in Kansas, so I'm enjoying the pre-summer temperatures. It's nice to lounge around on the porch listening to the birds, bugs and frogs.

On the sad side, we lost our Shadow this month. His hips just gave out. At 16 he was really 112. He was the last of two dogs we adopted from the Humane Society for our two very young kids. Nikki, the first one, died about four years ago. Both taught our kids a love of animals and confirmed that Wilma and I are both dog people.

Now we sit back, wait for the dandelion poison to work, and curse the frequent mowing required this time of year. But I still smile.

More Business Travel

This week I was traveling for meetings again. This isn't a big part of my job, but it is a part of it.The return trip was the challenge. Up at 4:30 a.m. to catch a plane from San Antonio to Denver, but not before landing in Dallas and then Amarillo. Denver weather held me up in Amarillo, which started my sketching time. I didn't have my sketch gear so I used my trusty ball point pen and a couple pieces of blank bond paper I happened to have. It did help pass the time, and was calming.


I also brought along "An Illustrated Life" to read. I've been looking at the pictures for many months and finally started reading the text. I find it insightful to read what professional artists do for their illustrated journals, but I wish he would have talked to regular people who don't have the college art degree and don't have the art career. These are the regular folks that this whole every day matters movement was directed toward. Danny Gregory can go in any direction he pleases, and I do admire professional artists, but I want to see how regular people like me use illustrated journals in their day-to-day lives. I don't think I'll ever view a journal like a professional artist does, though I was pleased that I could relate to what several of the artists describe as reasons for journaling. Now that Danny has 'gone pro' in his work and Dan Price is publishing his Moonlight Chronicles only half the year and given up gainful employment for surfing, I feel us regular people are loosing our champions of the every-day illustrated journaling movement. For that I'm sad.

Sketch Crawl Feb/2012

Well, it's Sketch Crawl Feb/2012. This time we went to the Bass Pro Shop in Independence, Mo. My first time in this store, and I was impressed. Plenty of decor to sketch. Didn't get too many stares from customers, either. Everyone was too busy shopping to notice us. All the old equipment used for decoration seemed to have a story if only they could talk.

Spork Vandal

For Christmas I received a bamboo spork, among other things. Cody thought it would make a nice backpacking accessory, and I agree with him. Light. Strong. Functional. Multi-use. That's the type of item just made for backpacking. I left the spork on the floor in the living room for the night. 

A little more plot development is needed here. Brian and Michelle brought their adorable beagle Moab to stay, too. He's as cute as can be. Doesn't say much. He is a real slave to his nose, being a pure bred hunting dog. He'll trail his masters through the yard or through a city block of concrete and asphalt. A true master of tracking. He's got a run of the house because he's behaved. At least that's the prevailing belief.

We all go to bed and in the morning I find the spork is eaten in half, with the tines nowhere to be found. We ask Moab if he saw anything and he just looks at us with that cute mug. Couldn't have been him. I guess we'll never know.

The spork is made by bambu and marketed as picnic ware. I found where they bought it (a kitchen supply store) and went back and bought two. We'll try them out.