Vincent

My friend Vincent left and did not give me a chance to say "Good-Bye". I found out about his illness on Friday and Saturday he was gone. I have many fond memories of our peddling art in Charleston. We passed many hours in Washington park and on king street hawking our wares. And we talked a lot. We talked about everything like who was the greatest painter or who was the best local painter or who was the hottest Italian ice girl. Yes we did talk about women. Vincent had been amazed when the white girls hit on him in England. It was a new experience for a young man from Charleston. But Vincent was a family man also. He loved his wife and kids. Octavia particularly stole his heart. Girl children do that. He had a habit of disappearing on those hot afternoon and would reappear with customers in tow. He had met them at the bar in a local hotel and sold them on his art before they had even seen it. He was always ready to help at any task when needed.

Yes, I'll miss him, especially his telling folks that we were brothers since we had the same hair style.

(I don't think anyone ever believed him!)

Good-Bye Vincent

Just Puck It!

I attended my first hockey game yesterday. It was kind of a difficult decision. The NASCAR Las Vegas race was on television. Since we got the big screen, it's kind of hard for me to get away and I wanted to see "Rowdy" Busch win in his hometown. But, alas, I went to the hockey game. The local minor league team, The South Carolina Stingrays, was playing the Gwinnett Gladiators. Now, I don't know much about this sport, but if there are a bunch of guys flying around on ice skates with sticks chasing a flat ball, it would have to be fun. And it was. Them fellas really take that game seriously.. Fights break out all the time (I guess they are argueing about the little black thing.) as you can see in that picture in the upper left. I think that the object is for one team to put the flat rubber ball, also called a puck, whose name is no doubt in the Shakespearian tradition in a basket at one end of the frozen floor without suffering extreme bodily harm. The team that does this the most is the winner. Without getting kilt, of course.

A Terrorist's Terror

This is my latest video. I am a big supporter of our troops in the Middle East. This video shows a weapon that could even the odds against the terrorists. It began with a couple of still pictures from a friend. I was impressed and did further research. I found a video about the Barrett 50 Cal. sniper rifle and added the heavily edited video to my clip. I wanted to use a magazine page format. I initially considered showing my hand drawing the spaces for the photos to be inserted.

Flashback

Billy Bobs in Fort Worth, Texas is the biggest honky-tonk in the world. Situated in the old part of this modern Texas city, it attracts visitors from around the world. If I remember correctly and I'm remembering through a haze of Lone Stars the place is about 10 acres under one roof. It is a part of the stockyards which were once an integral part of the city's past. Cattle from this part of the state would be gathered here and shipped north via railroad to the slaughter houses in Kansas City and points north. Billy Bobs has numerous bars serving thousands of beers per night, eateries, dance floors and even it's own rodeo. Many famous country music entertainers have performed there including Willie Nelson and George Strait. So, if your ever in Ft. Worth drop into Billy Bobs. You'll be glad you did! And get you some souvenir shooter glasses!

What a Day Was Yesterday

Whataday today was! I started at the flea market where an Hispanic guy told me how to repair my airbrush in broken English and I bought some roasted peanuts. Lunch was great with a Hebrew national hotdog. (Even we Gentiles like 'em!) And then it being Saturday and all there was a chore with my main squeeze.You see Miss South Carolina was collecting dresses for charity. North Charleston Dream Center's Cinderilla Day is a project thet accepts donated dresses for girls who may not be able to afford their own prom dress.

So we went right down to make the delivery. I stepped out of the elevator into the midst of group of (i) chicas caliente(/i)!) "I'm in the rwrong place!", I say. But I was invited in. It was fun to see all the pretty girls and Miss SC, Stephanie Smith. is a very charming young lady and extremely easy on the eyes. I got my autographed photo and was gone after being verbally reprimanded by my main squeeze that I could not carry any of the girls home with me. (She does this all the time.)

Crossing the street on the way to the coffee shop I saw a Lamborghini. For the second time and as many hours my heart skipped a beat. That twelve cylinder engine sounded like a choir of angels. At the coffee shop I had a nice African coffee and met an English bulldog named Lucy. Later we had barbeque at the church with friends.

On the way home a friend called me from a local gallery and told me I had wone three ribbons in a local art contest. I had only entered four paintings. My First Place Winner in the watercolor catagory is seen below.

It just doesn't get much better than this. But maybe if I coulder?

No-o-o, my main squeese would never have let me get away with that...