Back To The Grind

Reality Sets In


We made it home from St. Cloud in record time yesterday afternoon—about 4 hours—arriving back on our little island by about 4 PM in time to enjoy a couple of happy hour drinks down at Marsh Point and make the obligatory trip to the grocery store. Tenderloin Steaks, crumbled blue cheese, fresh asparagus, and fresh baked basil bread were on the evening’s dinner menu.

Negotiating traffic on Interstates 4 and 95 can sometimes be daunting, but yesterday the traffic volume was moderate and the average speed was about 80 MPH, peaking on one stretch in Georgia at 90 MPH—thus the low elapsed time in transit. I don’t usually do much speeding in my recent driving history, but jumping into the middle of a dozen vehicles driving fast but otherwise rationally seemed to not be a problem at that moment.

We were relieved to find our neighbor in good health and the good hands of his nurses, no worse for our extended weekend absence. After checking in with him and having a brief visit, the grill was lit, the steamer basket fired up, and dinner was had at the coffee table in time to settle in and watch Jeopardy.

I was asleep by 8:30 PM.

I don’t believe that I mentioned before that I took the online test last month to qualify for the interview and trial Jeopardy games to be held in Orlando this summer. I haven’t heard anything from them yet, but I still intend to pursue the opportunity to appear on the show in the next few years.

I realized that the online testing is ripe for fraud because they simply flash the questions on a web site and you have 15 seconds each to answer 50 questions. I’m fairly certain that some simple minded morons would be tempted to get a group of friends together and treat the online test like a bar room trivia contest, using their collective minds as a group to come up with the answers.

The problem arises when someone that got selected using this method has to do the live audition and has to tackle the questions alone--all by their lonesome.

I didn’t cheat, but I did get nervous and prematurely hit the “no answer” button a couple of times when I ended up knowing the answer.

I've just realized that I haven’t drawn a single line or touched a watercolor paintbrush in almost a week. After returning from West Virginia last week, I did manage to do some ink sketches of a couple of palm trees while sitting poolside here at the condo. I’m trying to develop some “on site” freehand drawing and painting skills, the results being an entirely different kind of art from that produced sitting at a drawing board using rulers and straight edges as a guide.

I’ve also developed a style by accident that comes across as almost cartoonish in appearance.

Here...take a look at this sketch…see what I mean?

My simple watercolor wash style needs a little work, but I think the coloring is what gives it the cartoon appearance.

Any way, I’ve got to buckle down and start cranking out some useable renderings of another half dozen structures, but I only have photo studies of two or three subject buildings available.

I want to finish the “Sanctuaries of the Golden Isles” series of churches first, but I’m distracted with things like lighthouses and courthouses and other neat historic structures

The good news is that I think that there is another excellent photo adventure in our future this weekend. Maybe another trip to Darien, or possibly a trip south to St. Mary’s or Kingsland?

We’ll just have to wait and see…