Art Imitates Life

Here's another of the pictures that didn't quite make it into my year-end calendar project. Which really isn't as bad as it sounds, since this was one of the top finishers out of about 35,000 pictures I took last year. This heron sculpture was found in front of a house on Anna Maria Island. They're big on bird sculptures out there.

Christmas Catch-up

I thought I had something new to share with you tonight on the Christmas music front, but I was wrong. Turned out that what I thought was another LP from Thurlow Spurr and The Spurrlows was just a reissue of the same tracks in a different sleeve. So if you want to hear the tunes, you'll have to go to the original post and download them. But if you already did that, just download this picture and add it to your collection. This reissue is called The Spurrlows-'Tis The Season Let Us Sing (Word WST-8310-LP), and according to the back cover, it was a "Special Hamilton International Corporation Commemorative Edition". I guess the identical catalog number should have been my first clue.

Oodles Of Doodles CLXXII

A trio of instruments from the LP The Limeliters-Tonight: In Person (RCA Victor LPM-2272, 1961). Note that this same doodle appears on their homepage, right up front. Also, you get a tag from the front side, this time saying "Recorded Here And Now". I love these tags!

Leftovers

Whew! For the past three days, I've been sorting through 35,000 pictures taken over the last year. All this work is in order to put together a weekly calendar for my grandmother. You've been seeing the pictures from last year's project each week since I started this blog last March. And starting on New Year's, you'll be seeing the pictures from next year's calendar. But I've got a few shots that didn't make the cut, so I thought I'd share them with you over the next few days. Here is the first. These stilt houses are located in Biscayne Bay off the coast of Miami. They are really too far offshore to get a good picture, but I didn't think this one came out too badly. Stay tuned for more.

Oodles of Doodles CLXXI

Christmas is over, and that means I can try to get back to some of my pre-holiday habits, like doodles. This busy drawing, reminiscent of something in MAD Magazine, is from the flip side of Raoul Meynard And Orchestra-Continental Host (Warner Bros. WS1424, 1961). The doodle is signed Renfro down at the lower right, but that's not ringing any bells to me. There's a lot going on in this picture, so click the image to see the slightly bigger version. No hidden nudity that I can find, but there is at least one guy about to commit suicide at the roulette table.

The Last Week Of The Year

It's the last week of the year, and here's a beauty of a picture for you. This is the drawbridge between Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key here in Florida. I think this is one of my favorite places to go and shoot pictures. The shadows of the palm trees on the sand made this a great shot, and it's a great way to end the year. I'm hard at work this week on a new set of pictures, so stay tuned next year for more great shots.

A Christmas Snack

I wasn't going to post anything today, but here's a little quickie just for kicks. From the collection of kiddie records called Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer And Other Christmas Favorites (Wonderland WLP 148, 1982), this is 'Crackerjack Christmas' by The Sandpipers With Mitch Miller And Orchestra. I hope you have a Crackerjack Christmas, too.

Big shout out to all the folks over at FaLaLaLaLa, especially Brad the King. Enjoy your day!