Oodles of Doodles XVI

This charming dinner scene is from the back side of The Melachrino Strings & Orchestra-Music For Dining (RCA Victor LPM-1000, 1958). These Music For... LPs are a mixed lot, covering everything from a nice relaxing dinner, to reading, to painting the bedroom. I suppose after a while they weren't seriously thinking you were going to buy an LPs worth of tracks to be listened to while you repapered the twins' bedroom. But the temptation was there I suppose. Somewhere I even have an LP called something like Music To Clean Up Polluted Streams By. How much more absurd could you get?

Not Another Tie Quilt!!!

Yep, it's another tie quilt. I found this one at an antique mall in Palmetto weekend before last. The pattern is called fan something, or something fan. (I'm sure my mother will correct me.) You can tell by the fabric that the blades on the fans were made from old ties. It's in pretty poor shape, but what do you expect for $25? Tie fabric, especially silk, doesn't hold up well to washing and general use anywhere other than around the neck. I'll have to buy some more ties to give Mom to allow new sections to be made, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Stay tuned, and you'll eventually see the results of the restoration.

For My Friend M

Take these wings and fly.

1957 Was A Very Good Year

Everyone remembers their first car, but some people had a more memorable vehicle than others. My first car was the extrememly memorable 1957 Pontiac Chieftain. Four doors, eight cylinders, three on the tree. The speedometer never worked, but I never got pulled over. In fact, the whole year or so I owned it, the only critical part that ever failed me was a fuel pump. I always had dreams of restoring it to it's original glory, but I never got around to it. I got it right before I turned 16, which would have been 1986. I paid $500 for it, from a friend of my fathers. Dad drove it home the night I paid for it, and he blew the original fan belt off of it. I sold it the next summer when I got a job working at Walt Disney World, and needed something that got a little better gas mileage. I wound up with a Mercury Comet, circa 1976. Not the same...

That's me to the right above. On the left is Darrin Burse, and in the center is his brother Jeff. This picture was taken one day after school. We're on the side of the road just down the street from the high school, looking at a dead duck on the side of the road. I'm not sure why...

Oodles of Doodles XV

We've got a large group of doodles today, all of them hailing from the flip side of Luther Henderson And His Orchestra-The Greatest Sound Around - Hand-Clapping Rhythms (Columbia CL 1420, 1959). The horizontal row of hep-cats shown above are from the top of the LP, while the two vertical rows shown below are from the left and right sides. (Although not as shown. I seem to have swapped left for right, and vice versa, somewhere in the editing process...) It's pretty unusual to find this many cool little doodles on the same sleeve, but we're not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Enjoy!

I forgot to mention the artist. These doodles are signed by Edward Sorel.

Fishy. Very Fishy.

I don't know about you, but I'm not going in there for my mail.

The Last Week In April

This week we have a calendar page featuring two baby gators. These little guys were in a drainage canal near the Myakka River. This shot is even more amazing when you consider I was riding in a trailer pulled behind an old International Harvester pickup moving down a dirt road. How's that for a steady hand?

Wish You Were Here?

Don't you wish you lived here? This was the view of the Anna Maria City pier this past Saturday. I told you the water was beautiful, didn't I?

Maine (2/50)

Dawn, Dawn, Dawn. You drive your little car all the way from Maine down here to Florida with a plate claiming you're from Vacationland. Now that you know better, why don't you drive back up to Maine and tell them to change the plates to something like Lobsterland, or South Canada, or something...

To Mow, Or Not To Mow

I wish I had one of these tree in the yard when I was growing up. I don't think I would have ever had to mow the yard. Well, at least during spring.

Pretty Pointy Things

If you like your flowers a little on the dangerous side, then these are for you. The gorgeous cactus flowers above, with their delicate splashes of pink on yellow, are well protected by the spiny pads around them. The white and purple blossoms below are protected from pretty much everything by the dagger-like leaves beneath them. I'm not sure of what either of these plants are called, but I'm hunting. Both of them were found at Casperson Beach in Venice this past Sunday.

Silk, But Not A Tie

I've been trying to get a good picture of these blossoms for several years now, but they have proved quite elusive. These gold flowers are from a Silk Oak, an otherwise unremarkable invasive tree in this neck of the woods. I found this tree in the yard of a rental house on Anna Maria Island this past Saturday. I was standing in the driveway when I took this shot. I hate to trespass on other folks property, but I figured the driveway wasn't so bad, and I really wanted to get this shot. These trees get very tall, and when they bloom, it looks like a giant christmas tree with gold ornaments. But it's been hard to find a specimen with flowers near enough to the ground to shoot, and accessible to me and my camera. I'm told that this tree is a problem when it's not blooming, since it drops leaves all year. Well, I'd say it's worth it to have a living Christmas tree in your yard part of the year.

Sugar is Sweeter

I've often seen scuba divers walking across the road at a spot on Anna Maria Island, and I wondered if they were just diving in the beautiful waters of the Gulf of Mexico, or did they have a more specific destination in mind. I've asked around and spotted an article in the paper and discovered that there is a wrecked sugar barge just off the coast in that area. I'd never seen it, though. But have a look at this satellite image, and tell me what you think.