By Any Other Name Is Still...

I keep producing these Name Doodles. I like doing them so much that I decided to redo one for my wife, Marylynn. Her's was basically the first one I did. I think that my technique has gotten better, plus the coloring on the first one was just in the computer. I wanted to make one she could hold in her hand. And so, that's what I did.

Her favorite color is yellow and since she's from Texas, she's the yellow rose of Texas in my life. I know, I know... "Oh Gwarsh!"

We decided to "splurge" a bit on our weight loss thing last Friday night and went out for some Chinese. On the way there we swung by the port and I took some quick photos as the fog was rolling in...

What do you think?

A Short Trip

I tell people that I don't mind them making fun of my hairline, and I mean it. I'd rather them poke fun at that then at my personality. After all, it was God Who gave me the hairline. And why should I complain about the 1,000's of hours that He has saved me from daily morning hair prep time? I'm telling you that if I brush my hair more than six times it's only wishful thinking.

What I do mind is having to hear the same bald jokes over and over again. I'm telling you that I've heard them all! 

"God only made a few perfect heads. The rest He covered with hair."

Yuk, Yuk

"You're not loosing hair. You're only growing more face."

Yuk, Yuk

Etc. Etc...

I try to eek out a polite chuckle, but it's getting harder. But, here's one that perhaps your bald friends have not I've heard. This is indeed what I say when people tell me they're going to get out of my hair...

Copy & Share, If you Dare. Maybe you'll get a laugh, or maybe they'll never speak to you again. Either way, it could be worth a try.

Bad Bad Bunny

I colored in the Bad Bunny doodle. Don't ask me why I drew him. I just started drawing and out he came. I went a little "Big Boy" on the overalls, I guess. I always like the way red checks look in an illustration. For whatever reason, he's still a bad, bad bunny.

It's been a while since I drew something just to add to my collection. I've got a stack of doodles at home. Occasionally, I get a chance to display them, but I rarely sell anything. People mostly just like to look at them. Oh well, it's just a hobby.

Christmas is coming. If you're interested in having a character drawn, or a Name Doodle done, now is the time to get your order in. I have a wedding coming up in November. THAT'S going to require some of my attention.

In other news...

We were "Skype-ing" with our eldest daughter, and her husband (my trainer) the other night. Do you "Skype?" It's the greatest way to connect with your family when they are far, far away. I was playing with my new camera and got this shot.

Also...

The youth group at our church had a big event last night. This year they brought in a dunk tank and asked me if I would take a turn. It's a good thing for them that I had lost weight because a few months ago I would have been over the capacity. So, on a cool, overcast evening, on the Oregon coast, your's truly took a bath.  Here are some shots...

My friend, Bernard, made a big announcement that I was in the tank. I would have rather preferred they ignore me.

The kids seem to attack the trigger with a vengeance. I kept wonder what did I ever do to them?

Down I go! This was actually my third or fourth dunk, but it's the best shot that my youngest was able to get. Yes, it was cold.

One Good Turn

Helen, my okra giving, red dirt living, Oklahoma friend, saw the Name Doodles that I created for Alice. She commented that she really like them, and so (of course) I was happy to create one for her. One good turn deserves another, as they say.

Thank you again Helen, for the Okra treat. We enjoyed it dearly.

Bad Bunny

My new camera arrive on Thursday. It's like my old Canon in many ways, but still, a much, much better camera. I've barely had it out of the box. I had been reduced to using our youngest daughter's camera, and when her sister flew into town for a wedding shower, it was all I had to take pictures with. The screen on the camera is broken and so when I took this photo before the shower we had no idea that it was set on black and white. The picture turned out pretty good still.

This is the first photo I took with the new one—a Geranium sitting on the front our porch. Not a bad photo, if I do say so myself.

The youngest snapped this photo of me. It's not my best expression, but I thought you might find it interested if you've been keeping track of my weight loss. My face looks thin, even to me, in this photo. As of this morning, I am down 28.5 pounds—that since July 12.


"What am I doing?," I hear you ask. (Yes, I can hear you all the way from here.) I am just watching what I eat and walking every day—following my son-in-law's directives. Starting Oct. 3rd he's going to have me doing some lite weight training. I say "lite," but he's had me pick up two 15lbs hand weights to do the training with. What's crazy to me is that those things are HEAVY and I've loss as nearly as much as those things weigh together.

This is a photo of a doodle that I started this morning while talking to my parents on the phone. For some reason I wanted to draw a bunny. But you know me, he couldn't be a "happy little bunny." He had to be something strange. I called him a "Bad Bunny," but maybe he's not bad.  Maybe he's just "expressive." I'll be developing this illustration further. You can kind of see a mole that I've sketched out in pencil in the lower corner. AND, (apologies) You-Know-Who hasn't been added yet. Stay tuned for a bunny updates.

Completing Alice's Set

Here are the two other names doodles that I created for Alice. As I said before, creating these is a real pleasure for me. I seem to have always enjoy creating art that's a bit "mindless"—that you can just sit back and do, "whiling" away the hours. It is very relaxing for me to do. (For that reason I think that I would enjoy learning how to quilt someday.) I enjoyed doing them so much that I decided to create one for me. (Check out my sidebar.) 

Alice said that Mary and her partner competed at "nationals" with an interpretation they did of Finding Nemo. He was Nemo, she was Dori. 

Alice said that Kali is traveling the country with a group of christian teens - teaching speech and debate in conferences for other teens. Her signature character in competition has been from Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. (You have multi-talented children Alice.)

Christmas is just around the corner. Maybe you'd like me to create a special gift for that special someone, or maybe you'd just like to see your own name all decked out. For $30 (plus $5 packaging and shipping) I'd be happy to do that very thing. Drop me a note @ green_rick@juno.com and I'll get right on it.

Papa's Got a Brand New Bag

I'm back after a long hiatus from this blog—too long. It seems that summer has too many distractions. This will be another long post. I generally like to keep them short for easy reading. I'll try to break it up into parts so that you can pick and choose to read what interest you.

First: The Reddirt Woman strikes again...

Helen is the one blogging friend that I've had the chance to meet face to face. Two summers ago I came across her blog and commented on her okra garden. (If you're asking yourself, "What's okra?" then you're not from the south.) So, that summer, Helen was kind enough to mail us a box of fresh okra to us—a real treat.

Well, she did it again. Apparently this was a bummer crop season for okra—with plenty to share. Helen mailed us a bigger box of okra a few weeks ago. Now fried okra isn't on my list of diet food, but Marylynn and I could NOT ignore, or resist such a treat.

We not only had enough to fry up TWO batches, but we also (reluctantly on my part) shared some with Marylynn's mother. Doesn't that look good? Go to her blog and tell her what a nice person she is. Maybe she'll be nice to you.

THANK YOU Helen—my reddirt friend. I probably put five pounds back on because of your gift, but I loved every bit of it.

Second: More of the beauty of where we live...

Recently we had friends visit from New Mexico. One of the things we like to do when we have guest is to take them to visit the Redwoods. Jedediah Smith State Park is only 30 miles from our home. We took them on the road to Stout Grove, which winds several miles through the forrest.

The trees are always wonderful to see and give lots of opportunities for great photos. Unfortunately my camera, which has been acting up, finally died. Fortunately, I was able to get in a few shots before it met its demise.

Third: Trip to Washington...

Last week we took some time to visit my parents and sisters in their new home in Lacy, WA. First we had to go to Idaho to pick up our daughter's possessions in storage at her former school. She's decided not to go back for her Sophomore year and take classes at the local community college here instead. We took a trailer and loaded up her belongs, then headed up to Washington.

My parents and two of my sisters have moved into a home together and we went up there to paint walls, hang stuff, and haul stuff away. I took my camera, just in case it had a resurrection, but it was no use. I did borrow my sister's camera for the one day we went into Seattle to take a look around. My daughter's boyfriend came along. He's fairly handy with the tools and my family wanted to adopt him away from us. He's never been to Seattle, so it was a lot of fun showing him stuff. Here are some photos from our excursion...

Fourth (and finally): Papa's got a brand new bag...

Alice saw the Name Doodle that I did for Marylynn. She asked whether or not I would do her daughter's name. I shot her a price and apparently she liked it enough that she ordered one for all three of her daugthers.

Here's name #1. I'll save the other two for later posts. I really enjoyed doing this. It's a bit time consuming, but, to me, it's a simple task that I am able to relax while doodling it out.

Alice gave me a few ideas of little items that I could add to each daughter's doodle. That, I think, really personalizes it—makes it special for the person I'm drawing it for.  And, if you look close, you'll find you-know-who.

I think that I'll post one of these name doodles on my side panel and see if there's anyone else out there interested.

What do you think?