My New Hobby

It all started with this: My wife saw this kit advertised somewhere, and knowing how much I enjoy expressing my latent artistic skills (minimal as they are), she thought I might like this as well. Boy, do I. As I started to explore hand lettering or brush lettering more, I've found that it's an easy way to express yourself artistically, and create some pieces of art. My early efforts seem promising. I've read of other lettering enthusiasts...

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Fun with Trolls

So last night, this troll hit up my wife, who was minding her own business on Instagram. The resulting conversation was priceless.  https://www.facebook.com/tymberdalton/photos/a.10160687496968682/10160687496998682/?type=3&thea...

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I'm back

Wow! A check of the archives reveals that I last used this blog a little over four years ago. At the time, I planned to use this medium to comment on my life and observations in general after retirement. Well, that certainly changed with the publication of my first Wolf Mallory mystery, followed then by Haley Jordan's debut with Candy Cane Kisses. And then, I resumed covering my old beat of Sarasota County as a freelancer for the newspaper I worked for many years ago. But Life at Turtle Speed has been on my mind recently, and I want to resume...

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He's doing it again

Oh, no. It's happening again. Hi, Luna here. I'm taking over my Daddy's blog since he's totally ignored it and I have some sad news. Remember at this time last year when I wrote about how he was going crazy? Well, eventually, he settled down and things returned to normal, if you want to call a tree inside the house normal. Well, anyway, he's started acting crazy again. There's tubs filled with plastic bags out on the carport and he keeps carrying...

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Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Navy

I had my morning coffee in my favorite Ohio State mug. By game time, Gidget and I had our Ohio State jerseys on, prepared to watch the first game of the 2014 season. Usual protocols followed for an Ohio State football game. After a week of reading all the pregame analyses and musings of various sportswriters, I was prepared to watch this game with the same uneasiness I think most Buckeye fans were experiencing. After all, we'd lost senior quarterback Braxton Miller to a shoulder injury in practice two weeks earlier forcing Urban Meyer to start...

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Ten Years Later

Ten years ago today, we knew our Friday the 13th (Aug. 13, 2004) would not be a normal day. Hurricane Charley was churning through the Gulf of Mexico along the southwest coast of Florida, with expected landfall somewhere in the Tampa Bay area. With that in mind, we were not overly concerned, but of course, had made appropriate preparations just in case. Boarding up the windows, gas in the cars, cash in hand, etc. Employed as a reporter with the Charlotte Sun-Herald and working out of the Englewood office (our hometown), my beat was Sarasota County...

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The New Colored Pencil -- A Review

I am a novice artist, teaching myself to draw, sketch and paint, using either a pencil or watercolor paints. I have a set of colored pencils, but have only attempted one piece with those, a rendering of a bloom from our orchid tree. To my delight, "The New Colored Pencil" by Kristy Ann Kutch, opened my eyes to the vast possibilities of this medium. Filled with gorgeous illustrations, Kutch explores the traditional color pencil, water-soluble...

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