Blast from the Past #174: More gag cartoons

I found a few more of my attempts at single-panel "gag" cartoons from back in the late 1970's/early 1980's. These both have a "caveman" theme, which I guess I found pretty funny. Or maybe it's just easier to draw cavemen than people in contemporary dress.



As you can see, I figured out a way to draw my favorite dinosaur into one of them. -- PL

Hoppy Easter!

This is an Easter card I made for our family some years ago. Here's the front of the card...



... and here's the inside.



We're having seventeen people over for Easter dinner today, including my parents, my brother Bruce, his son Ben and Ben's wife Kelly, and assorted friends (Dan Berger and his wife Jess among them). Jeannine has made lots of great food -- fresh baked bread, ham, Easter cookies, and more. I think we have just enough chairs. Should be crowded but fun! -- PL

Blast from the Past #173: Alien reaching for spaceman

I apologize for the poor quality of this image -- I lit it badly when I took the photograph.



This is something I must have done in the mid to late 1980's. I'm a big admirer of the H. R. Giger designs for the title character in the "Alien" movies, and used to sketch variations on it quite often. Here I have some version of the critter menacing a hapless spaceman in the setting of a blasted section of a derelict spacecraft. -- PL

Eric's first day

After having to delay the event for several days due to inclement weather and scheduling difficulties. Eric Talbot finally got to take his first road ride on a motorcycle. Eric, Jim Lawson and I gathered at my house at 11AM to plan our ride.



From left to right: Eric with the Honda Big Ruckus, Jim with the Piaggio MP3 500, and me with the Piaggio MP3 250.

We decided to ride out to the Huntington Country Store, where we could take a break, grab a coffee, and discuss how the ride had gone up to that point. This allowed us to stick to mostly back roads, so that Eric could get his feet wet before tackling busier roads and highways. It turned out to be a great day, weather-wise -- about 58° and sunny. Jim took the lead, Eric followed Jim, and I rode behind Eric. That position gave me the opportunity to watch Eric to see how he was riding on his first time out.

And I was impressed! Except for being a little tentative at first, especially in corners, Eric did really well. He rode at his own pace, avoided sand on the road, and in general did everything he needed to do to ride safely. Here's a shot I took while riding to Huntington -- that's Eric on the Ruckus, with Jim further off in the distance.



I look forward to many such rides in the future. Welcome to the club, Eric! -- PL

Three Mohawk Trail views

This Sunday was supposed to be Eric Talbot's first day of road riding on a motorcycle, but the scheduling didn't work out. Hopefully we'll get to it this week. I did manage to get out on Sunday, though, and took a ride up the Mohawk Trail, one of my favorite riding roads, and stopped a few times to take photos with which I could make panoramas. Actually, only two of these qualify as views from along the Mohawk Trail -- this first one is from Shelburne Falls, at the glacial potholes, which is about a half mile off the Trail.



As you can see, there was a lot of water coming over the damn that day. It was quite an impressive sight (and sound).

Somewhere past Charlemont, I pulled over to take a break and look at this river.



I'm fascinated by rushing water, and in the spring there is quite a bit of snow melt feeding the rivers in this area. There's something about the color of the water that I find quite beautiful.

Further up the Trail, just below the "Eastern Summit", I stopped near a now-closed gift shop to take shots of this vista.


If you look closely, you can see off in the distance the Bear Swamp Generating Station.



The only visible part of this project is the body of water on top of the mountain, which is regularly drained and refilled to generate electrical power.

Here's a closer view of that area. -- PL

Light and fog

The more photos I take, the more I realize that chance and timing play a large part in capturing desirable images. So it was back on an unseasonably warm day in December of 2001, when I was walking by the pond at Smith College near sunset. The air was full of moisture, and there was quite a bit of ground fog.



I thought that the light at this moment, coupled with the fog, gave this scene an ethereal quality. (This image is made from two photographs, stitched together in Panorama Maker4.) -- PL

More motorcycle fun

There were two motorcycle-related "firsts" here in the last twenty-four hours. First, I took delivery of -- and went for my first ride on -- the new Honda DN-01 (seen here posing near a beaver pond).



The DN-01 is Honda's first motorcycle with their new HFT ("Human Friendly Transmission"). Essentially, it is a fully automatic transmission, and from what I could tell from my first ride on it, the system works very well. I could see a future world of clutchless motorcycling.

Second, Eric Talbot got his motorcycle learner's permit! Woohoo!



Schedules permitting, within a few days he should be on the road. Congratulations, Eric! -- PL