"As She Poured Me A Second Cup"...

 Well, good TBT Thursday Morning, y'all.

I arrived at GiddyUp first thing to get an early start on the day and spend some time creating a post about my storyboard days, but I didn't expect Badass to show up a day after the funeral of his wife.

"Hey Ben, you here kinda early, he said.

"My daughter and I really appreciate the card, man!"

I bought a sympathy card and was gonna mail it to Larry, but Therese suggested we just bring to the funeral... I'm glad we did!

Larry introduced Tee and me to two of his three kids. It was good to put the faces on to the many conversations Larry and I had about his family. I felt it necessary to apologize for not staying very long. Tee had a conflicting doctor's appointment, but he was just thankful that we decided to make it.

I was very surprised to see him at Giddy Up

I didn't want to say something like "What the hell are doing here today" but instead asked him what his plans were for the morning.

"I planned to have a cinnamon roll and some coffee, take it to the cemetery, and visit my Peggy," he said.

"Well, that's not a bad idea, man! Why don't you grab a seat while you're waiting for the cinnamon roll?"

He sat with me for a little over an hour, eating, staring and talking about the funeral service. He seemed at peace with it all. With a big sigh, he looked at his watch, got up and moseyed out the front door.

Mary, "don't call me a barista," O'Day, asked me where I've been as she poured me a second cup.

Well, lately, lots of early morning doctor appointments, but yesterday, I said, Tee and I went to Larry's wife's funeral!"

WHAT? When did all this happen? Why didn't Larry tell someone? Ya know his wife's been sick for years," she announced.

"Oh that's so sad," she said.

Luckily, Badass was long gone and just the way he'd probably prefer it... Montana beckons?

Second cup!

Copyright 2025/Ben Bensen III

"Memoirs?"

On site sketch...

 Good cloudy Friday Morning, all bodies.

A few days ago, I got to the coffeehouse late kinda on purpose. I just wanted to sit outside, catch some sun and have a late morning dark roast.

As I walked toward the door, I noticed a rather well dressed middle age woman sporting a pageboy hair style scribbling notes in a spiral bound notebook. I said hello and she looked up and replied. When I came back out with my coffee in hand, I noticed that there wasn't too many pages left to her notebook. It was almost time for another book.

"Memoirs?" I asked. It seems lately that many people, usually middle aged, are writing down their thoughts. I noticed four people doing it in the last couple of days. Interesting!

"No, she said. I belong to a self help group and writing down my thoughts is part of the therapy."

The woman told me the name of the group that she belongs to, but it went into one ear and out the other.

"You know, it's a group that helps people with their insecurities. Some need more help because of substance abuse, alcohol, oxycontin, and the like!"

"Some recuperating from childhood trauma, divorce, and spousal abuse!"

"I just jot down my thoughts about my perceptions," she continued.

As she put her head back down toward her thoughts she said, "I have lots of insecurities!

Trying to find my out of the conversation, I replied.

"I guess we all do, ma'am." I prefer to try to sketch them away!"

I grabbed a table, kicked up my feet and slowly sipped my coffee. It was a warm breezy morning with fluffy white clouds separating the blue. An unplugged outside fan's blades gently turned with the wind occasionally spinning faster as the speed of the wind changed.

Copyright 2025/ Ben Bensen III

"Because He Had An Interesting Face!"

A Giddy Up sketch

 Good "sunny" Sunday Morning, y'all.

Yesterday, I had a fun time with what I call, "The Demo Flyboys" very early in the morning. Besides talking about Boeing's vertical stabilizers in the early years, we also laughed about our teenage awkwardness with dating.

Three hours went by fast. So fast that I forgot to use my Giddy Up gift card to buy Tee's breakfast. (They sell a great Greek Frittata!) I felt bad returning home without breakfast, so I returned to the coffeehouse to pickup that frittata, and while waiting in my favorite "saddle" I noticed this very white haired man with an Andy Warhol hair cut scrolling madly on his iPhone.

His quiet intensity was just begging a sketch, and because I was sporting my briefcase, I had just the right tools to capture him, and the time to do it.

Tee enjoyed her frittata and I was happy with my time well spent.

First cup... old Giddy Up coffee from yesterday!

Copyright2025/Ben BensenIII

"PICKIN'."..

 Good "picking up 'da pieces" Wednesday Morning, all bodies!

Putting a bunch loose ends together and placing them where they're supposed to be I found these crusty, and rusty finger picks.

I never really got the hang of using them which is the reason I discovered them stashed behind a Tommy Lasorda bobblehead!

Second cup...

Copyright2025/Ben Bensen III

"Here today..."

 

Nothing left...

Good "cloudy and fuzzy" Sunday Morning, y'all.

The other day, after being away from Giddy Up for about a week because of the flu bug, I noticed the house that stood in shambles for an eternity behind The Paddock stage was finally razed to the ground. Many, like my wife, loved the house and hoped that it could be saved.

At one of the Lacombe Art Guild Monday sketch classes, I decided to break out some old gray markers and see what I could come up with.

Sometimes, sketching in something else that is not so linear, like a Pentel or Sharpie, is a fun way to go.

Seeing the shapes and not the lines!

Well, there's nothing left but the fireplace. Maybe, who knows, I'll decide to sketch that... with shapes or in line, before it crumbles to the ground!

Copyright2025/Ben Bensen III

"Just Mildly Interested"...

 

Good "whatever" Wednesday Morning, all bodies.

About three weeks ago after being set free from Covid, I brought my sketchbook to Giddy Up and with a cup of coffee, sketched unsuccessfully a few scenes. I wasn't rusty. I just wasn't inspired until this couple arrived sitting not too far from me. The woman was so preoccupied with her frappuccino and magazine that she moved only to turn the page.

The cowboy was a bit twitchy, but also, in the twenty or so minutes they stayed, he barely moved... Only his head and the hat on his head. They didn't seem to have much to say to each other. His girlfriend was so into her scene that it kinda sparked his curiosity... but only mildly!

Second cup!

Copyright 2024/Ben Bensen III

"Don't Touch That Dial", y'all.

 

Usually on Saturday mornings at the coffeehouse, the younger baristas man the counter and the drive-up window. Mary, the "don't call me a barista!" barista, usually opens the place just before seven. Mario, the only male that has ever worked at GiddyUp follows shortly after and turns on the radio on Sirius to a rather "alternative" scene. It's not head bashing or heavy metal grooves, but for drinking coffee and trying to ease into the morning, it is a bit... odd!

Between 8am and 9am, the girls stroll in, and I can tell by what's on the radio by who has control of those "dials!"

The older ladies prefer the Fifties and Sixties. In that rotation is always Etta James, "A Sunday Kinda Love" even though it is Saturday. You know, Frankie Baby, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mathis, Sara Vaughn, etc.

Laura, who only now works on Saturday afternoons, always played the Beatles catalogue with a few Beach Boy tunes thrown in. I love it!

Madison, who is an early morning staple, doesn't really have a particular favorite though I can tell when she changes the channel. By her own admission, she likes music that one can "study by!"

Mary says, "Maddie, play some music, but nothing "too sleepy!"

When Isabella, the woman who had a radio program called "Girls Up Front!" arrives, suddenly, there's this ethereal, celestial, sounds, heavy with breathy reverb that, in a way, seems too perfect for this world!

Everyone is copacetic with the choices of the morning until someone goes on break...

"Quick, Mario's away, change the channel!"

No one 'cept Sandra and Mary understood my reference to the living room battles created when someone got up to change the TV channel only to lose their favorite chair in the process.

Ah, the good ole days!

Copyright 2024/Ben Bensen III