"Prickly"...

Thorny Situation!

 Well, Good "Thorny"Thursday Morning, all bodies.

Just a sketch to "sharpen" my skills. I drew it a while back decorating the wooden fence that surrounds the Giddy Up deck.

I thought about adding color to it, but not so sure about that.

First cup, old GiddyUp cup... a better cup, later!

Copyright2025/BenBensenIII

"So, What Kinda Mushrooms Are They?"

Not that kinda mushroom!

 Good Wednesday Morning, y'all...

Walking towards the doors of an office building, I noticed a well dressed woman in a business suit with matching purse and shoes attempting to open the door with a armful of tablets, file folders and papers… And a large cup of coffee.

By the time we got close enough to her, she realized that her best solution was to step back away from the doors and just let the doors automatically open. She turned to me, and with a laugh said, “I should’ve just backed away and let the doors open by themselves without having this struggle… I should know better!”

“I almost spilled my coffee."

I replied to her, that with some office doors it is kinda hard to tell exactly how they work, so it’s understandable. When we got through the lobby and through the elevator doors, she pushed the button for the third floor, and I, with a bit of trepidation, asked her to push the button for the second floor, which she did. But, she did it rather awkwardly balancing all that she had in her arms plus her coffee cup.

So I said, “You really got a load there hanging onto all this stuff while protecting that cup of coffee!”

She smiled and said, “Well, it’s a mushroom coffee which I’ve had before and I really like it!

“A mushroom coffee?”

“That sounds really weird…. Do they actually extract mushrooms out of it to make coffee or is it just an additive to the cup?”

She said she liked the taste and seemed ecstatic about the natural benefits that would come from the mushrooms.

And then, Therese, said in her matter fact way, after discussing all the benefits of mushroom coffee, asked, “Well, exactly kind of mushrooms are they?

With a smile and a little bit of a nervous giggle, she said, “That’s a really good question… I don’t know!"

“I guess I better look into that, huh?”

First cup!

Copyright 2025/BenBensenIII

"Whispering Sweet Nothings!"

A Sketch...

Good "sweet nothings" Wednesday Morning, y'all.

Well, it is that time of year when love, once again, is in the air. Or, should I say in the ear!

The "love bugs" (Plecia nearctica) are back bouncing off walls, trees, cars, and being a general nuisance to everyone and every thing.

Three days ago, in the early morning when the bugs are not so "lovey dovey", a couple flew into my ear as I was checking the bird feeder. I pretty much destroyed it getting it out of my ear, but decided to commemorate the incident with a tight sketch.

This is what I came up with...

Copyright2025/BenBensenIII

"Life is beautiful, and it also sucks!"

A pen sketch of my Rainbow Vacuum cleaner!

Good Sunday morning all bodies!

Life is beautiful, and it also sucks…

And so does a good vacuum cleaner!

Copyright 2025/BenBensenIII

 

"Cataracting My Age..."

Good Saturday morning, all bodies

Well, last night was the last time I had to put medicated eye drops in my left eye. I thought I’d celebrate by doing a sketch of the eye patch and the little bottle that, believe it or not, actually had maybe one or two more drops left in it. In my last visit, I asked the nurse if the bottle would make it to the end of session and she guaranteed me that it would. And guess what??? It did!.

So on Monday, our anniversary day, I will go and get the last check up to make sure everything‘s OK. In my opinion, the jury is still out. But we’ll see…

Old coffee for now! 

Copyright2025/BenBensenIII

 

"Hindu Elephant" Ride Sally, Ride"

Cherried up his ride!

Tuesday Morning, y'all. It's gonna be another wet one... Seemed to be a pretty wet in Omaha last night... Did they ever resume playing?

I call this sketch, because I couldn't find any other influence and the saddle adornment doodily-wops didn't look Oriental.

Anyway, it was getting pretty intense for a sketch, and I was losing interest in finishing it, FAST... but, I did. I actually started the sketch with a Razor Point Pentel... the shading with cross hatching would have drove me crazy.

This was one of the six pieces I did from our Hawaiian stay. All were done from photos I took.

Second cup...old coffee!

Copyright2025/ BenBensen III

 

"Measuring Up!"

Feets Don't Fail Me Now!

 Good "not quite measuring up" Sunday Morning, y'all.

We took, once again, our GPS guy to find our way to a friend's house and found ourselves creeping ever so slowly toward our own stomping grounds, South Pasadena. So, we decided to visit a few stores, make a few calls to friends that apparently no longer live there, and eat.

Naturally, we had to drive by our SoCal home to make sure everything was still in great shape... the way we recreated it. That great orange tree is still there pumping out incredible juice.

It was time well spent.

One of those places was a shoe store that's been a fixture for as long as I can remember. "Lucha's Comfort Footwear" https://www.comfortfootwear.com/ is right on Fair Oaks Avenue in downtown. I went there to see if they had a shoe I was looking for. They did, but not in my size and that's when I saw that foot measuring tool called, I later found out, a Brannock Device. Maybe, I shop at all the wrong shoe stores, but I have not seen one of those devices in years. As a kid, I always found the tool fun to mess with.

Well, I may never see one again, so I took a photo of it to later sketch...And, I did.

While there in the booming metropolis of South Pasadena, we stopped at one of our favorite late night or early morning haunts. The Salt Shaker, which is now called The Shaker (for obvious marketing reasons) had one of the best chili with eggs ever. You could ask for extra chili at no cost once upon a time.

When Art Center moved from West Hollywood to Pasadena, we late night procrastinators had to replace Canter's with another venue. I believe Linda Harris (Sellheim) first sampled and loved The Salt Shaker if for no other reason because it stayed open till 2am.

When I checked out the menu, the dish was no longer advertised as, "The Great Eggs Incognito... A local favorite!"

I believe I was that "local" they were talking about... ha!

Second home brewed...

Copyright2025/BenBensenIII