I’m the man at the park watching the sunset while eating an entire lemon pepper rotisserie chicken and drinking Guava Nectar.
It’s the best idea I’ve had so far in 2020.
The streaks of amber stretching across the horizon quiet my mind. When I see beauty, it’s almost physically painful not to verbally acknowledge it. A quirk, I suppose, of my personality. Or more accurately… a… compulsion?
The wind chills my back, but right this moment, it doesn’t reach me. Very little does.
For now, I have eyes only for the colors.
Today’s art, by the way, is a bit of dabbling with some “Pixel Art”, as we refer to it these days. I’ve always felt that Pixel Art is a bit therapeutic. You’re intentionally limiting the amount of detail you can pack in, and by doing so, it becomes a much more playful, lighthearted endeavor.
Life is really a series of moments, gently whizzing past our eyes, one after another.
I do like the park.
Sometimes I’ll just lay back and let the sun untie my thoughts.
Birds float across the lake, mostly letting the wind blow them where it will. From time to time they fly up into the air, and land on the grassy shore to prune their feathers and interact with one another. And they do, certainly, interact.
Of course, I can’t tell any of them apart, as I’m not a bird watcher, by any means. There are a certainly lot of species represented. The geese fight, sometimes, and the pigeons are pretty unremarkable except when they’re feeling particularly gutsy. There are ducks, obviously.
But, there’s also another type of duck that I’ve seen. The ‘American Coot’, sometimes called the ‘Mud Hen’:
See the chicks? Aren’t they cute!
Those feathers! Mannnnnnn… they’re ugly as baked sin, but they make me laugh every time I see them.
While trying to figure out what this particular breed of bird is called, I ran across a YouTube series on birds that an old woman hosts and was immediately enthralled.
Not… in her.
But like… you know, the content? I feel like she must have been a teacher, of some sort. She just has… that voice, ya know?
Anyway, the video I watched on the ‘American Coot’ proved interesting, and actually, pretty funny. I won’t spoil anything from the video, but, if you want to hear an old woman use the words: ‘Metaphorical Shaft’ in a sentence, then look no further. The video is here.
Moving on!
When I was a kid, my uncle owned a dusty old book that was dedicated to mysteries throughout the world. One chapter was dedicated to: ‘The Money Pit’.
It would take a long, long time, to tell you the history of the Money Pit, but the short explanation is that it’s a location on Oak Island, all the up in Nova Scotia. At one point, certain unnamed individuals decided to use it to hide treasure, but rather than simply digging a hole, they devised a series of tunnels and chambers around a central shaft that could be flooded via water ducts. As I said, it would take hours to relate all the history of Oak Island and the Money Pit itself, but for centuries now people have made attempts to reach the bottom of it, and all have failed. Many, in fact, have died doing so, and many more have gone bankrupt in the attempt.
Two men, the Lagina Brothers, bought the section of land the Money Pit is on several years ago with the intent of finally solving the mystery, while bringing to bear all the advances of modern heavy machinery and modern engineering techniques, and agreed to be filmed throughout the endeavor. The name of the show is: “The Curse of Oak Island”, and you can find some of the episodes on YouTube, if you’re interested.
I’ve watched a number of seasons, and it’s partly because I have a genuine respect for the two men. Both are good, decent human beings. One is an engineer, and the other is a former postal worker, and the show has chronicled the many setbacks and successes they’ve made together.
Now, if you know me, you likely know that I abhor spoilers.
If I run across spoilers, then it’s usually in one of two situations.
One is a coworker talking nearby.
The other is while googling something unrelated.
“Oak Island mystery solved”
I’ve tried my best to avoid any further other spoilers, but… well, the dye is cast, as they say.
Still, I’m very happy for them. I am truly happy that, if anyone was going to solve the mystery, it was two good, noble souls worthy of the honor of being remembered by history.
I did finish one of the drawing request yesterday (the heart-shaped-head guy), and if anyone has anymore, then feel free to let me know in the comment section below!