Sketching On The Serenade Of The Seas; Relaxing On Deck 11

      Deck 11 is a beautiful open area with loads and loads of lounge chairs, swimming pools, hot tubs, sunshine, a beautiful view of the ocean and fun places to explore. It is great place for people to congregate, either during the day relaxing or splashing, and during the night for partying and dancing under the stars.
     This sketch took place in the afternoon, it was such a beautiful day!  I found myself a lounge chair and just looked around me, and there was the perfect model right next to me!  She was just worn out, and totally relaxed.  So many people just fall asleep in lounge chairs!  I'm not one of them, I don't want to miss anything.  This woman held her pose

long enough for me to sketch it, she did eventually move, but I was very happy with this sketch.  I have to say that every day I got more excited, carrying my pad and pencils in my bag, always looking for my next subject!  It really is a different way to look at the world, instead of just experiencing my cruise for what it was, I looked at it for the many opportunities I was presented with for creativity.  When I thought about it, Shakespeare's quote: "All the world's a stage" popped into my head.  For whatever he meant with this statement, for me it meant that my world is a stage with all of my art models and stage setups everywhere I look.  It is just wonderful to realized I don't have to go to far to find amazing beauty to use for creativity, I just have to look around me!
     Of course, I have my picture of me sketching, showing my reference.  Please notice my beautiful dress I bought at an open market, tables set up with locals selling their unique things.  We were at the Island of St Croix, but this dress was handmade in St Thomas.  I love it!  Yes, there is more! Keep reading!
                                                               Pictures Of The Serenade Of The Seas

Sketching At Magen's Bay, St Thomas

     What fun I had this day at Magen's Bay in St Thomas, USVI!  We took an excursion to this beautiful beach, we found ourselves a place to sit down and what did I see right next to us but a model!  This man, snoozing in his chair, didn't move a muscle and allowed me ample time to sketch him.
     I remember this sketch wasn't easy, with his reclining angle, being in a chair, the draping towels in the back, and getting my proportions right.  I used my eraser plenty, but, in the end, I was satisfied that it looked believable, that this was a man taking a nap in his beach chair. I had my picture taken sketching so that you could see my reference, remembering my

blog all the while.
     This man eventually woke up and came over to talk with us.  I found out he was from the United States, but moved to St Thomas eighteen years ago.  No more snow shoveling for him!
      Hope you enjoy this one, and, of course, there is more!! Keep reading, I kept very busy on our cruise!

Beautiful Pictures Of Magen's Bay, St Thomas

Sketching On The Serenade Of The Seas; The Young Girl

     After arriving on board The Serenade of the Seas cruise ship from Royal Caribbean, we went exploring the upper decks where the fun outdoor places were, including the pool.  I packed my sketch pad and pencils to be ready for whatever I would find, and, believe me, there were great subjects everywhere!
     There was a band performing at the pool side, the air was filled with the sounds of island music to put us all in the mood for cruising.  Then I found her, this cute young girl, just captivated with watching the musicians, just sitting there focused and holding a great pose!  I was able to sketch her quickly, I was wanted to hurry before she moved and I finished just in time before her mother joined her and she moved. 
     With every sketch I completed, from the plane, to the lounge at the Caribe, and now on the deck of a beautiful cruise ship, I was getting excited to find more subjects and make a wonderful collection of sketches!
Of course, everybody, there's more! Keep reading!

Searching For The Perfect Cuban Sandwich; San Juan, Puerto Rico

Big Hot Cuban Wrap

     Before leaving leaving the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico to board our ship for the cruise, I wanted to be sure to have some lunch, not being sure how long everything would take.  Near all the little shops at the resort, there is a restaurant named Pina Colada Club at Caribe that we decided try out.  I was pleasantly surprised to see on the menu Big Hot Cuban Wrap, the description included roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard wrapped in a flour tortilla and served hot off the grill.  This is a picture of my sandwich, which I enjoyed thoroughly and washed it down with Coors Light.  They used brown spicy mustard, the flavors blended beautifully together. I have to admit that I enjoyed this sandwich better than Panera Bread's Cuban Chicken Sandwich. The fries were fresh and hot. Mm-mm good!
     This restaurant was larger than it looked from the outside and they were very busy.  Our server was Hector, who couldn't stop running!  I told him I loved this sandwich, was going to blog about it and was going to mention his name. He was so delighted and said, "so I will be famous now!".  If anyone from my audience makes it to the Caribe Hilton, look up Hector and say, "hi" from the blog!
     I was sad to not find anymore Cuban sandwiches when traveling in the Caribbean since we were not eating out locally on the islands, but in the cruise ship.  My search is not over, there is a restaurant nearby owned by a husband and wife team, the man being from Puerto Rico and the woman being local, and I know they have the Cuban Sandwich on the menu.  I have heard of a Cuban restaurant in Providence, Rhode Island that I may venture to.  I also am looking up the recipe, which involves making Cuban bread (or using a hoagie).  I have saved some delicious pork roast from Easter dinner yesterday at my son and daughter-in-law's house; it is frozen for my own attempt at this wonderful sandwich, which I have found out involves squishing it on a grill. Keep reading!

More Sketching At The Caribe Hilton, San Juan, Puerto, Rico

      This is a favorite sketch!  When I was done with the sketch of the woman (see 4/23/11), I looked around and spotted this very interesting man across the lounge.  He had a dark complexion, long dread locks, this white shirt a necklace and was holding a great pose (he was texting on his cell phone)!  I have never attempted any one with dread locks before, since no one with dread locks ever posed for me until this day, so I was very excited, as long as he didn't move!
     I am so happy with these results.  Of course, he did not have a clue that he was being sketched!  What fun was having!  I so wish the reference picture

 out better, but I was trying to not get caught.  I included the third picture that my husband took of me drawing (he does not do any art on paper, but he does wonders gardening and he is very supportive my endeavors!).  Yes, I realize it is sideways. I did rotate it in the computer, but when it transferred to the blog, it remained sideways. Sigh. That will be another day of learning how to do this correctly, but, in the meantime, I have a blog to write, so just turn your head to the side and you can see my set up. I want you to notice that I carry my pencils in a toothbrush holder, it works fine, you don't need anything expensive or fancy.  I had placed the menu to the right to conceal what I was doing, but when it came time to take the picture, I simultaneously moved the menu and my hat forward, and placed my camera in front of the menu, to conceal what I was doing! I wish I could have zoomed in better, but I was getting nervous and had to do this quick! That's it for sketching in San Juan, next there is sketching all over the cruise ship! Keep reading!!                                         

Sketching At The Caribe Hilton, San Juan, Puerto, Rico

      Arriving at the Caribe Hilton was absolutely wonderful!  I kept telling my husband, "This is just what the doctor ordered"!  I needed to de-stress from my daily life and schedule so that I could start the cruise off on the right foot, so I had a massage that night, that got all the knots worked out of my neck and also spent a few minutes in the steam bath and the sauna.  Then the next morning I joined the group for yoga on the beach.  Ahhhh! Yes, this is just what the doctor ordered!
     The Caribe is a great destination spot.  One thing I learned when we stopped there two years ago for another cruise is how to make infused water

with lemons, melon or lime. They have the decanters full and ready to drink freely.  I now do this on our hot summer days and love it!  We enjoyed walking by the water and feeding schools of fish bread that they keep out in a bucket. They have a huge bird cage with macaws and cockatoos in them and I was trying to get one to talk, and I finally I heard in a bird voice, "hello", then a moment later I could have sworn I heard, "my butt".  The man with his little girl heard this too, and I said, "I think this bird is saying something inappropriate" and we just walked away!
     But, all good things must come to an end.  The next day we were heading out, and we found ourselves with time to wait in the beautiful, expansive lounge.  Here, I found other people just waiting around, and amazingly, holding great poses!  Here is one woman, who was just sitting there, arms crossed.  I wanted to be sure to discreetly take a picture of my model so you can see my reference.  There is another one coming!
The Caribe Hilton

Sketching On The Plane To San Juan, Puerto Rico

       We set out for our cruise vacation with Royal Caribbean on April Fools Day, what a joke! We had a snow storm, that really amounted to a little in the end, but at 4:30am, it was a mess and we needed to call for the plow and sander to get the shared van up our hill, we were stuck!  At last, we did make it out and to the airport on time.  The next strange thing was watching the wings of the plane get de-iced.  I never would have volunteered to be on a plane that needed de-icing, but what could I do, once on board and buckled in?  Finally, a half hour later, we were off to a warm and beautiful destination.
     I was in the middle between my husband and this

man, who was friendly.  I found out that he was Jim from Maine who sold gardening supplies all over and he won a trip to stay at a house in San Juan through a silent auction. He was taking along with him his six buddies that he gets together with every Thursday night to play Texas Hold'em. (I have yet to play this game, but just give me time.)  I found out one of the guys was a manager at a Panera Bread in Maine and I, of course, had to tell him about my Cuban Chicken Panini (see 4/20/11).
     I noticed two of his guests across the aisle held their positions really well, so, out came my sketch pad and pencil!  I really had a great time drawing these two guys, and since I was talking with their host, I was able to get their names!  The name on the top drawing was done in calligraphy italic alphabet, and I put two pencils together to create a wider nib, holding them at a 45 degree angle. The only problem is, it is not accurately measured and I did not have an alphabet to refer to for the strokes, but it is good enough!  Jim liked my drawings, but I am not sure if these guys ever found out they were sketched!
P.S.: when the plane landed, Jim called back home and they had 10 inches of snow, way more than we had. How happy we all were to leave!

Searching For The Perfect Cuban Sandwich; Panera Bread

     I have never forgotten about the Cuban Sandwich.  Every menu I look at, I look for this fantastic sandwich.  I have talked to my Hispanic patients about the Cuban Sandwich and their eyes light up and they enthusiastically tell me I have to try it, and then they describe the ingredients.
     Finally, about a month ago, while at Panera Bread for lunch, I noticed they had a Cuban Chicken Panini on the menu, and I thought, "this is a start".  The ingredients are listed as being:  "All-natural, antibiotic-free chicken, smoked, lean ham, sweet & spicy pickle chips, Swiss, chipotle mayo & sun-dried tomato ale mustard on our Focaccia".
It certainly sounded wonderful by the description and this is a picture of what I received.  I think a "panini" is an interesting sandwich and looks great.  This sandwich was quite delicious, the flavors blended beautifully and I really and truly enjoyed it. I couldn't quite finish it, the serving size was so generous, so I brought it back to work with me and raved all about it.  The creation of a "panini" does leave your sandwich a bit compressed, with all ingredients a bit smooshed (I have done this to my grilled cheese sandwich, when I over zealously pressed down on it with the spatula to be sure it was evenly browned!), so, I did feel as if what I was eating was a bit dense, but it did not take away from the fact that I was eating something scrumptious.
     Knowing that we were planning a Caribbean cruise vacation soon, I became bound and determined to find me an authentic Cuban Sandwich, to get the true taste and appearance.  Keep reading, there is more!!
P.S. If anyone reading knows all about the Cuban Sandwich, please share it with me!
Panera Bread Menu

In Search Of The Perfect Cuban Sandwich

     Four years ago, while taking a shared van ride to Logan Airport in Boston, we were talking with a woman also riding who was going home to Chicago.  When she found out we were on our way to Miami, heading out to our first cruise, she was excited to tell us about getting the best Cuban Sandwich there.  She said it was so delicious that she got one in Miami and carried it back home on the plane for later.  I never heard of a Cuban Sandwich, but if it is this good, then I knew that I had to find one for myself!
     So, after arriving at the hotel, we needed to find some supper, and decided that maybe we could find this Cuban sandwich.  As we walked towards what looked like the right place, we passed the Miami Heat basketball arena, which was pretty exciting.  Further down, we found this small strip mall, including this small deli. We asked if they could make us Cuban sandwiches, and the woman pulled out this huge loaf of bread, the just had deli ham there and I thought, "I don't want to eat a loaf of bread and some ham", so we, politely (hopefully), told her we changed our minds.  I was so discouraged, we were leaving Miami the next day for the cruise and there was no chance to find this wonderful food.
      So, what is the significance of the picture above, since it is not a Cuban Sandwich?  It is the tall glass souvenir I took home from Bubba Gump Shrimp Co Restaurant and Market that we found just around the corner!  It was fantastic and alot of fun!  "Run, Forrest, Run!!"  I'm on a quest, keep reading!
Bubba Gump Shrimp Co Restaurant and Market

Sketching At Logan Airport, Boston, Massachusetts

Last December I flew again to Chicago in honor of my late brother's birthday.  Again, I was ready to sketch as I waited.  It was quite early, I started with the woman below, but then I was getting too tired to do details of a face, so I moved onto someone's boots! I really enjoy doing this, and no one suspects anything!

Woman Waiting For The Plane

Woman Wearing Boots

Sketching While Flying From Chicago

Equipped with sketch pad, pencils, eraser and sharpener, I discreetly drew pictures of the people near me in the plane flying home from Chicago last September. The picture above was of an older gentleman across the aisle, who was very busy reading his newspaper. This picture has smudged a little because it is the first page rubbing against the cover. The picture to the right was the gentleman sitting next to me, who was very busy doing Sudoku puzzles.  I had great fun sketching these two!  I tried my best to keep my head facing forward and turning my eyes only, then if I needed to measure, I put the end of pencil up by the corner of my eye and moved my thumb nail down the side of the pencil. No one knew I was doing this! I did show my neighbor before we landed, he liked it. I never did get his name.  I have sketched more, keep watching!

The President Bought My Bean Bags!

     Blogging is making me think about what I will write about next and my mind will go from one subject to another and bringing back memories.  What I am writing about today is a really old memory, going way back to when I was a student nurse in a large metropolitan hospital.  It came to me this morning while traveling north again to work (and, yes, I stayed in the middle lane, see blog 4/12/11); it warmed my heart to think about this!
     In my way back days of being a student nurse, we would on occasion have bake sales as fund raisers for something for our class.  With this particular bake sale, we also had hand crafted items.  This was right up my alley, since I looked for any opportunity to make something.  At that time I had a McCall's Needlework magazine and had already knitted one animal bean bag that I gave as a gift and was very pleased with the results, so I decided to make both the mouse and the frog.  I kept my fingers very busy knitting these two adorable creatures, bought the dried beans at the grocery store and filled them.  They were the traditional colors, the mouse was brown, the frog was green. They were given the price of $1.00 and they were added to the table.
     There we were all in our blue and white uniforms with our nurses caps on our heads, standing behind the table outside the cafeteria in the hospital at lunchtime.  It was great fun, watching everyone come to our table, looking at things, buying our cookies, breads and things we made.  Then I saw him!  Over came the hospital President, standing tall in his suit, always commanding respect.  I kept my eyes on him to see what he looked at as his eyes scanned the table. Then, I held my breath!  He picked up my bean bags and looked at them, then he said to my class mate, "I'll take these", and he took out his $2.00 and paid for them.  I was so thrilled! I said nothing to him, I never claimed that I made them, I was so shy back then!  But all I could think is that if the President of the hospital is a pretty important and special person, then he should know all about things that were important and special, and he chose my bean bags and nothing else, thereby making my mouse and frog bean bags important and special, too!
     He must have chosen them for some lucky child, I hope these toys were loved and enjoyed.  I have not thought about this for so long and it brought back that happy feeling that I had that day, I just had to tell my story.  I wish I had that pattern, I think now and then to contact McCalls to see if they can dig it up for me.  If I get the pattern, I will surely make my bean bags again and write a blog about it. They were wonderfully adorable!

What I Learned From Driving To Work Today

     Today I traveled North to my work site.  I keep my GPS on since this is an area that I am not familiar with and I don't want to make a mistake.  As I approach my exit to get off the highway, my GPS voice announces "in point 2 miles take exit on right", but at that same time there is an an entrance ramp on the right the brings in merging traffic and becomes one more lane.  The first time I came to this section of the road, I felt the need to get to the right as soon as possible, so I put on my directional, looked over my shoulder and navigated my car through the merging traffic, until I was on the right and was able to turn.  Then what I noticed is that this new road, plus the original right hand lane disappeared by the time I reached the exit.  I thought to myself, "did I really have to put myself at risk if the middle lane actually becomes the right lane at the exit?"  But, no matter what, every time, I would put on the directional and move over to the right just feeling secure that I would be there and not risk missing the exit.
     Yesterday I traveled North but to a different site that meant I traveled one additional exit further.  So, what I did was stay in the middle lane and just paid attention to how it felt as the road narrowed and what I found was that I easily found myself where I belonged in the path of the exit.  So, today I needed to get off at my usual exit and what I did was stay in the middle lane, no matter how tempted I was to move to the right, (and I was tempted!) and I discovered I had no problem getting off the highway.  There is a moral to this story, just bear with me!
     So, the wisdom I have learned is to put trust into the path I am taking, no matter how much I feel the urge to leave it for what I believe is a better path, this other path actually may have dangers and risks in it and may prove to be harmful to me. By following my present path, I find myself actually  in the right path, I just have to trust and it will be shown to me to be true. Thank you for reading today!

Plaster Casting: My Hand

 I enjoy making plaster casts and this is a casting I made of my own hand holding a pen, but it could be a paint brush or a flag, whatever I want. I found this ring with a giant gem which I knew would be perfect for me to wear. I have given myself a bracelet to wear.  I was inspired to do this after seeing the plaster cast hand of Chopin in a museum in Amsterdam.  It intrigued me to look at the detail of his hand, and to be so close to someone so famous and brilliant, and who is no longer with us at the same time.
    I call my casting "My Helping Hand".  I have done more, I will show them at a later time.
Cast of Chopin's Hand

More Doodles

     This is a doodle that I did while working several years ago. I really liked this one and brought home to keep. (There are doodles that get thrown away!) My job then was at an acute ambulatory care department and they would rotate me to the phones.  At times the calls coming would slow down, so I would just pass a few minutes by doing sketches and doodles.  My doodles often time just start out with scribbles and I honestly don't know what the outcome will be for awhile, until I suddenly see something recognizable, then I add to it.
     This sketch started out being my beloved long-haired miniature Dachshund named Jasmine.  I gave her a halo because she is my doggie angel.  Somehow in my sketching and scribbling, cats appeared.  I did have some cats, but not these 3 cuties.  I found this picture recently when sorting out stuff in that side room with art in it, and I am glad to share it with you.