The Alphabet Tree

Some time ago, my wife, Therese, brought home these foam alphabets from her first grade class to wash and disinfect and then hung up to dry. When I walked outside late that evening, I found our maple tree has sprouted an almost new spring look.

Kinda reminds me of the days when, as a kid,  it was my job to hang up the washed clothes outside on the line and and take down the clothes before it rained.

My father was always disappointed if I forgot to do it and the clothes got soaked from a passing thunderstorm.

Copyright 2015/ Ben Bensen III

An addendum...

As I left the cemetery, I noticed many other Saints fans wanted to share the big victory with their deceased loved ones. It seems like every other plot had a black and gold weath, or fake flowers, or deflated balloons and half deflated footballs sharing in the victory the way only New Orleanians do. Everyone celebrate... including those who never lived to see the day!

For all those who didn't live to see the day!

Last Friday, my younger brother, his family and Therese and I went to visit our father's grave and put flowers there on his 10th anniversary. Once we found his site, we noticed a homemade fleur-de-lis spray painted gold and trimmed in black with the words,"Who Dat" and the score printed on the front with the words, "Enjoy it" and a love note. Underneath the sign was some Brach's mints, and Mardi Gras beads. We knew immediately that our other brother, Tony, made a visit early that morning before he went to work and in classic Tony fashion, the craftsmanship and the sentiment was right on.

Dad wasn't a big Saints fan. Baseball was what he grew up with and loved. But Dad was a big supporter of anything New Orleans, so I am sure he did enjoy the win. Our father did love Mardi Gras unless it came early and he had to celebrate it freezing in the cold. I don't think he ever recovered from those four years in the Pacific war. Just couldn't handle the cold.

The mints represent his sometimes dry sense of humor. When I was a kid ballplayer, I always played first base and every year would get my glove hand bent back, smashed or stepped on. He'd always tell me to soak it in Epson salt. He'd always prescribe soaking it no matter what the problem was. As I got older and tired of this prescription, I asked him to suggest something different in his sarcasm. He suggested I, "Take a Mint". I forgot my anger and cracked up laughing. From that point on, it was, "Take a Mint" for everything. You got a headache? "Take a Mint." You got cramps? "Take a Mint." Can't find your keys? "Take a Mint." Whining about the bills you have to pay, "Take a Mint." To this day, it is our family running joke now starting in a third generation. Got something that ails you? Well...

"Mud Buff"

I liked the roundness of the angle, but it falls short of what I had in my dome at the time. Still, it is a pretty good likeness... don't you think?

Inanimate objects may be boring to most... people are much more interesting, but they move. B-52 don't. At least, not as much. I liked the triangular hangar tops behind the plane with its tail high above it all.

Waiting for a flight...

While waiting for a bus, I started this sketch of a crew waiting for their plane. I started the drawing on notebook paper so I figured I'd continue it on the final.

Crew sketch #3

Here's a cleaned up sketch done, off and on, in our pre-flight meetings. "Skype" was the co-pilot and "Verde" was the ops officer, I think, because he informed everyone in the post flight meeting that he was kind of a plant to try and trick the rest of the crew. I can't say I captured their likeness all that well, but I really like what I did with Major Mike Gregston. I'm pretty happy with that one! Somehow, I never even attempted "Shadow" except in a real quick sketch that only represents him because he has no hair on his head! Sorry 'bout that!