It’s nearly two months since we bid farewell to Hudson. We buried him down the hill from our house, next to Beorn, Boris, Reggie and Larry, our previous dogs. His memory will live within me forever. I’ve since cancelled my subscription to Porcupine Monthly. I will miss the centerfolds. Life goes on. A week ago we learned of a dog at a local rescue facility in need of a new home. Rescue Experiences I didn’t …
I paint more than dogs. Here are some of my recent digital landscapes inspired by trips to the southwest.
My dog, Hudson, an Old-English Mastiff of 115 pounds, and not even six years old, has bone cancer. We’ll be saying goodbye in a matter or weeks, or even days. We love our dogs. They’re family. This sad news hit me hard, inhibiting my ill-informed, occasionally coherent scribblings here. You can read all about bone cancer on the VetMD site. It’s a real bitch of a disease, akin to brutal punishment or torture. For Hudson, …
I may have told this Bloomsday story before, but I’m old and I think I’ve earned the right to repeat myself. As a graphic designer, I created advertising for Bloomsday, a local 12k race known around the world (not an exaggeration). For twenty-five years I provided advertising and marketing materials for the annual race, held in Spokane on the first Sunday in May. At this writing, the 49th running of Bloomsday is in a couple …
It’s morning. I’m laying in bed. I look at the clock radio and note the hour. It is that groggy time between “Just another ten minutes,” and “Get your butt out of bed, Cupcake!” I turn on the radio to get weather and propaganda updates (because Right-Think is always the Best-Think!). The station is in the middle of an advertisement, of course. This one is for–I kid you not–a divorce support service. Their tagline: “Let …
On the occasion of Hudson’s nineteenth porcupine encounter
In which Owen Benjamin offers up the most Flat Earthiest question of them all.
The political season, having reached the expected crescendo of crazy, The Missus told me she was tired of it all and wanted to talk about something else. Not that I’m constantly going on about it, but even the little I mention is too much, I guess. “Fine,” I said. “Let’s talk about Flat Earthers.” With a sigh, she dropped her head into her hands. “Jehovah’s Witnesses?” Belief has always fascinated me. For one thing, the …
I do a newsletter. It’s not a monthly newsletter. Instead, it’s a “I’ll Get To It When I Feel Like It And Have Something To Say” newsletter. For most people that “Having Something To Say” part is not a big hurdle. One need simply browse social media for a few minutes to find lots of people with something to say, and even more people with nothing to say and a compulsive need to say it …
This Doberman Pinscher portrait really sold me on a new painting software. For 26 years I’ve used Corel Painter for my portraits. About 2 years ago I – foolishly – opted for a new subscription model for Painter. Automatic upgrades sounded good to me. Unfortunately, it’s two years later with not a single upgrade in Painter. I think I got screwed on the deal. I never thought I’d ditch Painter, but a few months back …
