I really wished I could have spent more time in the Riviera Maya. Although this was a brief trip for us this time, the time spent on the beach and in the water was therapeutic. I really needed it. Each day was as perfect as it could be and the beauty of this place has a place in my heart.............and we try to come back each year. I didn't think of crab shells, flea markets, or any of the things that consume my days at home. Nice! Oh.......but good things must come to an end, for the time being, and there is much work to do. Since my return home, I have been busy filling custom orders and trying to get ahead of the game in preparation for the onslaught of Christmas shoppers. Everybody wants an egg from the golden goose............in my case, insert "crab shell". Here are a few more pictures of my work:
And if that's not enough......here's some more:
As I have mentioned before on this blog, I set up at Northpoint Plaza Flea Market in Dundalk, MD. on Saturdays and Sundays. On Mondays you can find me at Hunter's Sale Barn near Rising Sun in Cecil County, MD. If you live in the area, stop on by and say hello!
I am usually busy painting away on a dozen of so crab shells, which you can watch me paint if you care to do so............... but if you have children with you, be sure to read the riot act to them or at least duct tape their hands together.......hehehe.......this stuff is fragile and nobody likes paying for a broken crab shell. :)
There's more to come................meanwhile, as I paint the crab shells, I'll be thinking about the days I spent on vacation...........and I will still have to say that I am the luckiest man on the planet.............
Ho Ho Ho! Merry Crabmas Everyone! Let me fill you in about some things..........uh..........those crabby things............ Lots of people visited the "crabby Santa" to purchase some painted crab shells for their Crabmas trees and to give as gifts. I cannot even describe how exhausted I am. Needless to say, as tiring as it was, I enjoyed painting the shells for people. I had more custom orders this year and most folks did not wait until the last minute to request stuff. Oh there were a few though.......and I did my darndest to get the work done for them. To know that one's work and efforts are appreciated is very gratifying, The people who come and look at the shells always have great things to say about my work...........well........of course there are those few who, for some reason, have the word "stencil" embedded in their brains. And no.....I do not use any "stencils". Anywho.......the shells make perfect gifts and most of the shells are one of a kind and not done anywhere else on the planet as far as I know. So if you didn't come down to the Plaza Flea Market in Dundalk, MD., or find your way to Hunter's Sale Barn out in Cecil County, MD........you are gonna have to plan ahead for next year so you can decorate your crabmas tree. Here are a few of the special crab shells that sold for Christmas.......er uh.......Crabmas!
Oh, and I forgot to mention my right-hand man..........crabby Santa's super-elf........my eldest son.........he helps me do what I do.......he makes just about all of this possible........and yes, he sometimes paints them too.
Little brushes......little paint.......a little talent......and lots of happiness:) At this point I am taking a small break.......uh.........oh well.........a day or two.......from painting shells. Beginning Friday I am at it again.........did I mention that these shells are not just for Christmas?.......that's right..........year 'round baby! Hang them everywhere........well........just about anywhere. Until next time.......stay tuned........I put up some more pictures soon.
Here we go with some of my random thoughts...........
...........not that these thoughts have any worth........but sometimes a man has to wonder about stuff.
I remember seeing old films of people striking oil and the oil would be spewing all over the place and people were covered with it and it was a huge mess..............we were told that this was a good thing.............somebody struck it rich!.........remember the Beverly Hillbillies?........Ole Jed Clampett struck oil and moved to Bev-er-ly.........Hills that is.....swimming pools........movie stars!
Oil is supposedly scarce these days and we are said to be dependent on foreign oil. As you know by now, somebody hit the motherlode while drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana...........hmmmm.....Clampett territory? Well.......You would think people would be all excited about it.......but no. Supposedly, we are still being led to believe that oil is scarce and that it is hard to find........huh?............if it is so scarce and such a limited supply in this part of the planet, then why are we hearing reports where each day the amount spewing out of the floor of the Gulf is increasing in huge numbers and I also hear reports that it appears that this "leak" could go on for months and months......even years and years! This doesn't all add up to me.
And where has Al Gore been during all of this?.........hehehehe......
Today, the boogeyman is BP..........but the real boogeyman sits in Washington DC. Those that made laws restricting all new oil drilling to be so far off the coast that disasters such as this are hard to remedy. The even bigger problem with the oil disaster is that hurricane season starts about now.......this is not a good thing. The Gulf gets its fair share of tropical storms and the problem with this is that you have to remember where these storms get their water from. My guess is that a hurricane might suck up that oily water and dump it from the coastline to miles and miles inland..............think its a mess now?.......we ain't seen nuthin' yet. Stay Tuned!
I am a Baltimore Orioles fan.........and the team absolutely sucks this year.............but I am still a fan............well........there is always hope for next year. It boggles my mind that hitting has been a problem for the past 12 years or so............and we have changed managers, players, stadium attendants, hot dog vendors, and Boog Powell's t-shirts two or three times a year.............but one thing remains constant in the dugout............Terry Crowley the Orioles hitting coach..........Crowley somehow has kept his job all of these years. I do not understand the logic in this.
Another thing I do not understand is..........
..........Former Orioles pitcher and now part of the MASN broadcast team. Notice how he always looks slanted. On camera, he always leans to the side as he speaks..........maybe it his hairstyle........the hair is to heavy on one side. I think it is also the cause for Palmer's continual flubbing and stuttering of players names. I have one other pet peeve regarding Jim Palmer.........he has an obvious and apparent crush on Derek Jeter. The Orioles could be playing against the San Francisco Giants and at least twice during the broadcast he will mention Derek Jeter who plays for the Yankees. I could understand referencing Jeter regarding statistics, but when the broadcast goes like this: "Wigginton got all of that one and as he heads towards second base, Jeter..................."...................Jeter?.........C'mon Jim..........this ain't New York and Jeter has nothing to do with this game.Maybe Palmer is just getting a bit senile.
In a few months, Obama's hair will look like Nelson Mandela's hair...........don't laugh, he no longer dyes it.........it is getting grayer and grayer.
Ever see this guy?.............it's Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis. He's the one whose batting stance looks like a Wii character in the batters box. Everytime I see Youkilis, whose real name, by the way, is Weiner..............that's right, he is a Jewish ballplayer.............everytime I see Youkilis, I am thinking........
............Louis C.K.
Twins separated at birth?
What is it with politicians that they think that if they roll up their sleeves for an appearance in public and for a photo op, that you and I will think they are "working hard". I see this kind of stuff and it just assures me that the end of the world is upon us all. Furthermore, if you or I go to the coast or the beach on the Gulf Coast to get to the bottom of what is happening, we would not walk along that beach eating snowcones..........are you kidding me?.........do you see how hard they are "working"...........how do we know they are "working"?........the snowcones?........NO!.......it is the rolled up sleeves!.........It boggles my mind that would even wear a long sleeved shirt there. I have been to Louisiana at this time of year..........it ain't cold. You can't tell me they couldn't afford a short-sleeved shirt or two. How about a t-shirt and some cut-off jean shorts?
Back to the Orioles again............this is their catcher Matt Wieters............the alleged future superstar...........who can't seem to hit his way out of a paper bag. Think pop-outs and double plays. Whenever I see Wieters face on tv, I am reminded of this guy........
............that's right..........Joran van der Sloot........the soon to be deceased murderer.
Things are just terrible.........ain't it?
Maybe Wieters should grow a beard and start looking like Kevin Youkilis.
And now for something you don't see every day............music with appliances:
...........and just because it is Thursday.......some David Bowie. It is nice to see somebody actually enjoying what he is doing.
It's that time of year.............time for trick or treaters coming to your door for some Halloween candy. The weather has cooled off and all the leaves on the trees are changing colors before they fall to the ground..............well..........some of them...........because some of them never get the message that every year at this time of year, it is supposed to be the "end" of their world. In our world..........the human world........it ain't the end until you are dead. Then again.........the jury might still be out on that one.........after all, I was just at the grocery store and there were two women shoppers, not unlike the two old ladies that you see in the photo above, that could barely walk and yet proceeded to load up their groceries into their Buick and speed off across the parking lot. I don't know about you and how you feel about such things, but for me........this kind of thing sends a chill down my spine. Why? Well........because these old women will be on the road at the same time that I am on the road! Personally, I would like to live as much as I can while I can and I don't need no ancient women on the road driving Buicks.
Aside from the previous mentioned event, as I write this I am reminiscing about the past two months leading up to this week. I have written about the trip to Texas and some other things that were on my mind........but I didn't tell you about the Jehovah's Witness visits in recent weeks. Before I get to that, keep in mind that it is the end of the world again..........just like it was in 1999..........remember this?:
Well.........the year 2000 came and went and we all went ahead and opened up our stored canned food and ate so many beans that Al Gore had to announce a newer more surefire "end of the world" ..........you know...........Global Warming...........ahhh yes..........there is nothing better than a potential world disaster caused by..........well...........farting!.That's pretty sensational.........but it's not really knew. Al Gore just knew that those magazines at the grocery checkout counter make alot of money because of what the subject matter was...............the END of the WORLD! And again.......there was nothing new about having magazines try to scare the crap out of people or suggest that the END was near. The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, Inc pretty much cornered the market on such things. The difference, of course, being that they didn't put the magazines in the grocery stores............instead, they just keep sending moronic lemming cult members to fan out through every neighborhood and bang on doors and ring doorbells hoping to find some sucker that will take the bait.
Maybe you remember seeing this magazine laying around at the laundromat or in a doctor's office................but that would be years ago.........look at the cover. See the nice old people?, not unlike those two women in the photo at the beginning of this blog entry.......except that the magazine is dated 1984. Hmmm.........1984.........Holy Orwell! Now let us think about that.......if those people on the cover of that magazine looked like that in 1984.........what would they look like today?...............or..........maybe they all kicked the bucket...........after all........today it is 2009 and only two months away from being 2010............25 years later! Most of you that read this will probably think "so what is his point?"............it's okay.....I understand.......maybe you can do a little research on just how long exactly a "generation" is. Easily, the majority of those people on the cover are at least in their seventies. The even bigger point to ponder is how are we to know just when it was that the photo was taken. It could be a photo from 1975............which, by the way, was yet another specific date set for the end of things as we know it.........and yes.......it was the Jehovah's Witnesses that picked that year.........which resulted in the largest number of new recruits in their history. When 1976 came, the result was the largest depletion of their rank and file in their corporate history.
I remember a Jehovah's Witness woman rattling her spiel on the Paltalk internet community chats. She would repeatedly say "Jehovah's Witnesses never advertise! and do not participate in commercial ventures.".................hehehe........such bilge from cult lemmings is the result of them not knowing their own history. Look at the picture........it speaks for itself. If that ain't advertising, then Billy Mays is still alive and selling magazines in Brooklyn.
I must mention that before Jehovah's Witnesses were Jehovah's Witnesses........they were called "International Bible Students" led by "Pastor" Charles Taze Russell. It wasn't until Russell died that the corporation was taken over by "Judge" Rutherford. Rutherford coined the name "Jehovah's Witnesses" and the Watchtower corporation separated itself from the International Bible Students. As of today, there are still International Bible Students. If you were to ask a Jehovah's Witness today "Who is the founder of the Watchtower Society?".........they would most likely say "Charles Russell". Needless to say, Russell and Rutherford both saw their personal "world" come to an end and they have been dead as a doornail for years now. You can rest assured that neither of them are tossing beachballs around with lions and tigers in paradise.
Bible scholars eh?...........hehehe..........gotta love it. I bet those bible scholars are.......well.......now on Al Gore's payroll.
"The World Has Ended!".......that's what the sign says........imagine that...........and the picture is from 1922. You gotta love those wacky cult groups. Somebody made alot of money hawking this stuff.
So this brings us to the past few weeks that I mentioned at the beginning. A few weeks ago I had a visit by a Jehovah's Witness on a Saturday morning. It was a very black gentleman with a heavy foreign accent and he was with two small children. One of the kids handed me a magazine and I began a discussion with the man. It turns out that he was from Nigeria. He told me that because I thought he had a Jamaican accent. Anyway, I immediately challenged him with getting him to acknowledge and explain his beliefs that Jesus is the fallen angel of the abyss named Abaddon and why Jehovah's Witnesses reject the symbolic flesh of blood of Christ every year in a Watchtower ritual entitled the "Memorial". Well...........it got real interesting and the two kids were sent to the car to be with their mother. The man had to admit that yes indeed, they believe that Jesus is Abaddon. At first he danced around it until I cited the Revelation:It's Grand Climax Is At Hand! book and the Insight book. He proceeded to divert from the subject that I brought up and attempted to rejoin his pre-planned agenda of the day. I, of course, would not let him continue on that path and kept bringing him back to the Abaddon stuff. All in all......our discussion was a polite one and we both smiled alot. It got to the point where it was time for him to get going and our conversation came to an end. Before he could leave, I reached out and shook his hand and said "God Bless and Have a Nice Day". The Jehovah's Witness said "Goodbye". I then stopped him before he could get to the car and said to him "Why is it that a Christian can say God Bless to a Jehovah's Witness, but a Jehovah's Witness never says God Bless to a Christian in return?" He looked at me and smiled and said "I don't know......why?" and I responded with "You're asking me? YOU are a Jehovah's Witness and you didn't say God Bless either" He then just simply left in the car.
A week later, there was a knock on my door but I had not heard it. The Jehovah's Witness man had returned and left me a note. The note said that he would return at another time to continue our discussion and that he would answer my questions then. Huh? I never gave him any homework.........hehehe..........maybe he was confused. So two weeks go by and it is a Saturday and there is a knock on my door again. It was that same Jehovah's Witness man with his kids and his wife sitting in his van in front of my house. I think we spoke for about 45 minutes and had rehashed the Abaddon stuff and a few other things. I mentioned that I knew he was an elder and I had to explain to him how I knew that..........."because you speak more than an average JW".........hehehe. I rattled off quite a bit about his organizations history and we went toe to toe about blood transfusions............and then..........finally..........he finally started to get to the those questions that are most important to him.
What could those questions be? Maybe you wonder eh?
"Were you ever one of Jehovah's Witnesses?" No "Have you ever attended meetings?" No. "Are you disfellowshipped?" I responded with......How do you disfellowship someone that has never been one?" "Did you disassociate yourself?" No. "Are you married to one of Jehovah's Witnesses?" No way.
Gotta love those questions.
With that, our conversation came to an end. As he walked to his van and got in his car, I followed him. I reached out my hand through his window and shook his wife's hand and greeted her and the kids. I then, once again, reached for his hand and shook it and said "God Bless and have an nice day!"..........and once again.....he said nothing in response. So I did what I had to do and said to him "There you go again.............Jehovah's Witnesses just can't seem to ever say "God Bless" to anybody"
He smiled up at me and stuttered momentarily and then let go with a "God Bless" from his mouth in that Nigerian accent of his.
I looked over at his wife's face and she just smiled at me...........but I could see another look on her face........one where I would have loved to have been a fly on the rear-view mirror on their way home.
Hehehehe.
So now......Halloween in fast approaching.........in fact.......this coming weekend. The past two Saturdays have come and gone and I haven't seen the Nigerian Jehovah's Witness elder any more. Maybe he will come back one day but I doubt it...........I know way too much about his organization and teachings and because he cannot figure out how it is that I know these things, it just doesn't compute with him. That's why he asked those questions.
Hmmmmm.........and to think that I never got to tell him about the "end of the world".
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