Mystic Ice Cream Karaoke Night

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By Thomas Thorspecken

Mystic Ice Cream (1217 Miller Road, Fruitland Park FL) has a Karaoke night every Tuesday and Friday from 5:30pm to 8:30pm. I went to this event with Stella P. Arbelaeéz Tascón, who I first met about 30 years ago at Disney Feature Animation. She was an effects artist at Disney, having graduated from the internship the year before me, and she is just as devoted to sketching from life as I am. Stella went to the Fashion Institute of Technology, an art school in NYC about the same time as I was attending the School of Visual Arts, also in NYC.

This karaoke event is very well attended, so much so, that I thought we might have to use ours art stools. However, we were invited to sit at a big round table with a lovely group of new friends. I suspect many of the folks at this Karaoke night were from The Villages which is a huge retirement, active lifestyle, community north of where my studio is now in Lake County. I also suspect many of the singers were plants, because there was some amazing talent in the crowd, from classic era romantic crooners to country singers.

One song I absolutely had to sing along with was Frank Sinatra’s New York New York. Stella joined in as well. she claims to be tome deaf, but she actually carried this tune magnificently. I just recently came back from looking at homes in New York State and I am committing to making that move north although I am not sure exactly where I will land.

There was a third artist in the crowd who seemed to do close up portraits of singers. So this particular evening had three different artists documenting the stellar evening of songs. People must have signed up to sing before hand because the music maestro would call people up in quick succession. I have sung. karaoke before, but I remained as a back up singer for this evening. One of the proprietors was delighted to find two urban sketchers sketching away. She took a photo of Stella and I  holding up our sketches. Amazingly, the singer that I sketched much earlier in the evening was up on the stage again when she took the photo, making it look like the sketch had happened in an instant.

Of course Stella and I also had some delicious ice cream. I ordered a peanut flavored chocolate ice cream mix that was to die for. When I sketch, I tend to hyper focus, and I forgot about the ice cream, so it became a tasty soup before the sketch was complete. This was a perfect event for me to humm and sing along with each song. I tend to hum along during musicals and I have to try and stifle that urge so as not to distract the professional actors on stage.

Mystic Ice Cream has four locations with one about to open in Mount Dora Florida. If they offer Karaoke in Mount Dora, I know the place will be packed. The other locations are… 6770 US Highway 44 Summerland FL, 38 East Magnolia Avenue Eustice FL, and 314 West Main Street Leesburg Fl,.

Albany Airport

Posted on by Thor

My week of trying to see properties in New York State was disappointing. By the end of the week I felt I had found the perfect studio which was built specifically for a sculptor, but it had multiple offers and was off the market.

Brokers canceled showings or just didn’t show up to the showings they had scheduled. By the end of the week, I was frustrated and furious.

One week is not enough to find a home/studio especially with irresponsible brokers. I am now considering renting a small place in Upstate New York as a home base from which to continue the search. I found a church basement for rent in Kingston, New York, which looks intriguing.

On Zillow, I have found several places which seemed perfect, but the both sold out before I could see them. There is one property in Mount Dora Florida which is still for sale and I love it, but I am committing myself to making the move north to get away from the heat. The central air conditioning unit in the studio I am renting now broke down and I purchased several window AC units but they can not keep up with the endless overwhelming heat. This is fueling my decision to move north. I also want to be within a one or 2 hour train or bus ride from NYC. I feel I have done my time in Florida. It is time to feel the peace of an upstate studio and a weekly or monthly visit to feel the energy of the Big Apple.

In August and September, My life will once again going to be in upheaval.

Church of the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church

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When the real estate broker didn’t show up to the home I was considering buying in Greenwood Lake, New York, I walked through the little downtown area and decided to sketch the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd.

At first I sat on a stone wall but when it came time to add watercolor washes, I sat inside the churchyard and used the stone wall to lean against. Street side of the wall were four porto potties. They must have been left over from some street fair.

As the sketch neared completion, I stated making more phone calls to try and arrange to see the home I wanted to see. I refused to work with the broker who had given me the run around and didn’t communicate.

I was given a new broker to work with whose name was Zilma Rivera. She was having an pen house at a very expensive home up on a hill  that overlooked the lake. I am hoping Zilma will continue to help me as I continue my search. I will need to be local to the lower New York State area to continue the search, so I plan to find a rental in this area while I search.

At that property we had a nice relaxed talk since no one showed up to the open house other than me. Surprisingly she let me know that home prices were slowly dropping, which is great for me.

Callicoon Barn Studio

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I took a trip up to New York State for a week to search for an artist studio to buy. I gave myself a week to search for places within a one hundred mile radius of NYC.

The drive to this property from further upstate was absolutely spectacular. Side roads wound their way down the Delaware river and a large lake. For one long stretch, I never had to hit the gas pedal since the car coasted down the mountain valley for about half an hour. My ears would pop as I descended or gained elevation.

This converted barn in Callicoon, New York was the first property I looked at. The barn sits on 3 acres that slope away towards the woods on none side and multiple sloping fields on the other. It must be amazing to watch a sunset form this elevated property.

My broker was a bit late, so I started the sketch. The property owner is an artist and seemed to be a single woman occupying all this space. She shouted at me from the doorway, “Hey, why not come sit up on the deck is is much more comfortable?” I was sitting on a low moss covered slate wall as I sketched. I shouted back, “I am an artist doing a sketch.” I shouted out that I loved the huge skylights. She let me know that the skylights were for her studio. The conversation ended after that since she had to cart off a mattress to a local dump using her Prius.

She left the front door open and when the agent arrived we walked around inside. The place really is perfect, although it is far larger than I need. The upstairs studio is huge. An amazing feature which I have never seen before was a false wall that was set up for the entire length of the room, covering the skylights. The walls were set up with large paneled doors which could be opened in front of the skylights that she wanted to open. Another great feature of the false walls is that they offered tons of art storage space.

The bedroom downstairs which was an addition also had sky lights and it too would make a great studio space since there were two other bedrooms to spare. A bathroom was decorated in a Japanese theme and had a bidet. Grape vines covered the outdoor patio. Everything seemed idyllic and perfect but then the broker pointed out the grey panels that were used to cover each end of the barn. Those panels were asbestos.

I was staying with KC Cali and Bob Szafranski, north of this property. They had moved to New York State two months ago from Orlando Florida. Bob worked in construction for years and he pointed out that removing the asbestos was a very  expensive proposition. He also said that if there was asbestos, you could bet that there would be lead paint inside. Another down side to the property was that there was no cell phone service. When I tried to bring up Google maps to find my way back to KC and Bob’s, the signal didn’t kick in again until I had driven a mile away from the property. Another down side is that the drive to NYC is almost 3 hours which is much further than I am hoping for. Although the property seems perfect in so many ways, I had to let it slide.

Portland Trail

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I am searching for a home. One, I called the Umatilla Homestead. I was making plans to turn an   pool into a greenhouse and I wanted to build a col retractable staircase up to the attic which is large enough to house a studio.

Anyway this place was just sold before I made an offer. So I am back to the search. There are several I saw that are habitable, but I want something that sings to me.

Last week Just Jeff started his cross country hike. He will start in Delaware where he will take a quick dip in the Atlantic. He will then hike across America and then jump in the Pacific ocean when he gets to California. The American Discovery Trail is 4,834 miles.  He tends to walk 25 miles a day, so he may be hiking 193 days or 6 to 7 months if he doesn’t stop in communities along the way.

Before he left, he showed me how he packs his bag. I paid close attention to the supplies needed and how to pack them. He used to pack neatly but realized over time that just shoving everything in the pack better utilized the space. I am starting to think that the open trail might be calling my name rather than buying a studio right now. I have camping equipment from my cross country trek way back in the 1980s. The studios I fall in love with seem to sell out from under me before I commit. Maybe it is a sign.

I found am amazing home in Ithica, New York but it is light years from NYC. The chimney if falling apart, but that could be fixed with staples and some ductape. Taxes on that property are over $10,000 a year. Yikes! But it is soooo pretty and built in 1912 so it has tons of character. Once again the place is much bigger than I need at this point in my life. Ithica is supposed to be a community that supports the arts. There are multiple theaters and visual art galleries. It could be a place to reestablish my sketch a day habit starting from scratch. I am searching in all directions for a place to call home.

Middletown New York

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I have been house hunting for quite some time. My goal has been to find a place at the end of a bus or train line out of NYC.

This place in Middletown, New York was super appealing. The interior was intricately decorated with matching creamy colors. Rugs furniture and the walls all matched.

The place is honestly bigger than what I need as a single guy, and it would be intimidating to try and find just the right antiques to fit the decor. The house left the marked and it is just as well. I need a place that is a bit more utilitarian. The first thing I look for is northern facing windows for the studio. The yearly taxes for this home were also insane. I think it was in the ballpark of over $7,000 each year for the property taxes. Yikes!

My hope is to find a place with history and a working fireplace.

State of Emergency

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New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) declared a state of emergency to prepare for a new coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa. Her declaration on November 26, 2021 is one of the first emergency steps taken by a state in the U.S. against the new variant, known as Omicron, whose discovery was announced November 25, 2021.

“We continue to see warning signs of spikes in COVID-19 this winter, and while the new Omicron variant has yet to be detected in New York State, it’s coming,” Hochul said in a tweet.

The executive order, in effect until at least Jan. 15, 2022 allows nonessential procedures to be postponed in hospitals in order to increase hospital capacity. This is one of the few examples of a politician acting proactively rather than re-actively to the pandemic.

President Joe Biden has already restricted travel from several countries in southern Africa in order to mitigate the spread of Omicron. However those travel restrictions do not come into effect until November 28, 2021. That allows hundreds or thousands of passengers to fly into the United States before the restrictions take effect.The president also issued a proclamation that people entering the United States must be vaccinated. However there is a huge loophole. The proclamation only apples to US citizens returning to the states.

Two flights out of South Africa to Amsterdam landed with 60 passengers infected with COVID-19. It has not yet been established how many of those were the Omicron strain. Had those same passengers landed in Orlando International airport, they would already be in Disney World busy infecting others. In Johannesburg, South Africa, holiday travelers rushed back to the airport and stood in long lines to fly back home from vacations before the ban came into effect.

Despite the bans, the new variant has already been found in at least a dozen countries. Most of the cases detected have been in travelers returning from the region.

5 States: 44% of Cases

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CNN reported that five states account for 44% of the COVID-19 cases in the past week according to data from Johns Hopkins University. New York, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey had more than 196,400 of the country’s 453,360 cases reported in the last week, according to data available the morning of April 7. 2021.

Michigan has been hit especially hard with 6,600 cases a day over a week as opposed to 1,350 daily cases five weeks ago. The highly contagious and deadly B.1.1.7 variant of the COVID virus has helped cause the spike in cases. People are also experiencing pandemic fatigue and are taking fewer precautions giving the virus plenty of opportunity to spread.

The B.1.1.7, first identified in the UK, is now the most common strain of coronavirus in the United States, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said April 7, 2021.

With more-transmissible variants adding up, surges like Michigan’s may soon be seen more widely, even though vaccination rates have increased nationally, epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm said. The CDC says more than 16,200 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant have been confirmed in surveillance testing in the US, and B.1.1.7 has been found in every state. This number does not represent the total number of such cases circulating in the United States, but rather only those found by analyzing samples. Florida has more that 3000 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant, more than any other state.

The US has averaged 774 Covid-19 deaths a day over the last week. According to the latest CDC data, 19.4% of the total US population was fully vaccinated as of the morning of April 7, 2021; and 57.4% of people age 65 and older are fully vaccinated. But the US has a long way to go before reaching herd immunity. Dr. Anthony Fauci has estimated 70%-85% of the population needs to become immune.

Virtual Ball Drop

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Times Square is empty on New Years Eve. As the number of coronavirus cases continues to climb across the country, event organizers will host a virtual ball-dropping celebration.

Police   have set up a perimeter around Times Square to keep spectators out. Garbage trucks and buses are parked at intersections to keep vehicular traffic out. There will be no public spectator viewing areas. Even people in local hotels are being told to stay inside.

The event will be broadcast online. The ball will be raised at approximately 6 p.m. to the top of One Times Square. There will be musical performances by Andra Day, Gloria Gaynor, Jimmie Allen, Machine Gun Kelly, the USO Show Troupe and more. Additionally, first responders, front-line and essential workers will be celebrated as special guests and heroes of 2020. They will be some of the privileged few to celebrate the new year from Times Square.

Mayor Bill de Blasio will press the button to send the Waterford Crystal ball on its one minute descent and finally the horror of 2020 will come to an end. Last year when the ball dropped, the first case of COVID-19 were just being reported.

The New Year’s Eve ball has dropped every year since 1907, except in 1942 and 1943, when the dropping was suspended because of the city black-out during World War II.Even then people gathered in the dark to celebrate. COVID-19 has created a much greater black out on social gatherings. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging people to stay home and celebrate virtually with friends and family. The COVID-19 death toll is projected to be as high as 419,000 by mid-January.

In the East Village of NYC.

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I was asked to teach an Urban Sketching Workshop in NYC. The hotel was located in the East Village which has changed quite a bit since I lived in NYC close to 25 years ago. Hip new bars and eateries proliferate the neighborhood. When I got to this street corner of Clinton and Houston the age old feeling of the city returned. I took the time to sit on a bench in the middle of the intersection and sketch the neighborhood. I  imagined myself living in that cylinder shaped corner tower on the corner on the top floor. From there I could see the bustling city life as I painted in the studio.

I went to college in the city and wish I had the patience and perseverance to sketch the scene as I can today. A homeless man on the far corner to my left was begging the entire time I sketches. His mantra for a dime became the soundtrack for the scene as I worked. It was a rather crisp day which I am not used to, so I had to put on my gloves to keep sketching. Direct sunlight helped when it struck  my hands.

The sketch workshop went well. We did quick studies while e were gathered in a dance studio which had mirrors on the walls. Mirrored walls are perfect for showing where a vanishing point is in a scene. For the second part of the workshop, we went to Grand Central Station. I wanted my crew of artists to see the main floor from the second level. We walked up the steps and overlooked the expanse. The amazing this is that the second floor of Grand Central Station is now exclusively an Apple Store. Phones and iPads were everywhere. The store staff didn’t seem to mind us leaning against the marble railings and sketching. After sketching at Grand Central, we all went to a German pub for drinks and to share sketches. The New York City Urban Sketching community is vibrant and exciting. I kind of miss being in the city that never sleeps.