47th Annual Winter Park Christmas Concert

Posted on by Thor

 

After getting back to the United States from Europe, I started sketching events that returned a feeling of normalcy. I have sketched the Winter Park Christmas Concert multiple times before and returned despite the 30 mile drive to get there. It was dark by the time I got to Winter Park and traffic seemed insane. I took back roads to get to the city hall since I had always found a parking spot there in the past. I started loosing hope of finding a parking spot, the closer I got.

When I found the lot, it was jam packed but I drove up and down the aisles anyway. At the end of the last aisle, there was a single parking spot. I shouted for joy. It was devine providence. I quickly packed up my art bag and walked down Park Avenue towards Central Park where I could hear musicians warming up in the bandshell.

The park was also packed with people in lawn chairs chatting with neighbors. There was no way I would get a sketch of the stage. I decided to sit close to the back of the crowd and draw the Tiffany Windows from the Morse Museum, that were on display. There were four Tiffany windows that stood among the crowd like the monolith from 2001 a Space Odyssey. The windows were surrounded by police tape and each had a docent standing guard. The illuminated windows faced the stage. I thought that it would have made more sense for the to face out towards the audience. Maybe the glow would have interfered with the audience seeing the tiny performers on the stage in the distance.

I set up my artist stool which had served me so well in Europe and leaned back against a utility box facing back looking at the stained glass windows. I start each sketch by writing the date in the lower right hand corner of the sketch. I dug into my pockets for my iPhone. I couldn’t find it. Bloody hell. I use the phone for navigation and have just recently started mounting it above the steering wheel. In Europe, I forgot the phone a couple of times. I developed the habit of taking a photo of where ai parked the car which helped as I searched for the car and it guaranteed I had my phone in hand. Here in Winter Park, I didn’t think to shoot a photo of my magnificent parking spot.

I must have left the phone back in the car. I decided I had to hike back. As I approached my car someone was slowly driving behind me. He rolled down his window and asked if zi was leaving. I apologized and said no. The phone case also held all my credit cards. The last thing ai needed was for someone to walk by and see the glow of the phone along with all the credit cards on display. I got back to the car sweaty. The phone was not over the driving wheel. I tore my art bag apart again looking for it. Could it have fallen out of my pocket between the car and the concert? I started throwing items in the back seat.

Where the hell was it? I flipped both indoor light on and searched under the seats. Ultimately I found the phone lying under my art bag in the passenger seat. Why on earth dit I put it there? In the distance I could hear the introductions starting for the concert. I needed to get back.I rushed back to the park. A family h ad set up where I had sat previously. I sat right behind them to get a similar angle to the sketch I had started which had a square in the lower right hand corner for a date. I filled in the date and started sketching.

The couple seated in the foreground of my sketch were waiting for friends to arrive. When their friends arrived everyone stood and talked throughout the rest of the concert. This scene played out throughout the crowded fields. Few people came for the concert. They came for conversation. In France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany I got used to ignoring the din of conversations in crowded spaces. It was easy since I didn’t understand a word of what was being said. This concert was similar with constant conversation and a hint of Christmas music in the background.

When Silent Night was being performed on stage, I decided that was my cue to consider the sketch complete and head back to the car. With so many people rushing to leave Winter Park, I wanted to be on the road before that back up. I missed the crush of cars and drive 30 miles back to Lake County.

For a sketch like this, I usually arrive early and sketch while there is still light. This time that wasn’t an option. I can only reassure myself that this isn’t the worst drawing I ever did.

The wildfire won’t get us, its burning on the other side of the valley!

Posted on by Thor

In its selfish isolationist wisdom, the United States has hoarded vaccines allowing the virus to burn through other societies around the world. What politicians don’t think to understand is that if the virus is allowed to burn anywhere in the world, it will burn everywhere in the world. All it takes is one plane flight with an infected passenger for the wildfire to ignite in another country.

January 24, 2020 the 45th president said, “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”

January 30, 2020, “We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five — and those people are all recuperating successfully. But we’re working very closely with China and other countries, and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for us … that I can assure you,”

February 9, 2020,  “The flu, in our country, kills from 25,000 people to 69,000 people a year,” suggesting that it dwarfed the 15 cases of COVID-19 that had been reported in the U.S. at the time. He then predicted, the number would soon be near “zero.”

February 10, 2020, “By April or during the month of April, the heat, generally speaking, kills this kind of virus,”

February 27, 2020, “It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear,”

March 10, 2020, “Well, this was unexpected. This was something that came out of China, and it hit us and many other countries. You look at the numbers; I see the numbers with just by watching you folks. I see it — it’s over 100 different countries. And it hit the world. And we’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away,”

March 11, 2020, “To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days. The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight. These restrictions will be adjusted subject to conditions on the ground.”

Containing the virus in China was the one chance to eradicate the world widespread of the virus. That chance was lost in the first months. By the time any travel restriction took effect the virus had already spread world wide. All it takes is one infected passenger to step off a plane and a new wildfire will ignite in another country.

This wildfire series is inspired by @1goodtern on Twitter. Since the media has gone silent on pandemic coverage, I have turned to Twitter to stay informed.

2022 Pandemic

Posted on by Thor

2022 was a crazy roller coaster ride. Nine tenths of the work I did since march 2020 has been pandemic related. The pandemic is not over but there seems to be a news black out related to the subject. Complacency, ignorance and pandemic fatigue has set in as everyone wants life to return to “normal”. People are gathering in tight groups without wearing masks to allow the virus to spread.

I am waiting to see what happens in China with a huge population that was largely protected from previous infection and has a very low vaccination rate. Of course news is not very reliable coming out of that Communist county. They have stopped daily reporting on the number of cases and they are no longer testing for new variants. Whatever happens in China will soon spread to the United States since this country had done the worst job at handling the health crisis. Over 1 million Americans have died from COVID since the start of the pandemic and about 2,500 people continue to die every week.

2023 looks like it might offer much of the same. Strap in because it looks like it will be another rough ride. Could the pandemic wind down in 2023? Perhaps, but no one really knows for sure. Those who claim they know what lies ahead are lying. Wishful thinking helps misinformation flourish.

Omicron

Posted on by Thor

A new variant has shown up in South Africa and the World Health Organization (WHO) has labeled it Omicron. This variant has been spreading faster than the Delta variant which Europe, Northern American states and the world in it’s grip.

“Initially it looked like some cluster outbreaks, but from yesterday, the indication came from our scientists from the Network of Genomic Surveillance that they were observing a new variant,” Minister of Health Joe Phaahla said, stressing that it is currently unclear where the variant first emerged.

Initially given the number, B.1.1.529, it was rumored that t might be called Nu, the 13th letter in the Greek alphabet but they called it instead Omicron after the 15th letter of the Greek Alphabet. I had already started my painting of Gnu’s, which are like wildebeests,  stampeding, and since I was close to finishing I stayed the course.

Omicron has an unusually high number of mutations, with more than 30 in the key spike protein. It is believed that it is infecting the vaccinated as well as the unvacinated. Only about 21% of the population has gotten the jab. Many scientists have been warning that there should be a concerted effort to vaccinate the entire population of the world, but rich countries have instead been focused on providing third booster shots with the vaccines that they have hoarded for their own populations. By hoarding vaccines new mutations are able to develop in countries where much of the population is unprotected. Even so, half of the population in countries like America have refused to get vaccinated.

UK officials announced that six African countries will be added to England’s travel “red list” after the UK Health Security Agency flagged concern over the variant.The United States as always is slow to react. The United States will restrict travel from South Africa and neighboring countries effective November 29, 2021, a senior Biden administration official said. With air travel open for several more days over the Thanksgiving holiday it is very likely the Omicron virus has already arrived in America. The financial markets have begun to tumble, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 2.5%, its worst day since late October 2020.

Tip of the Iceberg

Posted on by Thor

The BMJ reported that as of May 3, 2021 official figures suggested that the Global deaths from covid-19 was 3.27 million. However a study from the University of Washington suggests that the pandemic’s true overall toll will reach 9.43 million deaths by September 2021. The report, based its conclusions on the past year’s deviations from expected overall mortality.

The report states that the virus is claiming about 33,000 lives a day around the world, more than twice reported figures. They estimated the true United States death toll at 905,289 compared with an official figure of 574,043.

In India the disparity between the official reported deaths to the horrors on the ground of hundreds of bodies floating down the Ganges river and crematoria unable to keep up with demand make it obvious that death numbers are far higher than reported. India is forecast to lose a further 842,000 people by September 2021.

Countries who are believed to have under reported Covid-19 deaths include Egypt, India, Mexico, and Russia. India’s death toll as of May 2021 was estimated as 654,395, which is 2.96 times the official figure. Mexico was attributed 617,127 deaths, 2.83 times the official figure. Egypt, was attributed 170,041 deaths, which is 12.6 times the official figure. Russia has the largest number of unreported deaths, they estimate, with a real death toll of 593,610, which is 5.43 times the official estimate. While some governments may attribute deaths in Covid patients to co-morbid conditions to keep their numbers low, the commonest reason for under reporting of Covid-19 deaths is inadequate testing.

Turkey and Brazil are often accused of under counting, but both were reporting more than half of their Covid-19 deaths. Many countries of central and eastern Europe were reporting only one death in three, a ratio also seen across sub-Saharan Africa. The worst under counts were found in the Caucuses and former Soviet republics.

Election Day Surge

Posted on by Thor

To date the United States has seen 235,000 deaths from COVID-19. That is 235,000 people who did not vote in the November 3 Election. That is why it is particularly galling to hear Rudy Giuliani claiming that the dead have been voting in the presidential election.  The Borat 2 star said he’d been sent to find out how many dead people had voted in Pennsylvania. It seems that calling the election process into doubt is the only hope for these demented souls.

North Dakota has seen a huge spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths.   David Andahl, a candidate for the “Be Legendary” State Legislature died in October, 2020 from COVID-19 but his name was still on the printed ballot. Andahl, 55, had been hospitalized and died after being sick for about four days. He won the election despite his death. There is now a dispute over what to do with his empty seat.

In Missouri an election judge supervisor was diagnosed positive for COVID-19 on October 30, 2020. No details about the worker, including age or gender, were released. He/she was told to quarantine for 14 days but did not follow that advice and worked at at the Blanchette Park Memorial Hall polling site in St. Charles on Election day, November3, 2020. There were nine other election workers at the polling place and they are being advised to get tested. Since He/she was a supervisor, it is believed that she did not work closely the 1,800 voters who entered the poling place on Election Day. Election workers were required to wear face coverings, such as shields or masks, and dividers separated voters in an effort to curb the virus’ spread. After the election this election judge died. Anyone who was in the precinct on election day is a risk and should monitor themselves closely for symptoms. This case is stark reminder that a positive COVID-19 test result requires that person to be responsible to others in the community.

On November 5, 2020   the US set a staggering new Covid-19 daily case record with more than 120,000 infections. The situation continues to get worse as the nation focuses on Election results.

Easter Sunday

Posted on by Thor

The United States has now become the country with the most cases reported of Covid-19 in the World. At a rally Trump said that “You are going to get sick and tired of winning.” With over 100,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in America, we are indeed winning.

Now Donald Trump had decided that he would love to have the country back up and running by Easter,which is 16 days from now, as of this writing. He thinks “It would be a beautiful time.” Of course this defies all logic and science. If people crowd together in churches across the country 16 days from now, the virus will spread like wild fire. The danger is that Trump’s fervent supporters may buy into his insanity and indeed try and gather on the day Christ was known to have risen from the dead, risking their own and other’s lives. Is saving the stock market more important than people’s lives?

Rather than help his former home state of New York get ventilators, he instead picked a fight with Governor Andrew Cuomo, blaming him for the plight because the governor had ventilators stock piled. Of course the ventilators are stockpiled as they are collected, they will be distributed where needed as the hospitals reach a critical mass. The Governor is anticipating a peak in demand in two weeks for patients needing help to
breathe. The state will need at least 30,000 ventilators, he said, and
it so far had obtained 7,000. Cuomo told a reporter, that “The president was ignorant and grossly uninformed.” The governor said that the spread of the virus was like a freight train coming across the country, but now, we are looking at a bullet train because the numbers are going up that quickly.

The president’s only concern seems to be the economy rather than the health and well being of the American people. He continues to compare Covid-19 to the common flu. He doesn’t seem to have any grasp of the huge tsunami that is facing the nation. He waved his hands saying the numbers would go down, not up, and tried to convince Americans that the virus would miraculously disappear when it got warmer. The danger is that some listen to his statements and believe them. There is a level of faith in believing his statements that defies any reason.

The surgeon general, Dr. Gerome Adams warned Americans, “This week it is going to get bad, we really need to come together as a nation” The director of the World Health Organization said that the US could become the next epicenter for the spread of the virus.

Dr. Emily Landon ,a Chicago Doctor warned, That doctors are facing a brand new virus with not enough personal protection and constantly changing protocols. There are barely enough masks for the nurses that they have, This virus is unforgiving. The beginning of the 1918 pandemic was the last time America faced such a challenge. Two cities in America made different choices as to how to proceed while only a few patients were affected. St. Louis shut itself down, and sheltered in place, but Philadelphia went ahead with a huge parade celebrating those going off to war. A week later Philadelphia hospitals were over run, and thousands were dead. Many more than in St. Louis. This is a cautionary tale for our time. Stay home. Stay safe. Don’t go to church Easter Sunday.