Election Day

Vote Today!

(legally, of course!)
It looks like people are turning out to vote today, all over the country. We will be joining in later this afternoon. I hope that there is not a line. My knees can't take that. Maybe I'll take a chair.

In some places, there are problems with rain and cold weather, with voting machines not working when people touched the screens with wet hands, power outages, etc. Here, it is a beautiful day. Perfect weather, with a perfect temperature of 75.
I just hope that we have a good, clean election and that the best person to preserve our country and way of life will win.
In my last post, I talked about my experiences with cartooning. The above cartoon is one that I did last year when it seemed that no perfect candidate had appeared. Politicians seemed to "talk with forked tongues", as in the cartoon above. We still don't have a perfect candidate. Sarah Palin seems to be the best who has appeared. I heard John McCain speak here before he ran for president and I didn't agree with a lot of things he said. But, he is the best candidate we have who will work hard to preserve and defend this country and our American way of life. He has proven himself and we know what he is about. You can't say any of that for Obama. I feel sure that he is intent on destroying everything good about our country. I don't believe one word that comes out of his mouth. Everything about him is just wrong. And Joe Biden is an absolute joke. With friends like him, who needs enemies. So, that is where I stand. I just had to put in my two cents worth.
Most of the Democratic Congress needs to be replaced. They are the ones who have gotten the country in the mess that we are in. And, even the ones who have been outstanding, seem to be giving in and following along with the radical leaders. The thing that really ruined the Democrats is things like the Super Delegates and the undemocratic way they now have of operating. It's just totally unfair.
I probably will vote for one or two Democrats, although I am hesitant after their recent support of Obama and people like Nancy Pelosi. I tend to vote for people I know and with whom I have been able to talk and watch over a period of years. Unless I absolutely disagree with them.
Chet Edwards used to come to the Calvert Hotel a lot when I was writing for the newspapers. So I got to talk to him frequently. I found that he and Joe Barton and Phil Graham were very nice people, and very approachable. In fact, they called me when they had news. They were very open to our efforts to promote the arts in Robertson county and our area. I know that Chet has done a lot for our area over the years, and for veterans, A&M, etc.
Joe Barton is no longer representing our area, but I like what he says when I have heard him speak on tv. He kindly came to Calvert and spoke in the bandstand when we opened our Sesquicential event there. He was going to help us show some of our local art in D.C., but we couldn't afford the expense of shipping and framing. Another option was to show our work, not in the office building, but in a D.C. hotel. But I moved away before any of that could happen. Wouldn't that have been great! To have Robertson County art shown in Washington D.C. !
Another person I know who is on the ballot is Mary Helen Bonilla Berlanga of Corpus Christi. She is a native of Calvert and is running for the State Board of Education. She has held her position on the board for 26 years, so she is certainly knowledgeable and qualified.
I was disappointed that more candidates did not appear at the George Bush Library. I try to see them all, if possible. Mitt Romney came, but it was for a fundraising event, not to just talk to the public. Bill Clinton came to Reed Arena to speak briefly during the primary to get voters for Hillary. We learned about it too late to see him. But his plane did fly over us as we drove to campus to hear a band concert. And, of course, early on, John McCain spoke at the Library. Bill Frist was also there, early, but he announced that he was not going to run for president.
I thought that, today, I will share some of the cartoons that I did during the long, very expensive run for president.

Remember when McCain was not doing very well and he cut staff, expenses, and it looked like rats leaving a sinking ship? He was carrying his own luggage at the airport, traveling alone, etc. But McCain did what had to be done and kept plugging away. And look how far he came. I wasn't supporting him, or anyone else, at that time. My big concern was health care for myself and no one had or has any plans that would benefit me. But these thoughts came to me as I watched events on tv.

Remember the big "Lock In" or "Sleepover" in the Senate? Some of the Senators seemed to stand around and talk (and brag) all night, some took advantage of the facilities and slept or ate. Some looked really fresh when they were called on to talk on camera. I remember one woman who looked like she had just stepped out of the beauty shop or a makeover. I thought that Hillary overslept or no one called her in time to do her makeup and her hair after she had a nap. She looked really tired and was missing her makeup. John McCain looked to be the winner of the Sleepover. He was fresh, alert, and ready to go while the others just wanted to go home or sleep.

Some were criticizing McCain because of his age. He held up a lot better than most of the "younger" folks. I know that he has endured more than most people could hold up to. Age? He's just right! A nice young man, I think.
These are a few of my observations, through cartoons.

I apologize for the big spaces. I don't know how to get rid of them. With each cartoon I added, they went to the top of the page. When I moved them around, I was left with a huge space at the bottom of the page. I'm not sure why there are spaces between lines of print when I keep trying to move them together. Computers will always do mysterious things, I guess.

Today, we go out to vote, with lots of prayer and great hopes for our country. Tomorrow, it will be a day of rejoicing for some, tears for others, and lots of arguing and blame on the media. This is the way it is, through my eyes.

Doodle Girl

Girl - 2.5" x 3" - ink
What do you doodle when your hand just has to do something
on paper? Is it shapes? Flowers? Vines? Numbers?
Do you doodle when you are listening, when you are thinking,
or just when you are supposed to be doing something else?
For me, it is girls. Sometimes, guys, too, but usually girls.
I start with the eye area, that dent between the nose and forehead. Then I add an eye, the nose, forehead, mouth, lips, cheek, chin and neck. Then comes the ear followed by a curl or wave to top off the forhead. Curls and waves flow and I keep adding on to those. Jewelry such as earrings and a necklace finish off the drawing.
If I have more time, I add the body. I like to work with gel pens, or an extra fine tip Pilot Precise pen. I even like to use dip pens! But they aren't so easy to use during meetings or class.

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I've Been Tagged!

Sandy Maudlin, http://sandymaudlin.blogspot.com/ , recently "tagged" me to play an internet tag game.

Accoring to the rules of the game, I must tell 5 obscure things about myself, then tag 5 other people.

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1. I was the baby of my class-the youngest. As a result, when I went to college, I was the youngest person there for my first two years. Trying to look older was a priority. It was a surprise, when I realized, in more recent years, that I had become an old person, especially to my students. When I started teaching, I had students who were older than I was. I realized that I had finally become a "senior citizen" when I was eligible for some discounts, and when I caught myself telling my students stories about the "old days".

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2. I'm a night owl. My most energetic time is 3 a.m. and the best sleeping time is after the sun comes up.

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3. I really dislike vegetables. The closest thing to a vegetable that I will eat is a tomato or potato. Don't even like them at the same table with me. They are pretty in their natural state, but I would just as soon eat dirt or grass as a vegetable.

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4. I guess you could say that I'm a news junkie. I just have to watch what is going on. I'd like to be right there when things happen. But, instead, I watch on tv. My daughter says that it is being nosey. In the little town where I grew up, if there was a fire or accident, everyone in town went to see what happened, night or day. I guess that's where my "nose for news" comes from.

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5. I always wanted to have red hair! I thought that would look good with green eyes. Maybe in another life..... I was told that I would have to get the color removed from my hair in order to get the color I want. I'm not willing to do that. I tried wigs when those were popular, but they were too hot and uncomfortable. I thought that, if my hair ever turns all white, then I will get it done red. That's never going to happen. No one in my family had white hair, even at age 96! Gray was about it. An elderly "flaming red head" wouldn't be too cool.

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Bonus - 6. I wanted to be a nurse (that is after I wanted to be an actress, dancer, and cowboy!). I think I was inspired by the Cherry Ames books. And I liked to take care of people and animals. But, I was too young to go to nursing school after high school, so I went to college. My English teacher told me that, since I was always drawing, I should major in art and minor in English. So, I did. By the time I was old enough to go to nursing school, I was half way through college, and had a mental block in chemistry class. So, I finished my degree, and taught. I kept trying to be a nurse, from time to time, until I knew that I no longer had the stamina for that field. Artist wasn't one of my career choices. It seemed to be more of an escape or something to occupy my time, than something that it would be possible to make a living doing. Writing was the same way. I liked to write stories and do pictures to go with them. They go hand in hand, to me.

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And I thought that I wouldn't be able to think of anything for this game of tag!

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As per Sandy's instructions, I'm tagging some artists whose blogs I read :

Virginia Vaughan

http://www.vvaughan.blogspot.com/

Toni Grote

http://artisttonigrote.blogspot.com/

Heidi Malott

http://hmalott.blogspot.com/

Robin Cheers

http://www.robincheers.blogspot.com/

Jim Thalassoudis

http://jimthalassoudis.blogspot.com/

Drawing People

Drawing People
Gesture Drawing
8.5" x 13"
Ink
Today's artwork is a cartoon I did on gesture drawing. I submitted it to "The Artist's" magazine but got one of those well-known to writers and artists, rejection slips. They said they didn't feel it would generate enough interest. So, here, for your enjoyment, is my cartoon on gesture drawing.
While I can draw in the cartoon style, I just can't think of many things that are funny or would make a good cartoon.
At the time that I did this cartoon, I was doing a cartoon strip for the local newspaper each week. "The Calvert General Store" was based around daily life in the town and my grandfather's dry goods store. I was also teaching art and taking night classes in figure drawing at Texas A&M University.
One day, in my junior high school class, I was going to demonstrate, then have my students do, some gesture, then contour drawing, and other exercises that we did in my university class. As we got our paper passed out, roll checked, and prepared to start class, two maintainance men came in my room to check on the large overhead gas heater in my room. Instead of climbing ladders to work on the heater, they relaxed against the window sill under the heater. I don't know if they were enjoying my class or what, but they spent a lot of that day and the next, leaning on the window sill. I never did see them do anything to that heater. Maybe they worked on it after we left the room, or maybe they were just looking for a place to hang out.
Being a rather flexible teacher, I took advantage of the two "models" in the room. I sketched them as gesture drawings, then had my students do some gesture drawing using each other as models. Then they went on to do contour, cross contour, positive and negative drawings, and then we moved on to draw things like the chairs in the room, and the chair with a person posing with the chair.
Later, I put the gesture drawing on paper the size I used for my cartoon strip, inked it , and added the Life Drawing Lab in the background, where people are contour drawings, using a gesture person as a model.
My "models" became gesture people, in a gesture world, going to a gesture art school, and struggling with having to draw real people. After all, they don't see realistic people, only more people like themselves-gesture people and contour people. They don't have anything to base a real person on, since that is not what they are exposed to. So, that would make it difficult for them to draw realistically.
Would the person who is having trouble drawing people even fail his class because he can't get the hang of drawing people? Would he struggle, practice, get more help, or just give up and turn to doing still life or landscapes, leaving the difficult people out of his work? Would more observation or maturity help him? Maybe he is just not yet ready to see people realistically.
I told my students that, with these loose, "stick" drawings, I could observe enough, and have the pose down, so that I could go back and do a more realistic picture of the models, later.
For those of you who may not have worked with gesture drawings, they just basically help the artist to get a pose down, fast. It's a stick figure that bends and moves like a person, and can even be done using one line without lifting the drawing instrument.
I try to get the angle of the head, first, with a lot of loose lines. (The more, lightly drawn lines that you have, in this type of drawing, the better chance you have of getting one that is right, or where you need it to be later.) Then I add the main stick that will be the backbone and neck, and add the shoulders and hips with a line that shows their slant. Then I add legs, and arms, hands and feet, with loose, squiggley lines. If I think I need to add extras, such as the cap and portfolio (it was actually a clipboard) in this cartoon, I will add those as sort of a note to myself.
They don't have to be just people. They can be animals, objects, even landscapes.
I often took a clipboard with paper, and a pen or pencil, with me when I had to be on duty or attend pep rallies or meetings, and enjoyed doing gesture drawings while action was taking place. It was fun to do these at the pep rallies and programs, and football or basketball games, to the rhythm of the cheers, the band playing, or the game itself. It forces you to work fast, and to be more observant. Especially if you want to develop the drawings into something more finished later.
My hand lettering is not always perfect in my cartoons, but, now, that can be done with computers. I've done a few cartoons recently using computer lettering, that I cut and paste. I don't have the program needed to do cartooning on computers.
This drawing is in India Ink on acid free Strathmore drawing paper.
Sometimes, I like those free first drawings more than those that I spend a long time on. Once I start reworking those first expressions, they just lose something, I think. The llines are different and I just can't get that feeling back.
I also tend to try to finish things by working straight through. If I stop to do something else, and go back to it, you can just tell that the new part is different. I lose that feeling that I first had. I've been known to work straight through, night and day, for several days, to finish a painting or sculpture. I'm trying not to do that, though, because my legs are all swollen and numb when I work that way. But, the time flies and I really don't notice what is happening around me, as long as I am working. I've always been sort of a night owl, too, and like to work all night. I couldn't do that and teach, and now, with my eye problems, I have noticed that I need to rest my eyes. I get to the point where I can't see enough to work, so I have to give up and go to bed. Daylight seems to be better to work in, at this stage of my life, though I do turn on several lamps and go on and work if I am doing something when night falls.
Hope you enjoyed this one, and will share with others. Thanks for reading and I hope you will check back again. If you want to be notified when I add something new, please join my Google group. There is a link in the sidebar that you can just click on to go to my group and see more of my art work. Let me know if you see anything of interest to you. I do appreciate your comments, and your interest in my work.

Teachers Meeting

Teachers Meeting 4"x 12" Ink NFS
Right now, there are lots of hurting feet and legs and tired kids and teachers, after the first few days of school. Students are dealing with new classes, subject matter, rules, and having to face those government mandated tests. Teachers, too, have an overwhelming amount of things to deal with all the way from a huge amount of paperwork, discipline, learning about their new students and the best way to help them in their classes, to extra duties, and also having to be sure that their students do well on the standardized tests. Not to mention the physical aspects of having to work in less than ideal conditions, having to stand and walk for long periods of time, long hours and more to do after work, lifting, dragging, cleaning, preparing materials and supplies, not being able to eat, drink, or go to the restroom when needed, lots of stress to cope with, extra duty, and many other things that are a part of the job.
I have already posted things about memories of going back to school with children in my art work. After hearing from children and teachers about their tired feet and legs, I thought I would post something that has to do with going back to school , showing teachers. "Teachers Meeting" is part of a cartoon that I did some years ago, but it still holds true these days. Some of the words are what we heard as teachers gathered for the new school year.
Until recent years, we were deluged with salesmen, and required to sit and listen to them. Budgets didn't allow for buying many materials for school, and paychecks weren't large enough to purchase all the materials and various kinds of insurance that we probably needed. After years of protesting about these hours of presentations from salesmen, it was such a relief when the school district finally got a group life and health policy, and we could contact other insurance companies for other needs, if we were interested and could afford it. We really needed that time to get our rooms ready instead of listening to someone trying to sell us something that we couldn't afford.
So many meetings were such a waste of time, and sometimes, money paid to the presenters. Some teachers got through those by crocheting, knitting, or doing needlework, while listening. If I could do it so that people wouldn't notice, I would draw, but act as if I were taking notes. Or, if I couldn't draw, I learned to play "basketball" or "tennis" with the floaters in my eye. I could make those shapes bounce around from one end of the court to the other, or over the net. I don't care for sports, but I could move around in my imagination, by playing ball with my eyes, while sitting perfectly still. Other people told me that my eyes just sparkled and danced. Little did they know what I was actually doing. I was bored stiff and just entertaining myself.
This cartoon was done before the government tests, so I didn't mention that in my cartoon. But we had plenty of other things to be overwhelmed with. Sometimes, it seemed like an impossible situation.
Time passes, though, and, somehow, things get done, kids grow up and move on.
Last night, on a local tv channel, they showed high school graduation from last May. At last, I got to see my grandson graduate. I was there at the ceremony, but I couldn't see much because of my eye problems and being so far away in that big arena.

Doctor's Office

Doctor's Office 8.5" x 11" ink

When I was a child, I loved comic books, along with the movies. And, every Sunday, as kids, we spread the funny papers on the floor to read while the grownups visited, cooked, or took a nap. The funny papers were part of life, just like movies, radio programs, and magazines. There was a time when the newspapers didn't come out, so our president, FDR, read the funny papers over the radio. I don't recall that I heard the broadcast, though.

I also had a need to express myself with pictures and stories from a very early age. We didn't have art classes in school then. There were a couple of artists in town, and one who was an art teacher in a city, during the school year. But one was busy with her own creations, and the other took care of her elderly mother in the summer. I didn't know there was any such thing as art lessons or classes. Still, I would use notebook paper, pocket note pads that stores gave out to customers, or whatever I could find, and try to draw, as children will do. I didn't know that my mother had taken art classes when she was in school, and had done beautiful drawings. Later, she brought out oil paint and became serious about painting. But, when I was small, she was busy with things like washday on Monday, when they had to scrub clothes in the sink on a rubboard in the kitchen, then take them outside to a washpot over a fire, then hang them on a clothesline to dry. Tuesday was ironing day. Wednesday was housecleaning day. And on the week went until Saturday when she practiced the organ, and Sunday when she played the organ for church, then we had family dinners. In between, she had piano lessons to give, and two little girls and a husband to care for. So, I wasn't aware of her doing any art work until I was about junior high school age. I probably wouldn't have listened, if she had offered suggestions. I had to just find out things for myself.

One of my early attempts at art just almost stopped my whole career. My mother had Olan Mills portraits taken of my sister and me to give for Christmas presents. She had one color picture done, the rest were black and white to give to the relatives. That was all she could afford, she explained.

Unfortunatley, she showed me the pictures and I was so disappointed that the pictures were not all in color. I thought that would be terrible to give the inferior pictures as presents. My mother put the pictures in one of her hiding places-the hall linen closet. Well, while she was busy with things in the kitchen one day, I just couldn't stand it any longer. I got out her lipstick and some crayons and gave those pictures some hair color, lipstick, cheek color, and eye color. I was fixing those portraits! Now they would be colorful and good enough to give as presents! I think I only finished one when I heard her leaving the kitchen. I quickly returned the pictures to the closet and went into another room.

My mother took the portraits from the closet, ready to wrap them for presents. I was standing beside her, waiting to see how pleased she would be when she saw how I had fixed the picture and sure she would ask me to fix the rest of them.

I was horrified when my mother gripped the pictures and stood there in the hall, screaming, with tears rolling down her face. She didn't say a word. She didn't even spank me with the hairbrush. She just kept screaming! I didn't know why. Those pictures now had some color!

I took my art "underground" after that. I took my crayolas to decorate under the kitchen sink, and crawled inside the kitchen cabinets to decorate under that sink. When we had dinners at my great-aunt's house, I would take kids under the table to play while the grownups visited after dinner. Hidden by the tablecloth, we could tell secrets and practice writing and drawing. I taught the younger ones to do their ABCs on the underside of the table. Years later, my great-aunt couldn't figure out where those childish crayon markings came from under her good dining room table.

Inspired by radio programs and movies, or just having a need to draw, or maybe it was because my mind drifted and I wanted to be somewhere else rather than in school, I would start out diligently doing my school work. But, soon, I started drawing on my paper. I thought I had always hidden my creations by drawing on one piece of paper, and covering it with what I was supposed to be working on. When the teacher came by, I would slide the drawing underneath and pretend to be struggling with the answers. I guess they really knew what I was doing.

When I wanted to draw something and didn't know how, like an eye or nose from the side, a foot or hand, I would go to the Sunday funny papers for help. I would see how the artist drew that certain thing in strips like "Blondie", "Prince Valiant", or "Steve Canyon". Then I would try to remember and practice it when I returned to my drawing.

At one time, I learned how to draw one leg on people, but I didn't know how to draw the other leg. So, I had all these people with one leg, for a couple of years, until I figured out how to add the other leg. A few years ago, I found a compostition book that was mine when I was in school, with some of my little stories and characters I had drawn. I was inspired to draw one after a movie or two about pirates. I had a story called "The Pirate and the Beautiful Lady". Well, at least, I had the characters drawn and worked out. I had all these people, all with only one leg-including the "beautiful lady"!

As a result of the way I learned to draw, I seem to revert back to my cartoon style, when I am just thinking of something. No matter how many classes and workshops I have taken, and how I can actually do something a bit more polished, that cartoon style will still come out at times.

At one time, I did a weekly cartoon strip for my hometown newspaper, based on daily life there. So many people have gone, though, that life would seem to be different and those cartoons seem more like history now.

The cartoon above is about my visit to the specialist I was sent to after being told I had to go there right away. I was sure that all I needed was glasses.

I was apprehnesive enough, having the weekend to worry about what they might do to me. My daughter drove me to the appointment and waited in the waiting room for me.

I stopped at the door, startled by a sign that said, "If you're sick, don't come in." It added, "Go home and call for another appointment."

Well, I had to think a bit about that one. I understand that it was a different kind of doctor's office, not one where you would normally go if you had something like a sore throat. It just sounded rude, to me, though. What else is a doctor for, but to treat the sick? If you weren't sick, you wouldn't be there, unless you just need a check up or paperwork filled out.

There was another sign at the check in desk, that said they wanted payment before you saw the doctor. I thought that was odd, too. How could you even know how much it was going to be before you saw the doctor! I got even more scared, thinking that it must be so bad that people wouldn't be able to pay after they saw the doctor.

I filled out the new patient forms, gave the receptionist my drivers license and teacher retirement insurance card to copy. I sat down, and waited. The receptionist told me that my insurance would pay for it, so I just had to pay the copay. I was prepared to pay the $132.50 that the other doctor said an eye exam would cost. I was almost shaking and tried to relax by starting to draw. That always brings the nurses out to get me!

I was taken to a little room where more questions were asked and I was given a routine exam with the "machine", eye chart, and drops to dilate and check the pressure in my eyes.

I told them about having the inside of my eyes sunburned while I was working at a track meet years before, and the "migrane" I had in my eyes a couple of years before while I was teaching. That didn't seem to be important.

Then, I was taken to another room for more eye check ups, then to another room for an angiogram and several eye scans. This was not easy since I am one of those people that technicians, nurses, and doctors have a hard time hitting a vein. I usually faint after they probe for a while. I congratulated this techician for being able to get a vein with 3 tries! I tried to relax and not faint.

Lights flashed and I saw things inside my eyes that were really strange. Floaters, that I knew I had, and it was as if I could actually see inside my eye. Blood vessels and all.

The doctor came in with something that looked like a clipboard, but it had a computer screen. He showed me the scans and told me that I had some "pretty fair" cataracts, and wet macular degeneration. He handed me some booklets to read. By then, I could barely see.

In my cartoon, above, "Doctor's Office", I have shown the front of a doctor's office. Dr. Arex (as in rx for prescripitons) is ficticious, of course, as are the other characters. Nurses don't wear uniforms like that anymore, but, how else would we recognize a nurse unless she had a uniform. According to the sign, the doctor only wants to see you if you really don't need a doctor, for anything serious, especially, and if you have plenty of money with you to pay right away. No waiting around for things like insurance payments. A hand reaches out, hidden from view of the patients, expecting cash to be put in the palm before anyone can proceed further. The nurse has a little sympathy for the patients, but the hand doesn't even acknowledge them. The hand believes that all old people have plenty of money hidden away, so she isn't concerned about them-just as long as they pay in full.

Two patients approach the door, not knowing that they needed to bring money, or that they needed to be well, before approaching this doctor's office. They have been injured. He is cut and bleeding, and her eye is hanging out. They hesitate as they read the signs. But can they really wait? Will the doctor see them, even if they are sick, and didn't bring a lot of cash with them? Can they make it to a hospital emergency room, which will cost even more?

And, speaking of the doctor, where is he? He isn't involved in the decision as to whether or not he can or will take care of these patients. He is sheltered, protected by the "hand" up front, from whatever might walk through the front door. He will only see patients who are approved.

And what are those who are not approved supposed to do? That isn't his problem, or "the hand's" problem, or even the company's problem.

It wasn't all that long ago that it cost $5 or $10 to see a doctor. Most people didn't have insurance. It was possible for people to pay for most treatments. Church groups, relatives, the bank, or communities helped pay for expenses when someone in town needed more medical care than they had money for. Doctors would come to the patient's home. They were not only the doctor, but were civic leaders, trusted friends, and respected community leaders. Some did let their power go to their head. Some had rude people working for them as receptionists or nurses. Some doctors were gruff, or were selective in who they saw. But, there was care for almost everyone. People could work with the doctors and make sure that the whole family was cared for.

Now, if people don't have insurance, plus cash, and a lot of it, it seems that more and more people are just out of luck.

My primary doctor had told me that I would have to take certain medications the rest of my life, and that I needed to have tests done, and surgery on my knees. I explained to her that her company would expect to be paid. She hugged me, told me that things would work out for me, she would pray for me, and I should be sure to go to church, as she walked away. I was stunned, knowing that there was nothing I could do. I just tried to smile.

"Doctor's Office" was drawn with ink on cardstock.

More Storks

Distant Thunder 8.5" x 11" pencil

One night, way up there in their nests, both stork parents stayed strong as the wind blew their feathers. Papa stork seemed to keep watch through most of the night, while standing on one leg. Mama stork curved her body around the eggs.
As the winds increased, Mama Stork seemed to slide over, and took refuge under Papa Stork as he balanced on one foot. He pulled his neck low, and tucked his beak among his feathers. I wondered how those thin little legs could stand so strong, for so long, against the wind.
Through my speakers, I could hear the thunder rolling and the wind blowing, so far away, in a distant land.
I thought that, perhaps, my great-grandparents, who came from Prussia in 1867, might have witnessed a similar scene in their homeland. Storks, raising their young, gliding about the countryside, perched high on chimneys, towers, or in trees.
During the night, the webcams switched to black and white, which still worked well for pencil drawings.

Pacing Stork 8.5" x 11" pencil

After watching the storks on web cams from Poland and Germany for a while, I can see how they might have been given character by cartoonists and writers. This stork seems to be pacing, hands behind his back, as we see in movies of worried, about-to-be fathers, or even doctors. I'm sure that I have seen storks given such human characteristics in cartoons. He seems to be patting his foot with anxiety, waiting on the eggs to hatch. Maybe he was waiting on his turn to sit on the eggs. Or, just possibly, he was waiting to bring a human baby, suspended from the stork's long beak, hanging in a diaper, to waiting parents on the ground. Just as in the stories a lot of people were told when they asked where babies come from.