Vacation

Taking a week to chill up north with the family. Looking forward to doing nothing but fish, golf, write and relax. Hope everyone is safe and healthy. God bless.
Joe

Mission work

My son, Gino, is off for several days on a mission trip with a local church. He's in Gulfport, Mississippi with a group of 60+ kids from our area, helping rebuild homes destroyed or torn up from Hurricane Katrina. We talked to him yesterday and he told us that the first thing his crew and him would do was rebuild a porch and put up a wheelchair ramp. This heartened me. Realizing that even though much of the community service kids do these days is motivated because colleges require it for consideration, it's my hope that he's changed by it. Seeing others out there who by geographic chance had their lives turned upside down can only help ground him to the fact that there is so many blessings in life that can't be bought. I miss him already, and know that the young man who returns will be different than the one who got on the bus last Friday.

Tiger!

Did anyone think he wouldn't make the shots he needed to make, when he needed to make them? The guy is steel.
Gotta give it up to Eldrick. The man can flat out play. Even with a bad leg, he's better than almost anyone out there. Get ready for the "clever" Nike commercials. They're coming.

Happy Birthday Toby

This is a shout out to a great friend of mine, Toby. The man, the myth, the legend. He stands tall, battling bad men from the Pacific Northwest and abroad. One of the brightest, funniest and most honorable men I've ever known. It's been over 20 years, but our friendship remains strong.

Happy Birthday good friend. Hope to share a cold Leinenkugel or two one day soon.

Happy Birthday Marina!

I'm a little late with this post, as I've been doing caricature portraits for my oldest daughter's aunt (40th Birthday) and favorite teacher's farewell. My lovely daughter turned 14 the other day. She was the first girl of our four children, and as oldest daughter sets the most wonderful example to her younger sisters we could ever hope for. She's a tremendous friend, beautiful person inside and out and a great student. We're proud of her swimming and academic accomplishments, but it's her character and soul that we are so proud to have been blessed with. Marina, you're one of the shining lights of my life, and I love you with all my heart. God bless you little lady. Dad.

HOCKEYTOWN!

Now I can post this! One of the most exciting finishes that I can remember--and it went our way!

OOPS.

Guess we planned that parade a little too early, eh? Shit. Revised art. Note emerging penguin.

Go WINGS Game 5!

Tonight's the night, we all hope and pray! Especially after that Pistons' debacle last weekend. So eat up those Penguins boys.
GO WINGS!!!