This year, Valentine’s Day fell perfectly on a Saturday,  which made it the perfect opportunity for a short getaway! Some friends and relatives of ours apparently had the same idea so we all got together and rented a house at Lincoln City. Even though it was cold and rained a couple times, we had a great time! Here are some pictures.

Introducing my newest niece, Sya Riley. Sya came down to visit last weekend and gave her cousin and I a gift… her cold. Thanks…

Just because it’s cute…

If you were a kid growing up in the 80′s, you might enjoy this one.

As kids, my sisters and I religiously watched cartoons every morning as we ate our breakfast before heading off to school. One cartoon that I remember particularly well was “Horton The Elephant Hatches The Egg” where Horton does a favor for a bird and sits on her egg for her and hatches it. Well, the cartoon opens with Horton minding his own business and singing a song as he clumsily skipped through the forest. Don’t ask me why, but that song was very memorable to my sisters and I. Perhaps it was the way Horton sang it.

In any case, it’s been many, many years since I had seen this cartoon but I was reminded of it when I saw a little, stuffed, pink elephant that my sister brought with her when she came to visit us last weekend. Nostalgia was immediate when my sister and I both looked at the little, pink elephant and started singing the song that Horton sang… and in his lispy, low-pitched style. The only problem was, we didn’t know the lyrics!

With curiosity nipping at me, I quickly went to YouTube to find that cartoon so I could hear what Horton was actually singing. No wonder we didn’t know the lyrics. We didn’t know the lyrics because Horton didn’t know the lyrics! At this point, I was really curious as to what the real song is and I began my research!

As I sifted through the internet, I discovered many postings with the actual lyrics to the song that Horton sang. It’s called “The Hut-Sut Song” and the lyrics seem to be just as meaningless! I’ve included the lyrics below so you can see for yourself.

In a town in Sweden by a stream so clear and cool
A boy would sit and fish and dream when he should have been in school.
Now, he couldn’t read or write a word but happiness he found In a little song he heard and here’s how it would sound;

Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla, brawla sooit,
Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla sooit.
Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla, brawla sooit, Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla sooit.

Now the Rawlson is a Swedish town, the rillerah is a stream.
The brawla is the boy and girl, The Hut-Sut is their dream.

Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla, brawla sooit.
Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla sooit.

Horton only sang the part that doesn’t make any sense so we, as kids, only sang what he sang so WE didn’t make any sense! Here’s how Horton sings it and here is how it’s supposed to be. “The Hut-Sut Song” might be an amusingly weird song but it has its roots. And now you know!

Even though I work in the creative industry and my job requires me to work digitally, my roots in art go way back to when people used to use pencils to write. Yes, there WAS a time when PCs weren’t in every household! Back then, I drew any and everything. Since I collected comic books, my biggest creative influence was superheroes so I drew a lot of them.

It’s difficult to find the time to sit down and patiently draw something nowadays as my life moves at a much faster pace. But when I get the chance to draw and complete an illustration or a painting, it’s a very satisfying, fulfilling, and nostalgic experience.

I’ve posted a few samples in my album for you to see. Enjoy!