We have a ton of trees where we live, and every fall we manage to rake up a pile of leaves that is almost 5 feet high, by 10-12 feet wide. During the days in October and November, when the they have all turned colors and start to fall from the branches, it literally rains leaves. My wife and I love watching this happen.
One day, Patty was walking on our deck, and a gust of wind swept up all the leaves and swirled them around her. It was quite a beautiful scene. We had such great weather her the last few days, I will hate to see the fall disappear!

So this past weekend, my lovely wife and I drove to Frankfort, Michigan (which is incidentally Desmond’s home) to check out the annual Shiver by the River Fall Festival. There is nothing quite like small town America celebrating the joy of giant vegetables.

What makes this Fall Festive so special is not just the giant pumpkins, rather the collision of one of those giant pumpkin into another object… namely an automobile. A large pumpkin that I would judge being close to the thousand pound mark was lifted up by crane over a beat up white sedan (which actually looked like my dad’s old Cavalier).

Given this concept, the first thing you think is “how many people lost their lives in this horrific tragedy?” However, I did not mention X factor in all of this. HA HA! The wind so strong, it was whipping the giant pumpkin around as it dangled from the crane. So picture a thousand pound vegetable dangling from a crane pretty close to 70 feet above the earth swaying over a crowd hungry for some pumpkin carnage. Yes, my friend, good times!

So, with a bit of luck, the pumpkin dropped on the car, causing a very underwhelming crash. It really was not the spectacle you would think it would be. However, it did spark a mini-riot, as the crowd made a break for the smashed pumpkin for photo-ops or to grab a chunk of the smashed gourd. One guy carried a ten pound chunk by us and proclaimed to the world that he was having pie tonight! Good times indeed!

What is really nice about Northern Michigan are the colors. At “peak time” the trees turn to wonderful shades of bright yellows and burning reds. We made it up to see the beginning of this turn in color, and it truly is a sight to behold. Being an artist, the sight of such radiant color is like candy for the soul. Northern Michigan was rated in the top ten places to visit in Autumn, and I highly recommend heading up there if you have the opportunity.

Finally, I could not leave Desmond’s home without witnessing one of the prettiest sights you can see on Lake Michigan. Watching the warm glow of the sunset engulfing the sky against the freezing cold of the water below was yet another tasty desert for the soul.

Thanks Frankfort. Good times.

It was my first time out at SPX, but I had a great time! I sold a few of Desmond’s First Dozen, which is a collection of the first twelve strips featured on this site. I also met a ton of really cool artists. (I would name them all, but they’re too numerous to list! It is easier for me to take a picture of all the stuff I got and post it.)

The SPX journey started off rough. When we showed up for the show, the table that we were listed under was incorrect, and we found ourselves waaaaaaaaay in the back. On top of that, our table was positioned at the only exit for our block of tables. Basically, every time one our our 15 neighbors had to step out, we would fumble around to try to make room for them to get out. Well, this lead to a few angry Foo outbursts in the first few hours of the show. Much apologies to everyone for that.

Things started getting better as the weekend progressed. The rest of the day, I made a few good sales, I started meeting some really cool artists and bought some really amazing books.  I sold a healthy chunk of Desmond’s books (I will be offering the remaining books for sale through this site) and my table-mate Miker sold completely out of his Zombie books!

Now that it is over, I look forward to next year. I had a lot of fun, and am extremely thankful to have met so many cool people. If we crossed paths, send me a hey!

Visit Desmond at table F15

Desmond’s first convention will be SPX on September 26th and 27th! I am extremely excited about attending SPX for the first time.  I have heard nothing but amazing things about the artists from this show, and I can’t wait to see what cool books I can buy! If you are going to be in the Washington DC or Baltimore are, check out this show! And while you are there, stop by my table, F15, and check out Desmond’s new book which collects his first dozen comics!

See you in Bethesda!

Just a heads up that Desmond will be at SPX (Small Press Expo) in just a few weeks.  I will be there selling Desmond’s Dozen, which is a collection of Desmond’s first dozen strips. If you will be in Bethesda on Saturday the 26 or Sunday the 27, stop on by.  This is officially Desmond’s first convention, and we are both excited!!