Tag: summer

Summer Update

Posted on by in High Castle

#HighCastle at SDCC is less than one week away! Who’s going to follow the live tweets with me?

Okay, so I’m going to do my darndest to get better at blogging more often.

Here’s what I’ve been up to lately:

I made myself a new and improved website!

You may have noticed my new domain on this blog – mlcartthings.me

The old website was created in notepad with HTML and a dash of javascript. If I wanted to update anything, it was a royal pain, so it comes as no surprise that it was hardly ever updated, ha ha! When you want to get better at coding, making a website and following Microsoft tutorials is the way to go!

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I finally decided to take a shot at selling my art on Etsy. We shall see how this goes! I spent Saturday painting my heart out for it. Here’s to hoping for the best!

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In August I’m traveling yet again, but this time it is for FUN. It is my first non-work trip since 2015. I’m going to Idaho to see my family, and I hope to take a lot of photos of the landscapes there because I want to use them as ideas for the revamp/rewrite/it’s not Sisters anymore/ of “Alice.” Part of me wants to pretend to be the main character and post Instagram stories as if I’m her! But then again, I’ve never been to Idaho and it could look nothing like what I imagine, ha ha!

For those interested, “Alice” is set in the same setting as Sisters, but it is from the perspective of a woman from our world who is shocked to find a parallel universe where the unthinkable happened.

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That’s it for now! Stay tuned because you know I’m going to write about #HighCastle’s panel at SDCC! 

Sketching Through Those Hot Summer Days

Posted on by in High Castle

How is everyone’s summer so far? I feel like Summer is always the shortest season—probably because it’s my favorite. Time flies when you’re having fun!

I’ve done a lot of drawing over the past few months. It’s crazy to look at art I’ve done just a few years ago last year!?!?!? and see how different my style is now. And no, I didn’t realize I did that Kathy drawing last year. I thought I did it in 2016! Mind blown.

I don’t know what spurred the change. I just remember having a severe case of art block sometime last year. On a whim, I started sketching a photo as it appeared because I couldn’t think of anything to draw (I can’t remember which one, but it was probably High Castle related. I’d bet money on it, ha ha!).

I enjoyed shading and sketching like that, so I kept doing it! It’s honestly therapeutic, especially after a long day’s work. I’ll normally find a documentary on YouTube, have my reference picture up beside it, and start sketching.


Other things I’ve been up to over the summer include expanding my antiques/WWII era collection (albeit, very slowly) and working on Sisters. I realize those aren’t the most exciting things in the world, but hey, I’m happy.

What have you been up to this summer? Finish any exciting projects? Travel anywhere?

A very Summer Post

Posted on by

The year was 2004, the place, Iraq.

We worked 12 hour shifts (sometimes more) 6 days a week, so midday chow was the thing to look forward to. It was the event. We’d pile into our squadron’s white pick-up trucks or bread trucks—yes, you read that correctly.

Bread trucks.

I don’t know if a bread truck vendor donated a bunch of them or what, but we had them, and they had been painted white to match the pick-up trucks. Hey, it was a truck that could haul stuff!

Anyway, we’d pile into them. On this particular day, it was a pick-up truck. We climbed in the bed of it; flack vests, helmets, and all, and prepared for the excitement of lunch.

As it went down the dusty roads, a spring-like breeze drifted over us. We couldn’t believe how nice and cool it was. We kept asking ourselves, how hot was it? It couldn’t be more than 80!

* Read footnote for more info!

We had a thermostat in one of our buildings that recorded inside and outside temps (see above pic). Temperatures would get upwards of 120 degrees, so on our way back, we made a game of guessing the number. Most of us guessed in the 80s.

Ready for the big reveal? Want to make a guess yourself?

It was exactly 100 degrees.
100 on the dot.

* Footnote:
I scoured my old digital photos for something hotter, sadly I either didn’t think to snap a pic until it was too late, or I took it on my disposable camera and the photo is buried in a photo album somewhere. But this was the norm even though some days it was 120.  

The nice, breezy 76 degrees inside was for the benefit of our equipment (it had to be kept cool). 

The ticks you see on the wall were left by a previous Airman. They ticked each day they were there. I guess they weren’t having a good time.