Old man Willy, owner of the only gas station since the last one, taught me two important things before he passed on to the great full-service station in the sky.

1. People like free computer desktop background images.

and

2. People like to rhyme people’s names with things that make them laugh.

That explains “Cryin’ Bryan” for sure. But it doesn’t explain “You’re In The Way Moats.” Still, I took both of those lessons to heart and will be providing all of my BryanMoats.com Facebook fans with a free desktop image for their computer once I reach 100 fans. The above and below thumbnails are a sneak peek.

Oh, yeah. Old Man Willy also made it clear that people liked sneak peeks.

This time of year, when the heat gets bad, I retreat deep into my imagination to a place with a slight breeze, no metrics to meet and every friend has a bottle opener hanging from the keychain on his belt. In the daydream, the family and I and some friends have found a perfect patch of shade to drop our blanket, bags, and coolers. We each find a spot that suits us best to sit, the base of a tree, a corner of the blanket, a folding chair, a loved one’s lap.

A couple of the dudes are tossing a football back and forth a little further out in the field, a mix of wildflowers and field grasses obscuring their TOMS, and the ball when someone fumbles a catch.

When the ladies are finished assembling a delicious combination of Kavli crackers, goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and spicy olive snacks, we all crowd in for our share. I open the cooler – and that’s when we all fall into a hearty round of “Fun With Regional Dialect”. It goes like this…

“Hey! Moatsie! If you idn’t jeeust too busy over thur, whah don’ you toss me wunna demice cold bears!”

then,

“Gimme a sec an’ ahl doit they’re so gull dern fridgid.”

so,

“Fahnen. Whudever. Wish yoo’d kweeit.”

I hope you all enjoy this drawing today.

Bryan

Also thankfully, FontShop is not trying to hide the clear fact that this is part of business with financial needs to meet. While there is lots of free stuff, there is no altruism here. However, the devotion acts like this inspire is worth quite a bit.

Be sure check out the current main feature of the Education page, “Meet Your Type”, a downloadable (and print-on-demandable) PDF field guide to type, humorously written in the language of an understanding-sex-and-relationships publication. I imagine the humor is strongest for those familiar with typography lingo, but it makes it less formidable a topic no matter the audience I’m sure.

Check it out.

http://www.fontshop.com/education/

(I’m writing and sending this from my phone so the only images I have are screenshots. Check out the FontShop site for everything in its full glory.)

She saw that lived-out in her mother and now I see it lived out in her. Thank you for everything you do for children and our family, Meredith.

Rest in peace, Howard Zinn. Wow. Very sad loss.

HowardZinn.org

Peoples History Author Howard Zinn Dies at 87 – NYTimes.com.

Enjoy the first installment of “A Scripture Picture”, a few fun takes on familiar and not so familiar scripture. Not too “versed” in the Bible? That’s okay. Nor am I. Just don’t take it too seriously, and you’ll have a good time.