The Cutest Thing to Ever Eat Bugs

Welcome back, friends!

Today's topic is a lovable creature, just chock-full of warm fuzzies and... bugs?  Yup!  Lots and lots of bugs.  As many as 50,000 in one day, as a matter of fact!  Ew.  But our darling critter's gross dining habits are made up for by his super-cute gigundo ears.  Ears he uses to hear as he's burrowing around in the desert for bugs, getting all DIRTy, PIGging out on ants and termites and other crunchy delights.  Perhaps that's why he's known as the:

aardvark:  A burrowing mammal (Orycteropus afer) of southern Africa, having a stocky, hairy body, large ears, and a long tubular snout.

If we were to break down the famous name of this lovable little guy, we would see that it is of Afrikaans and Dutch origins.  It translates to earth (dirt) pig.  Nice.

Anywho, just because this cute darling eats ants doesn't mean that he's an anteater--although a lot of people would call him one.  True anteaters are a whole other animal.  Or animals.  It turns out that the term "anteater" is applied rather liberally to the bug-eating-mammal world.

In other news, you should all check out my redone website.  It's still not perfect, but it's a sight better than the original.  For those of you keeping track, this is version number 2, folks.

www.rohlsart.com

Quiz of the day:
Which popular children's cartoon character is portrayed by an aardvark?  And NO GOOGLING.  I forbid it!

Oh, and your image.  Getting away from my digital experiments, this is done in colored pencil.

Aachen Be Your Hero, Baby

Apologies all around for the delay in this second post, but fear not!  Your prayers have been answered!  I have wavered and waffled, procrastinated and balked, but here is the second non-abbreviated, fun-to-draw noun in the English language!  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you:

Aachen:  A city of West Germany near the Belgian and Dutch borders.

What's that you say?  Never heard of Aachen?  That's okay.  I shall give you a mini-lesson in Aachen history!  The area around Aachen has been populated since Neolithic times, but it was the hot springs that drew a large crowd of bathers in the Roman times.  Those bathers settled down and had little bathers, who began to call their home Aachen.  Well, maybe not Aachen, but their name was the root of our modern Aachen.

Then we come to the Middle Ages, where our dear and venerated Charlemagne really put Aachen on the map when he established the seat of his power (quite literally, actually) and built his Palatine Chapel at Aachen.  Of course, all good things come to great harm in time, and as is the case with a lot of European damage, Aachen was heavily damaged in WWII.  Fortunately, Charlemagne's royal house of God survived, which is excellent news for all of you artsy/architectural buffs out there.

All right, darlings.  The time has come for our goodbyes.  Remember to appreciate your medieval architecture, and pop in to see us next time as we have a look at everyone's favorite Animal.  You know the one I'm talking about.  The aardvark.

For your viewing pleasure until next time:

A is for...

...awesome second blog post!

Welcome back, friends!  Today, this magnificent day of all days, we open our American Heritage Dictionaries to page one and we sigh.  We sigh with satisfaction.  We sigh with hope.  And yes, we sigh with a healthy amount of tiredness, because just looking at how many pages are behind that first is quite exhausting.

But there's no time like the present, so let's begin!  I will consistently give you the best definition for the word, that is to say I will give you my favorite definition.  (Yes, I have favorite definitions.)

a:  1.  The first letter of the modern English alphabet.

Things I like that begin with A:
aster flowers
auburn hair
aunts
A Christmas Story  (you know, the movie)
art (which probably should have been first)
apples
afternoon naps
agriculture
anklets (not that I wear them, but still enjoyable)

That isn't everything, but I wanted to leave room for you!  So, comment with your favorite nouns that start with A.  (People, places, things.)  I'll be very interested.  I promise.

Be sure to catch the next posting of your new favorite blog!  We will be covering Aachen, the German city.  Very exciting.  You won't want to miss it.  Did I mention this blog is illustrated?  Yes!  This is an illustrated blog, with all images copyrighted by me, Rachel Ohls!  You don't want to miss education, art, and me, do you?  Of course not!

For your viewing pleasure, until next time:

Welcome

Welcome to my blog!

First, a bit of legal to-do.  All dictionary definitions, unless otherwise stated, will be from the American Heritage College Dictionary, fourth edition.  Copyright 2004, 2002 Houghton Mifflin Company.  Their words are their words, and not mine.

Now, the origins of the blog!  It was a warm and sunny day, or perhaps a dark and stormy night; I'm a little fuzzy on the specifics.  Anywho--I decided that a blog was in order.  I thought for a long time and decided that I had terrible ideas.  So, in the interest of my artistic pursuits and for the educational benefit of us all, I present to you:  the dictionary.  Illustrated.  By me, Rachel Ohls.  But only with the fun-to-draw nouns.

So, join me!  I enjoy talking to people, so feel free to chat me up.  Also, if any of you are in the market for an illustrator, please think of me.  :)