Precious Carvings and Popeye

I had my dad on my mind today, as most days. Pop lives far away in Texas, and I miss him very much. When I get a chance to visit him, which isn’t often enough, he always lets me take home stuff. My favorites are his wood carvings. Sometimes he carves then paints and sometimes he just carves. Although, I don’t think he carves or whittles at all any more and I am sure he misses it, so I thought I’d share a little of his work.

I have a mighty little viking that he whittled hiding in my colored pencil cup, keeping an eye out for children who borrow art supplies with no intention of putting them back.
When my sweet Aunt Erma, my dad’s only sibling, passed away a few years ago, I visited her home and brought back this handsome lanky soldier that my dad carved for her some time ago. I think he is just beautiful and he makes me think of the love they always had for one another.This little horsey makes me smile.If he’s sitting at just the right height, he gives me a look kinda like my dad would. You know the look.Dad even gave him horseshoes and his own personal brand. And this head is very cool. When he gave it to me to take home, he expected me to paint it. I think about painting it all the time. I’ve thought about it for probably 8 years. Maybe making it into a puppet or something. But see the patching around the eyes? That’s where my dad replaced the eye sections and made them more to his liking than the original eyes he made. He puttied and sanded smooth the seams so perfectly that by only touch you would never ever know they had been replaced. I guess I just don’t want to hide what a great job he did of fixing them and think he’s perfect just the way he is. I think he even looks like my dad. And then there’s the sign he carved that I walk by a dozen times a day as it hangs on my daughter Jamie’s bedroom door. I adore it because my dad IS Popeye, right down to the big sailor tattooed forearms. I think for a quote that came from a cartoon character, it’s quite profound.I asked my dad if he would mind if I shared it with my readers, I think he was delighted. So I made it small enough for your sidebar. If you’d like to take it or the larger one, feel free.