Reviewing Jan Karon's latest book, Home to Holly Springs, caused me to ponder fathers, in general, and our relationships with them.
More specifically though, I began thinking about their cars and dogs... and what that says about them, if anything.
Uncharacteristically (at least in my mind) does Father Tim drive a red mustang convertible! His mutt is no less than a Bouvier with a lot of Irish Wolfhound named Barnabas, nick-named Gentleman.
My father's dream car was a 1968 Pontiac GTO convertible. This army green antique is still in the family, in the predictible possession of my younger brother who was the last to drive it.
His dog?
My father's family dog was a white Sptiz named Snow. There is an hilarious story about a special encounter between Snow and the family cat, Saggy. It's worthy of its own post.... another day ;-)
As an adult, we had Weimaraners. Legend and Otto. Oh, the stories about those family pets.
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So, join in.
Tell me about your father, his car, or his dog.
And if you dont know, invite him for dinner this week and ask him.
It's family history.
Better late than never.
My father is a farmer trapped in a stockbroker's life. He drives his Ford F150 to his office everyday in the early hours...to be there before the market opens.
ReplyDeleteI don't think he ever had a dog in the companion sense, though he was kind enough to care for my dog for many years after I left home!
Fun post!
My daddy drives the Batmobile! And I'm pretty sure his dream "family" dog is a German Shepherd. :-D
ReplyDeleteI remember Otto. Such a good dog. That's my dream dog. :-)
My daddy always drove the biggest car he could, and it was always white. The one exception was a VW bug -- he was practically the first person in my hometown to own one, and it was white, too.
ReplyDeleteI think his favorite was one he bought used while I was in high school. I think it was a Cadillac, but it was ENORMOUS, white, with red leather interior. We called it The Yacht.
:-)
My favorite was his International Harvester Scout -- one of the first SUVs. He installed a winch on the front bumper to pull him out if he got into trouble in the woods -- he was a hunter.
His favorites dogs were hunters, too. Our first dog was part Beagle, part Walker (a coonhound). Later we had Irish Setters. I don't know what Daddy had when he was a kid, but I know they went hunting with him. He grew up on a farm and hunted squirrels alone from the time he was about seven or eight years old.
Daddy was a chemist, a chef, a builder, a dreamer, a living library. I sure do miss him.