more wood I've spoiled

 A bit unkund but a caricature of my pal Jack and his hound.  Fortunately he has a great sense of humour and the Pond will be between us when it arrives.

   Another pal, 5 years old goin on 50, has gone off with my little carvings of Santa.  These were put on a shelf he can n't reach.

angry fishermen

 EEC regulations are making for a lot of unhappy fishermen in this part of the world.  So I carved this wee fella to represent their anger.  The regulations are restrictive and yet fail to answer the problems related to over fishing.  The over fishing on our costal waters is caused not only by our vessels but all EEC members fleets.   Brussels has a knack of letting regulations over rule commons sense.  

PMS

My wife commented that " You never carve female caricatures"! Well that's cured now. 

For my own protection this carving is not based on anyone I know nor anyone I might not know.

presents

 Seems that demad is over taking demand on the wee carvings.  Youngsters birthdays and xmas tree ornaments are being requested way too much.   However that is n't all bad in ffact its good, at 70 I can not only growl at kids but make them smile.   The above is a photo of the old dog we lost a few months ago.  A bit like her owner she could get into trouble even in her dotage.

poplar

  Not much further in my mission on tree bark.  Not entirely true, the cottonwood tree is of the poplar family.  Poplars grow in Europe.
Interestingly its the red pine of california which is credited with the thickest bark.

I'm back blogging again

  After a series of events I'm back blogging again.
Nothing drastic just a heap of things that limited my time.

One of the more pleasant was a short break in Poland, my first in 30 years.  Then it was north Poland Gransk in what was refered to as the German Corridor.   This time it was all different in all senses, we went to Cracow and then visited Auschwitz.

  We met up with a carving pal and had a meal together.  Apart from the brotsch which I never liked the food was to my liking.  More to the point the company was good.  Romek does n't speak English and I speak no Polish so we depended on his son to translate.

  The churches were full of carvings and other artistic works.   Some had been looted by the Germans and then returned after 1945.

 On a more down to earth level I came across these carvings, in bark for sale in the market of the old City.

 These impressed me but poses the question which bark.  According to my research cottonwood does n't grow in the old World.  All I can say is the bark must come from a very old tree.

bark carvings

These are NOT my carvings.   They were on display at the Old City in Cracow.    Bark they were but what bark I do n't know.