Saturday, October 26, 2019

When it comes to birthdays… oh, what I wouldn’t do to be a vampire again

NOTE:  This is from November 4 2012, 4 days after my 51st birthday.  But I recently found some artwork I wanted to include, and seeing that it’s almost Halloween…

A few days ago I celebrated my birthday.  Well, I’m not sure I’d say celebrate—it was a ‘work from home’ day for me, and I had some leftover chicken for lunch and a bowl of cereal for dinner.  The day before was much nicer though, some lovely friends took me out to lunch & got me a giant cookie afterwards. 

Thank you Dani, Gwen, Kathy & Jamie!

I got a nice assortment of birthday cards in the mail too, a couple of them even came with music and you can never go wrong with the Starship Enterprise.  I especially liked how a couple were for people with Halloween birthdays like mine (and wait you didn’t know that?  I thought I told everybody).  But truth be told, as much as I appreciate the ones I got this year and every year, I still miss the ones from my dad more than anything.

I’m talking about the hand-drawn cards my Dad made for me on my birthdays, which were far better than anything that Hallmark or American Greetings could do.


Besides his job in coal shaft construction and playing music on the weekends, Dad enjoyed drawing too.

While he drew birthday cards for everyone in the family, I got a big kick out of how he always portrayed me as a vampire. 

That’s my mom holding a newborn Doug with the caption “Look Don… it’s another boy—and he was born with two teeth!” 

(Click on image to enlarge)


Here’s another “Vampire Doug” card, with me going to the Blood Bank to make some withdrawals (naturally)!

         

Here’s one of my favorites that Dad made for my older brother Duke on his 16th birthday in 1975 (and boy did he get things right on the money here!)

        

This one was for our baby sister Courtney, who turned 4 on July 2, 1979.  Mom liked to remind us that July 4 may be celebrated as Independence Day, but the actual date of said event was July 2!

courtcardf

And here’s one Dad made for my younger brother Steve (again, click on any of these images to enlarge):

  

Dad captured our little sister & both of my brothers so well, with Duke on his academic soapbox (when he wasn’t chowing down) and Huckleberry Steve and his love of all those darn critters— both before and after they became road-kill. 

And then there was me, always with the fangs!

Well, when you’re wearing a set of pointy teeth and carrying your sister’s Barbie Makeup Head around in the middle of July, what can you expect?

25 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, how I love this. So wonderful to see Dad's drawings. He had so much talent in everything he did. And lucky you to inherit the art gene. Happy Birthday Doug!

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  2. Shawn thanks very much for the kind words here--and of course, for always going out of your way to make everyone's birthdays such special ones too. :)

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  3. Thanks so much for sharing. What wonderful memories, and I loved those cards! Your dad must have been quite a character.

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  4. Thanks very much, Marseeya! And yes, he sure was a character :)

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  5. Doug, I can't recall seeing any of your artistic endeavours (Batmobile aside)in the Teepee...

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  6. Andrew, my family has always overrated my artistic talents--I'm just a doodler, my friend :)

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  7. Doug, that pic could be sold in stores for Halloween decor. Imagine walking into a Target and seeing your own mug on the shelf!

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  8. Haha--thanks David! (And yeah man, that would be awesome) :)

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  9. First of all, Doug, happy belated birthday! Second, these handmade cards are priceless; your dad was quite the artist and humorist! I can see why you'd treasure these forever.

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  10. Hi Pam, and thank you for the kind comments! I just wish my dad was still here to see his artwork again & how it lives on. :)

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  11. Doug, your family is awesome. How much did your dad love you to do such an incredibly sweet and beautiful thing each year? Wow! Totally blown away by how wonderful his illustrations and captions were and just the sentiment behind it.

    I've always loved the little doodles my parents made over the years. My mum used to sketch on anything in her path, even on tissues. My dad would do great sketches of mum's face and these were never drawn on proper pieces of paper mind you but on corners of newspapers or odd scraps here and there. My brother has some of their drawings saved in a box. :)

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  12. Chelly, thank you so much for the kind words here, you always say things so very nicely. That's awesome about your own folks and their artwork & it's great that your brother saved some of those memories. You should share them on your own blog, I'd love to see them. :)

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  13. Thanks so much for your kind words Doug. :) Will do that for a future post—great idea!

    By the way, I forgot to mention that the photograph of you and your siblings at the bottom of the post is just awesome! What a great shot. :)

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  14. How cool to have a Halloween birthday. Never lacked for treats I'll bet? Loved that your Dad made your birthday cards. Soooo much better than Hallmark. Your Dad's have real meaning and they were cool enough to keep.
    Early Happy Birthday Doug and I hope it is fine one.

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    1. Patti, thanks so much--yes, my Dad (and Mom) made those Halloween birthdays extra special. :) I sure miss them.

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  15. Good stuff, a fun tradition, and yes that takes imagination and talent.

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  16. Happy almost Birthday! (That's my daughter's wedding anniversary too) I really love all the handmade cards, your dad was quite talented. Were you really born with two teeth?

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    1. Hahaha! Thanks River! But no, I wasn't born with any teeth!

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  17. How cool to have a birthday on Halloween! Always a party being celebrated somewhere that day. What a sweet thing your dad did with the drawing of birthday cards! Something to treasure and keep, unlike the Hallmark cards that I tend to toss after a few days.

    betty

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    1. Very true Betty (about the card keeping)... thank you :)

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  18. I love the picture of you dressed like a vampire with the Barbie head😂
    Happy Birthday 🎉😘😘

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  19. Happy Birthday, Doug! You're still a youngster. I do love all the drawings!

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    1. Thanks Kay! (I wish I FELT like a youngster) :)

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