Earnest “Mooney” Warther.
He was a carver.
Saying he was a carver is like saying “I” am a carver.
We were gifted with a tour of his museum this weekend. I am in awe.
Not only of his fabulous carvings, and I really suggest whether you have an interest in ‘trains’ or not you go check this out:
His carvings are what I thought I was fascinated by and of course they are. But I was totally unprepared to fall in love with this man and his brain.
He was very young when his father passed. He only went to the second grade. I don’t want to tell his entire story here because the museum depends on the public to exist. So, go see it. Or check it out on line. They don’t run on grants, or any public monies other than what they earn by the public going there for the tours and purchasing items from their store.
It. Is. Just. Phenomenal.
Back to his brain.
He stopped his formal education at the second grade. Yet he deftly created in his life time exact replicas of intricate machinery. He created his own machinery to build beautiful models of his work environment. And it’s funny.
When I am hearing and learning of all that he did and all that he accomplished and all that he created I am stunned. Do you remember what YOU were doing in the second grade? And do you think you were equipped at that time to develop such intricate and detailed thinking to create master pieces that would stun the world? I am pretty sure there were many of us (not me) who in the second grade still couldn’t tie their own shoes or dare I say….wipe our own behinds (I assure you that I could).
I am jealous and would probably be envious of his abilities. But isn’t the definition of ‘envious’ something along the lines of “if I can’t have it I don’t want you to have it”? If so I do not want to be envious. I just want to know how his brain worked. How did brilliance come from his brain? I want to know how to get the creativity and beauty out of life that he (and his wife!) extracted. He shared his creations. He never sold them. He created. He built beauty. He built a beautiful life.
But the museum is more than a walk through looking at carvings. It alone is stunning. But the story of the man, his ideals and values, his wife, their love. Their life. It is beauty every where you look. Starting with the people themselves.
There is just so much that I got from, and learned from, this simple trip to a little museum in Dover, Ohio.
More than his ability to carve, I want to learn about and emulate his ability to live beautifully. And then share it graciously with my world.
The Chatter Blog 