Remember my Aug. 8th post about woodcarver Andy Anderson? Well, the original head he carved for Knott's Berry Farm's famous "Sad Eye Joe" is in the lower right of today's first photo. Carver Agustin Rodiles has spent the past week carving a duplicate "backup" head for ol' Joe, and the results are impressive. The original Joe was carved in 1940 or 1941..
As you may have surmised, I'm back from my vacation. I picked up one very cool piece of O.C. history on my trek through Central California, but it really deserves its own post.
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The only other bloggable item I discovered was the black and white photo inset above. A larger version was displayed at the Santa Ines Mission (at the edge of Solvang.) The caption reads,
"Photo of Miss Mamie Goulet [later Mrs. Mamie Goulet Abbott], taken July 30, 1919 by Fr. O'Sullivan of Mission San Juan Capistrano. Miss Goulet came to Old Mission Santa Ines in 1904 from Minnesota responding to a plea for help from her uncle, Fr. Buckler, who had been given the task of Mission restoration. Upon arrival in October 1904, she described the state of the Mission as appalling. But for the next twenty years she worked alongside her uncle to repair and restore the Old Mission..."
Mamie Goulet Abbott later wrote a book, Santa Ines Hermosa: The Journal of the Padre's Niece. I'm not sure if the photo above was taken at Capistrano or Santa Ines, as the columns don't exactly match the photos I have from either.
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It's taking my brain longer than the rest of me to come back from vacation. So it may take me a little while to ramp this blog back up to something resembling full speed. Thanks for your patience.