The engine

Marlene from Poppypatchwork asked about the engine in my header.

It was drawn by my son, Gareth, when he was about four, I think.

I love it. I like the pencil lines of his original drawing. I like the details he included - the chimney, the couplings, and the four wonky wheels. I love the way he used a black wax crayon to colour it in so vigorously. There are two roughly rectangular white spaces to the bottom right of the engine. I don’t know what they are – maybe they represent the steps up onto the footplate.

I can see when the energy began to lag. The wheels are not so thoroughly coloured, the last one, on the right hardly coloured at all. He was a dear little boy and developed into a caring and loving husband and father.

One day, I will ask him if he remembers drawing this.

Children’s drawings can tell us so much, if only we care to look closely enough.