An old one. Let's go Barbie!

aThe breakers yard,,,,,Lets go Barbie!........

A girly place to go!? ......well yes on this day     It turned out very well. 

This ....yes THIS is a car breakers yard. usually I would not be interested in piles of old cars and scrap. 

Makes for GREAT photos....these look like something out of  an Arnie movie, you kinda know what I mean....Arnie in Terminator.........

These poor cars have been terminated for sure. 

Piles of metal , tires, thingy metal exhausts.....lots and lots of exciting men stuff covered in oil grease and muck, all served up in mud mixed like a cocktail with black oil. 

Lee thought this was heaven.  

As you see from my photos. It is in fact MEN HEAVEN.

IF I was interested in mechanics I suppose this could be an arty girly heaven too....no need to be sexist here.....

The photos I took of the place was enough for me. Lee however was much more excited about black oil and a thing called a HUB ....and bearings with a Thingamly bob still attached were mentioned. 

We drive around in a rusty old van. we need new parts for the rusty old van, as it tweets as we drive along. This is bearings and the hub thingy giving up.....

hence the visit to the breakers yard.

On the way to the breakers yard we sang in the van....

I'm a Barbie girl in a Barbie world.........Monza the dog barked and howled along...the van developed a new "squeek" up on the passenger side head board and we just kept rolling along.

at this breakers.....Lee told me to stay in the van.

The oil and mud will ruin your boots. 

too good to miss......... LOOK at the photos I took.

Let's go Barbie.

This is an old one from another blog I used to write about my Rusty old van. The days were very different then.

Lots of lovely things.....

 Salts mill is filled with lots of lovely things. All of which I wanted.

We went into Salt's mill through the main big entrance instead of going in at the far end , we came upon a film room with The fax pictures and a film of them being made. David Hockney made these pictures by sending them by fax to Salt's mill from Brazil. These fax pictures can be seen in this room.  Fax machines can produce a lot of prints cheaply.....and Hockney designed pictures that can be sent as a series of fax sheets.  The pictures were designed for the  machine as he determined how the machine "sees" colours and shades.

This big print is the first thing I saw today straight through the entrance......

Portraits by David Hockney in the 1853 gallery. This is a massive space of an old textile mill filled with art and delicious gorgeous things to buy. All the tables are heaving with books I would own in a flash of my mascaraed eyes. Lee's eyes started to water as soon as I picked up an Erte calendar......The price or even the mention of the price made him want to weep......

I persevered with my very imaginary shop for my Christmas present(S)!!!!! And here we have inks and pens.....coloured pencils    and the beautifully designed Windsor and Newton ink boxes. These were an ultimate fave at college. As an art student in the late 1970's I could afford all this stuff! Well I did not have a mortgage, dog or food to pay for. We did not bother with all that. Not even the food part. Just cider it was then.....after cider came lager and then of course wine bars became the thing....so it was White Australian wine all the way. I had an extensive collection of these inks.....oil paints and gouache in all colours. no expense spared. Wine obviously did not cost so much back in the day then......... I had them all the way up to moving to Yeadon about ten years ago......I gave them to a fellow artist as they were never used any more...... Does not stop me wanting to buy them all over again now......

Inspired yet ? to start drawing and painting again? I have not drawn anything for well over ten years........I was never what you would call a "good artist" anyway. I can not draw very well at all in the conventional way people expect from art classes. I got into Bath Academy of Art back in the day it has to be said. .....It was my "antisocial difficult character" that got me in. I refused to socialise at the group interview!  When asked what I thought of some of the crappy art on the walls I told them in true Yorkshire frankness.
"it's crap loves"
And so I became a very difficult student at Bath Academy of Art in 1979. I was never a good student but I had an interesting character. So I started my collection of strange clothes, inks, fabrics and some dolls. The rest as they say is history evolving still.

The brushes!!!! another addiction...Now brushes I do use......Lee was beginnig to feel faint as his bank card began to figit in his pocket....

Frida Kahlo book!!!!!! I told Lee I wanted this for Christmas......£35.00 (ONLY!!! as I told him) He began to weep again.

Now these......these I really do not know if I like. ...in fact I have thought about it now....I don't. But they are beautiful I suppose, And I have been here a lot and they are always here. So either they are not for sale or no one else likes them either.

And then of course the Hockney chair......Where would I put this? well I could clear out the log cabin completely and this could be the main and only feature..........


Hey! good idea. Oh look! Lee is weeping hysterically. It is possibly priceless anyway.....Just heard on the radio that a Hockney just sold for 70 million......and he is still alive. !!!!


So this morning is Friday and I am still in bed listening to the radio. I looked out and saw mist....mist...and more mist. I am out until 9.30 tonight so decided to give myself a break and stay in my lovely warm bed. There is not a lot to take photos of any way....So I have given yesterday's water reflection photos a rejig.
here they are........

 The heron on the river Aire at Saltaire. We had just eaten lunch down by the canal, and walked along to Robert's park. Lee spotted this Heron.....

So here we are at Friday yet again and I am listening to radio Leeds. Last night they did a pub crawl and quiz in aid of Children in need. They are still broadcasting from Otley this morning....from the Black bull pub in fact.
It is Friday. It is Otley day as ever. I wonder if they will still be there ? Any way...20p shop here we come. This is probably where I will actually end up with a Christmas present from......I bet they won't get the Frida Khalo book I want...........

a good last minute visit.

 Salt's mill and Saltaire in the beautiful sparkling sunshine is where we went today. It was a last minute thing, and it was well worth the visit this day.
Walking up to the vast Salt's mill complex.....

 Then cutting through to the Church and canal....on the way to lunch.

 Ah. Lovely! Lunch. We had a Christmas sandwich followed by Chocolate eclairs if you really want to know.....we sat on this bench which stated "love that never ends"....

 The church was locked, but that did not matter. We walked back past it and went to the river.

 Past the canal....

 Where Lee fed the birds with bits of lunch he saved.....

 On the river Aire we spotted a heron.....

 This made the day!

 We are out of money yet again. So no junk shops today and no shopping . Which leaves not a lot to write about really.

"what do we know about heron's?" I asked Lee as we walked
"They eat goldfish. They ate all ours last year. And they are quite big. much bigger than you think..."

Not a lot then.

Yes! I know I was going to Kirkstall Abbey after going to see Father. This did not happen. As ever Father was as awkward as hell about it all . He did phone to say he was coming over just as we were going out to walk Monza. He had to come that time because Ronnie O'sullivan was playing snooker on the telly and he had to be back to watch it. Lee said we were going to call in on him in about half hour anyway.

"On no ah don't want that. Ah wants te go te supermarket. Ah needs te get some stuff. yer meet me at supermarket..." stated father. "meet me at bus stop outside..."
(this would be the same supermarket I work at. The one that I am on a day off from.)
Lee simply said another day might be better. How about Saturday?
 So with that I decided not to go to Kirkstall at all........