Another August bank holiday, Rusty the van is revived, and a dinasore bone

 Well actually it was not in fact a dinasore bone, it very recently belonged to a cow. Even so it is still a large bone which weighed a lot
. We had this bone in a carrier bag. it was still obvious, as it was huge and leaked blood...... all up the busy street back to the van. Just in front of us was a little dog on a lead with a lady paying no attention because she was on her mobile phone having some banal conversation shouting about.......er not a lot really. The dog did not care either, HE had spotted the bone.......the lady continued her conversation in a distracted manner. the little dog followed the bone......we walked around a lamp post, so did the little dog, the lady on the mobile phone was now tangled around a lamp post by her dog. ...she did not even notice.....we kept on down the street.

The friday before August bank holiday, everyone is going somewhere other than where they live.
The whole of Yorkshire cueing behind caravans on the way to Whitby! the traffic was jammed all the way back to Wetherby. Otley was nearly empty. We parked rusty the old van and had a wander around.

 Monza the German Sheperd insists on coming with us. The bone was for him of course.  We took our usual route past the old mechanics institute building.....

 stopped and marveled at the stone detail, and wandered again what it all about......

 Past the Methodist hall....

 resisting the invitation to coffee....

 I love the detail in this building too........Then on to a factory shop to buy a pair of sun glasses. The sun was bright and Lee was getting a migraine. So we spent £3.00 on a new, as yet unbroken pair of sun glasses, this is £2.01 over budget, as we never spend more than 99p on anything if we can possibly help it........

Next we went to all the charity shops and the church. This is being refurbished, so I could not go and see my favorite effigies of the Fairfax family. Still never mind, I did find the memorial to my favorite ghost.....

 Caroline Wood is said to haunt Bolling hall in Bradford. after the death of her husband Captain Wood, she is said to wander from room to room. she never got over his loss. There is a beautiful portrait of her on the stairs opposite her husband. She is my favorite ghost, if she is indeed a ghost in this place,  Her portrait is compelling, I love to go to Bolling hall, just to see this picture alone.
I was delighted to find her memorial in Otley church and get a photo of it....so here it is.

 The stained glass in Otley church is very beautiful, every week...if the church is open I go to see the fabulous windows......

 This visit, the sun was streaming in through a small window casting light onto the alter rail....This is a very manipulated version....

 These two pictures are variations of this. The bottom one is how it actually looked.....

 Stained glass from the alter.....

 Detail from the choir.....

 usually I go straight to the effigies, and as they are closed off for cleaning, I spent time in the alter and choir area....

 This.....I need to research. How come !? I here you all ask...well dear readers I have nothing to write about this.....fascinating as it is... and it is...I know there are great stories here....

 Light ...great Yorkshire light..so beautiful on this day, with the bright sun outside.

 A carved detail from the choir area.....

 The lectern........

MORE stained glass......then out of the very noisy doors into the sun, and the modern world.

we went and bought some steak pasties to eat under the market canopy.....

as Lee had earlier bought new sun glasses and it is about to be a bank holiday in Yorkshire.....the heavens opened and it hammered with rain and wind. just before this it was a perfect summer day...flip flops, caravans and sun glasses. now it turned into a hurricane.....

We had to wait to sit on the covered benches to eat!

after this we slopped and squelched to the butchers to get Monza a bone and the humans some sausages.......

we did a lot more squelching and slopping back to the rusty old van with the big bone...Ii was extremely flappy slop slop...as I always wear flip flops. it is a hangover from when I lived in Cornwall that I refuse to give up.

Folk art primitive raggy doll.

A folk art primitive rag doll made from a Kim's Whims pattern

I have called her Hannah, and she is signed and dated with her name on the back of her neck

August pictures.

August pictures

A knitting obsession, tea cozy's and potatoes.

 Okay. I admit that I have a knitting obsession. Actually if you really want me to admit everything...I have a Barbie doll collection as well. At this stage of my psychosis I have 200 Barbies. We will not mention the other types of doll I have in my collection as it might complicate this fine issue.
All my knitting patterns come from the internet.......mostly a lovely stickatillbarbie site stuffed full of Barbie Bratz and ABBA patterns to knit for your dolls!!!!!!!!!
fantastic fun. so ....this is my obsession....

 ..How does my madness reveal itself!?.....

 Do I keep it a secret and hide the dolls!?

 Do I knit where no one can find me and hide the wool!?

 Do I hide the knitting in progress when people come to the door!?

 Am I ashamed of my addiction!?

 Do I need help !?

 Should I call the Samaritans!?

 Well....Funny story......Though I did not think so at the time....and it goes like this.....
White haired old lady(that would be me) sitting out on the decking in the sun. Beautiful German Shepherd at her feet , having a doze in the sun.
Suddenly there before the white haired old lady was a very tattooed young guy. flanked by two dog wardens....The dog wardens were two ladies who had been called by the very tattooed young man, as I was keeping a "dangerous dog" .
The dangerous dog was my beautiful Monza.  Monza turned his back upon the visitors .

White haired old lady  told Monza it was okay. Monza remained with his back to the visitors, then went to sleep.

White haired old lady walked over to speak to the visitors, and received a lecture on dog ownership and  responsibilities
 Still holding her knitting. ,whilst Monza dozed she explained that the house and garden had been very well checked out by the place monza was rescued from .
 there would never be a problem so long as Tattooed guy never came into the house or garden.
As far I the white haired old lady was concerned....He would never be invited.

What are you knitting said the dog warden lady....
Barbie clothes ...said the white haired old lady.
Oh she said...I am more of a Sindy girl myself

My next Knitting will be tea cozies.
We also grow potatoes, carrots, beetroot etc. In fact to night after I have started knitting my tea cozies, walked Monza the dog, I will be cooking our home grown potatoes to go with curry and sagaloo.
te he. Do you know...I am 54. I have cancer. I do not care what you think. but I do hope you find a sense of humor. I have. I may not be here....but I will leave some great pieces of knitting for christmas.

Wedding anniversary...Ilkley...and a damn good rummage.......

Now we  are Nine.. We have a wedding anniversary on the 24th July. We wanted to get married on my birthday, which is 22nd July. ....the reasoning was this....the registry office was fully booked. as it was a Saturday...... Bugger. ....so we got married on a Monday instead. The hottest day I have ever encountered in Yorkshire, and we were wearing full marriage regalia! ...... Had a picnic at Kirkstall Abbey, then adjourned to a pub over by the Tong valley.
We were still there at closing time. However...our guests had all gone home. We had to walk from Tong to Pudsey...still in our wedding gear. And yes we were extremely the worse for wear.... Nine years . That would be our "pottery" anniversary.
 I made it back from the pub, wedding shoes in hand, tiara still in place, and with my handbag too. My dress had a long train which I somehow managed to carry too. I think we walked a very long way home from side to side zig zagging along, this made it twice as far...... By then though the sun had gone down, and at least it was cooler....I think!
 SO....

We Got into the rusty old van with Monza the big hairy german sheperd and went to Ilkley for an anniversary rummage and a fat rascal from Betty's tea rooms.

Nine years! where did the time go!?

First we parked up in a quiet place, which is safe for Monza the dog to doze, any other dogs, people, birds come into his vision, he goes into a barking frenzy, which makes the rusty old van rock and roll, so we actually worry that the rust may give way and the van collapse into a heap, of barking metal.....so yes we are quick!
The above photo is a fave building, a bank now...I love the detail......

Then along to Betty's tea rooms to buy fat rascals and have a general drool......

And this is what the journey and drooling is about....Yorkshire Fat rascals. Even when I lived down South....every time I returned home to Yorkshire these were essential to take back with me. ....Now I am back! ....every week I go and look in Betty's window.......dream

We also went to buy loads of gorgeous little haberdashery things to make into christmas presents.....
Followed by all charity shops,......

Then home past the cow and calf rocks.....

One more year. After my cancer diagnosis one more year was a very lot. I still have more surgery to go, and I hope my annual check will not turn up anymore. This is this month. ...a year ago was our wedding anniversary, my birthday and a cancer diagnosis.
 We have hope for yet another year.