From A wintery cold Yeadon, I got to thinking.....

 This could be expensive said my husband. As when I get to thinking it usually involves some cock eyed trip or visit, even a holiday. Not that I much want to go anywhere in this weather....so I stayed in by the wood burner and got to thinking and eating cheese. I made a cup of tea and then went through email.

 All the usual stuff about PPI, cancer and old people insurance companies wanting to sell me funeral insurance "to put my loved ones to rest",  ah no I have that wrong, it is to put my loved ones MIND at rest. the insurance is supposed to be for my own funeral.....so therefore a lot of deleting went on, until I came to an email from an Uncle. A very perfunctory message telling me to up date my records as his email address has changed. nothing else. no message, no how are you!? no why have we not heard from you!? nothing. just a round robin email informing me to update my records. I deleted that one as well.
 He was not asking. So I was not telling. The last contact was just after my wedding. His daughter phoned whilst we were out on the van. The mobile cut off. I phoned back and she would not even pick up the phone.

The Snow and wind started to howl. Lee wrapped up the van in blankets and we settled into the house with the heating on as well!

 I started poking around on the internet for interesting pieces of family history, not just my own...I am nosy about other people's family history as well.....And bingo I scored big time!  A ships surgeon who was transported to Van Diemen's land, Tazmania for Murder.
                   I proceeded with great gusto....I went wild and made another cup of tea.

 Firstly! what do I know about Van Dieman's land!?  well it is a spell binding song  by The Edge from U2 for a start. Based on an old traditional Irish folk song The river is Wide. The Edge wrote the song about John Boyle O'reilly leader of the Irish uprising after the great famine. This poor soul was banished to Van Dieman's land.....
Also it is a film. About a Group of convicts who suffer brutal treatment in a filthy jail, and escape to the Tasmanian wilderness. They discover they have no survival skills and turn to cannibalism. The trick being to avoid sleep and then not being your companions next meal.

My naval surgeon is described as a transported convict, medical practitioner, politician, farmer and inventor.....fantastic way to spend a cold snowy afternoon.......
What happened was this. The Naval surgeon, was the son of a London obstetrician.......one of the first by all accounts, who did so well he owned a house in Leicester Square, one of the big ones with neighbors such as the painter Joshua Reynolds.
The Naval surgeon trained as a surgeon's mate at the Royal College of Surgeon's. He was quickly promoted. unfortunately he fought a duel with the ships purser and killed him......this duel was fought with pistols....and he got himself tried for murder for his trouble, then transported to Van Dieman's land , Tasmania.  Where he was sent as a prisoner to an asylum,. He managed to start a private practice whilst still a prisoner, also gaining himself a pardon. He continued with his practice at the Asylum and also started a practice in Sydney , Australia.
His first wife was the daughter of an Irish missionary, very early on in the marriage she was unfaithful, and tried to run away with her lover. The surgeon took her lover to court and sued him for 2,000. The lover ran off without paying and left the missionaries daughter to her fate. Her fate was that the surgeon put advertisements in all the papers letting the world know what happened and that he was not responsible for her any longer. He refused to divorce her. She died in poverty under mysterious circumstances.
By the next year The Surgeon was in court again. this time for liable. His target was the Governor. He lost the court case and did another 7 months in prison.
Upon his release he continued with his private practice ,became active in politics and local education, until it was pointed out that he was a transported criminal and ex prisoner and he could not hold any of these posts.....
The poor person who pointed this out was challenged to a duel.

I took a break and got myself a glass of wine and a bit more cheese.  Monza dog laid out on the floor by the wood burner. Lee is stood behind me reading this as I write.....yes it is annoying! So he is banished to the garage to chop wood.

The surgeon became an expert on the bites of venomous snakes, which he kept as pets.....as well as dislocations....pioneered the operation for the removal of cataracts and bladder stones. As far as I know anesthetic had not been invented yet, so he also helped with that too. He invented medical instruments which are documented in the lancet, as well as the details of the surgery.
He invented an atomic ship. the model of which was exhibited at Crystal palace in 1854. He married a second time to a local rich widow, continued with his private practice until his death.
He was declared bankrupt about 4 years before his death. To this day there is a private hospital in his name.

                                                Maybe he was one of the first steam punks.

There is a book written about him called the dueling Surgeon. I looked this up and discovered it to be £100. ,,,must be very juicy then.

Hutton Bushel, Scarborough, and Sutton bank.

Yeadon is melting....some more junk and some dragons

A Barbie Mermaid.....2003 trendy Bendy Barbie....... snow and ski boy.

 This is a 2003 Trendy Bendy Barbie. with specialty bendy hair. I have two of these dolls both bought locally. I thought someone was making dreadlock Barbie at home.....Then I looked her up...as I usually do...and found that it was a limited edition thing!...And I did discovered that I have the Purple PVC suit  bought on another rescue Barbie. I wonder if they all belonged to the same person!?

Well I guess I will never actually know....unless a Barbie expert happens into the junk shop I work in....

I already have customers who make reborn baby dolls.......so you never know who it is you talk tooo........

So I photographed her in my porch in the rain...A Barbie Mermaid she was.
We have snow in West Yorkshire. We have enough snow to close the airport which is just by my house. Other areas here have no snow. we usually have our own very unique weather, because we are high up and we have an underground reservoir. This I am told effects things. How!? really I have no idea, it just does. My husband tells me this. Naturally he is right.

 This is A Bratz Boyz I got for my birthday . Lee bought him for me from The RSPCA shop in Otley. I call it the dog shop......as there is a lovely waggy dog out in the back area, and a selection of doggy chews and what nots in the shop. RSPCA look after all animals...however this shop is always the Dog shop to me.......

 The RSPCA are also great for rescue dolls. I have bought loads over the years here. So it is official...RSPCA are great at rescueing dolls and animals.

 This cute little fella came complete with his skis....coat...gloves and norweigain style cardigan...also two pairs if boots and a " after ski" out fit in his back pack!

 The little girly was bought at the same time...I thought she was his girlfriend....

 We had a bingo bonza birty week for "junk" and repuposing of said aquisitions......therefore this lady has a new and fierce pet......

 This poor fierce dragon was on a bin liner...in bits....poor poor boy. his tail and head were missing....it was only when I found the wings I realized That I had a whole beast........so I put back his tail head and wings and....there you go.....a fearsome beast....he likes me. Not so sure how he will behave with guests.......

Yeadon has snow.  

This is my log cabin studio today. the Airport is now open and a very lot of people had the day off work.....

Monza the dog loves it.

My photos of the day. Skipton and the moors in North Yorkshire.

 Skipton.         www.vanandaman.co.uk     Had just finished for the day. This picture was taken on my mobile phone , then given a bit of a process.......just heading back towards home......Sadly the pub the wooly sheep was behind us. Lee ignored my plees for "lunch" at this great establishment. I managed to wrangle lunch there once. That was in the old days when I first came back to Yorkshire. Lee was still trying to impress me. We also came in for a drinky after going to Skipton Castle on honeymoon.......

 This is also Skipton, the church next to the castle.....We went with Casper the dog a few years ago. Our honeymoon was spent in Harrogate, at a dog friendly hotel....actually they were dog and white van friendly.......Casper dog came everywhere with me. He was the kinda dog that could go to a castle and behave, as well as a pub for lunch.....

 This is a random shot I took as the sun came up over the North york moors.....The smeares and effects are the windscreen after Monza the dog had a massive german sheperd fit at another dog out on the pavement......great effect I have to say.

Miles and miles of moor land and heather. In fact I am named Heather. I always thought it was after the heather on the moors....in fact it very likely was....however my aunt told me that I am named after three of my father's favorite cows. Sally, Heather and Elizabeth........

My dad , it has to be said really loved his cows.