Shipley and Saltaire and a very old doll.

 The radio is spouting that it is meteorically speaking the last day of summer. so yesterday was not the last day officially as I thought. There is another day to this August That I had forgotten about. We went To Shipley. I had forgotten about this place too. It should be one of the places we go regularly but we never do. We went this time to go to Argos of all places to buy a tarpaulin for the Fenix car. Autumn is all but here and the air is cold. The fenix vauxhall frontera is not yet fixed and so needs a winter coat. Hence we went to Shipley........How could we have forgotten this?

 It has everything. History...old mills a canal.....and a very lot of junk shops stuffed to the gills with....well junk. Shipley is a suburb of Bradford. It is just by the river Aire and the leeds liverpoool canal. the name shipley translates as sheepfield from old norse. this tells you much of all you need to know really.
lords of the manor here from the 12th century  onwards were....rievaulx abbey where the monks were granted grazing and iron ore mining rights. through the middle ages the earls of Ormond (anne boleyn family connection here!) followed by the Gascoine family of Newby hall. 1495 Rosamund Gascoine married Robert Rawson. the Rawson's inherited the manor in 1570. by the 19th century the manor was owned by the Earl of Rosse......

 David Hockney was born in Shipley. Born 9th July 1937 and there is a pub here in his name. David Hockney also has a gallery dedicated to his work at Salt's mill and Cartwright Hall just near here. He was (is) one of the great influences in pop art of the 1960's . a print maker, painter and photographer who now lives in California.

 This moor is called Baildon Cliffe . Lee told me this....He has been here loads of times. Only twice before with me. I do not remember any of this! and was totally delighted to find the junk shops around the square of this shopping centre. there is also a market reached by going down into the underground and returning by escalator......inside this market are craft shops cafes and a lot more junk.....there are also stalls set out for a market at ground level on Monday Friday and saturday.......

I found a Barbie doll for 50p. yes I know I was not going to buy more...but this one is articulated and in quite good condition...... I also wanted to go to the canal.....so we crossed the road and followed the path down to it....

 This is an old mill at Shipley canal......

 We walked along under some bridges and found a very lot of graphity and some "art"....

We walked towards Salt's Mill.....part of the way...

 Water...canal boats and reflections we discovered.... I had never been here before. Nor had Lee. Why not? very very remiss of us I think.

 We contemplated buying a canal boat to "do up" we saw one for sale at £35,000. Not going with that idea then!....Where could we go I asked? well said Lee......Manchester....Hull....Leeds....

 Very lovely though isn't it?

We came away from the canal at the next bridge and headed back to Argos to buy the tarpaulin....after all that is what we came here to do!

Monza dog waited in the car and was very pleased at our return. He is feeling a very lot better now that we have got him some medication for arthritis......He was very interested to note that we came back without the tarpaulin! which was not in stock and had to be delivered to our house on a different day......
I wanted to go to the church at Saltaire.......so we braved the traffic and Lee and Monza parked up whilst I went out with my camera.....We have discovered a whole new weekly visit to add to my days off.....

 Saltaire built in 1851 by Titus Salt. A totally purpose built town. Titus Salt moved his entire business here from Bradford. He owned five mills and was extraordinarily Rich....and built this whole town...mills.....church....hospital and streets of houses.....pubs shops .......

This day we parked here and this is the back of the church.....

 As I came to the door I could hear the organ.....and micro phoned vicar......I thought that there was a service. The vicar saw me hovering and invited me inside over the sound system.....

 It was in fact a wedding practice and the lady vicar was running through the order of service......

 So if you want some where really sensational to marry this has to be on the top of the list........

 majesty! that is what this building has.....I wonder what the bride is going to wear.....i would hope a train and a lot of bridesmainds to hold it....it is not a simple dress kind of place really is it?

 Here is Titus Salt. He resides in the entrance of the great church. After all it paid for it all!.....

http://www.saltairevillage.info/   Here is a link to the Saltaire website......it tells you all about it much better that I can.

I did a quick walk from the church past the railway station and down to the canal again......

This is a pub.....right down on the water next to a beautiful park.....We have to come here for lunch. No arguments from Lee.

Morning now! Friday. we usually go to Otley. Not this week.........I have a ten hour shift to contend with.....

 The old guys were waiting for me. I very nearly did not go...as Lee said there were no colours in the sky.....

 I looked out. I had nearly missed it all!!!! i got dressed and ran....I was just in time.

The old guys had a doll. They wanted to know what it was and could I clean and mend it?

It is an Armund Marseille !!!!!!!!

The last day of summer

 

30th of August 2018' this is the last day of summer for 2018. It is cold and the autumn sharpness is in the air. The old guys were all sitting outside the boat house...one...two...three.....with great big bucket mugs of steaming tea with the lights of the old boat house hut orange through the open shutters. All back to normal after the bank holiday where there was only one old guy and he did not bother with tea on his own.
"mornin' luv. yer seen the mink? we watched 'im havin' a swim terrorising duck 'n that. eye watched 'im fer 20 minutes. Did yer see't bats? eye that were a few days ago...down by pinic bit....loads o' em. not out te day...tooo cold fer 'em. .......saw a crocodile yist day.....alligator? oh. were it? sure now? more likely in West Yorkshire eh?  Eye all back te normal...gettin' proper tea drinking in now. "

 Off I went around the Tarn passing loads of dogs with people on tow past the swans...I did a bit of a double take here.....these little cygnets have almost become big swans.....

 They are totally massive!!!!

Spring this year they were still cute fluff balls having breakfast at dawn with mum and dad.....now they are big hissing beasts.

 The three Gemima ducks were all out as ever...still twittering.....

 I have not been to the tarn for a few days. I looked out but only saw clouds........I am still shocked by how much the swans have grown...even since the last time I commented!

 There was a bit of a dawn this morning. but not sensational......but it did the job of quiet contemplation and a walk for me....the light was really beautiful just the same.

 The sun is now out as I write this...I can feel that it is still very cold though. time to put the garden "to bed" for winter and plant some spring bulbs to day. I did this last year and it made life soooo much easier in the next spring!

 A plane took off into the dawn.......I quickly snapped it...it came out quite well....

A plan for today is to go to Shipley. We for get about Shipley! ...Salt's mill.....big Asda!!!!!!! Going to Argos to buy a tarpoline for the Fenix car....

 The moon was still out as well.......

 Yesterday we went to Otley. we had to go and see the vet again about Monza and any way we were not going on Friday as I am "out". We went to see the vet with out Monza dog. This might seem a bit cock eyed but it works! as we can actually have a conversation without Monza trying to eat the vet. Monza is so massive and strong it takes three of us to hold him whilst the vet examines him....and this upsets all of us soo much that no one can tell what is going on any way. so as there is a problem with his leg I took a film of him on his walk. this way no one gets upset and we can all see clearly that he is dragging one leg. Initially last week we thought it may be congenital myopia. This is not treatable and results in the dogs back end completely collapsing causing paralysis. After a week on meds used to treat arthritis......we though that we would try....just in case they helped.....and they did a lot. Monza still drags his one leg...but not nearly as much and he walks faster. When I came home he would never get up to greet me any more. He now comes to the door and wags his tail and does all the doggy things you would expect when a person enters the house with chicken in a carrier bag......

My conclusion on this is that it is arthritis, I think too that the leg was damaged when he was thrashed because he could not be controlled. I know he has been very badly treated. I can tell by his reactions to some people. any way.....the way to find out is take him for ex rays.....this is not going to happen with out causing much stress.....so we came to the conclusion that he is an eleven year old dog. the arthritis drug is helping alot and Monza is walking, running and getting up and down stairs.....so he needs to loose weight to make it easier for him to get around.
Is that all?! after all the tears I cried over this all he needs is too loose a bit of weight....me too mate.

                                               You and me both Monza dog. So lets get started.

Titanic Rose doll

 The film was on the telly this bank holiday but I did not watch it. I have it in my stash and can watch it any time....that is one problem with bank holiday's there is nothing new on telly. Bank holiday Monday finds us having a "home day" as it is still raining and we just can not get the inspiration to get wet again.

 So I got out my Rose doll and Titanic books I have collected and had a little play about....

 Basically a doll photographed against old pictures and illustrations......

RMS Titanic sunk in the early morning of April 15th 1912.into the North Atlantic ocean. After four days at sea on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.

The passengers on board were numbered at 2,224 and aprox 1,500 people died as a result of a collision with an ice berg.

This Doll is Kate Winslet as Rose from James Cameron's 1997 film. Titanic. Rose doll arrived In Yorkshire in July having travelled by air from California.

Rose doll arrived after ten days in a big box with other Gene Marshall dolls for company. They finally emerged from the box the week after my birthday which seemed like it was happening all over again as they all climbed out.....

Rose arrived with a lot of the outfits she wore in the film and matching shoes too. The costumes are beautifully copied in doll size. She is an absolutely stunning doll.

This is the outfit Rose wore to board the Titanic at the beginning of the film. it comes complete with gloves, shoes and parasol and picture hat. Not in this picture as I did not want to drop any small bits on the Otley Chevin. This photo was taken by the White house visitor centre high up over Otley.

This picture was from a different day on Suprise view on the Otley Chevin. This is a view from high up over the Wharfe Valley and Otley. The chevin itself is a partly woodland and partly rocky walk with a roman road on parts which can still be seen today. At Easter a huge cross is brought up by about 100 volunteers and set high above Otley and can be seen for miles. This day we stopped at The Chevin on the way to Ilkley.

One of my favourite churches. Ilkley......

Saxon crosses and carved standing stones.....

 Effie if a 14th century Knight......

 Outside the Manor house in Ilkley.....

Some black and white and sepia ......

The famous flying scene from the Titanic film....

The following photos were taken at St. Stephen's church yard, Kirkstall,,,,,

There are as always far too many photos. I have only picked a few! So here I am this morning. The August bank holiday is past news and my holiday is also over for this year. Summer is all but over in West Yorkshire and we are heading rapidly towards the circus we now still call Christmas.
I was up early and it is still early...though cloudy and no colours of sun rise in the sky.
We are going to day to see the vet. he needs an update on Monza and his new medication. Monza is an old dog now. He still does not like that vet though....Monza is currently okay. The pills have helped. If he has what the vet thinks is the matter with his back legs it is serious.
 If he has what I think it is then he will be okay for a while yet.
 My second sense says I am.
So Otley today.....