Honeymoon in Wales

Lagging behind with my blogging so this is a hasty update. We drove to Ruthin (pronounced Rithin) in Wales which is about an hour or so away round some very narrow lanes and hilly roads. beautiful country around there though- never been before, Had a delicious 11'sis breakfast in a friendly cafe in the town square and found a nice antique market nearby. Then to the farm just outside Ruthin where we stayed the night in the B&B. The other guests were two young Germans who had been travelling around Wales and going home to Hamburg? the next day. It was a great place and very friendly and comfortable. We went for a walk up the lane and back again to talk to the four chickens and feed them our sandwich crusts - well, Hazel did- I ate mine as I was so hungry!

The next day it was off to Llandudno which is one of our favourite haunts and a delightful olde worlde seaside resort that is relatively unspoiled. In the evening we went to see Ken Dodd again and decided he should retire gracefully as he was getting a bit dithery, the poor old thing- he is 85 or 86? after all! Did the usual touristy things like go up the Orme on the old tram and walked down again being chased by seagulls and sheep. Also dived in the local museum and art gallery when the rain got a bit too much. The B&B Hazel found online was excellent and did lovely breakfasts of smoothies , kippers and scrambled egg ( not on the same plate!).

New Book

A new book just out with some of my collages in by Martin Dawber called "Modern Vintage Illustration". I'm in excellent company with the likes of Peter Quinnell and Marty Gordon etc. This has been a great year for published work what with the "Artists' Postcards" tome and collaborative works at Issuu and Magcloud. A good year all round infact!

More Wedding Photos

Wedding Photos (First batch)

Kindly sent by Jackie Aplin who took them with her camera obscura.

Wedding Day/ Hazel's 50th Birthday

Here's the lovely cake that one of our neighbours made for us. Only wedding photo I have at the moment as I neglected to take a camera with me knowing there would be lots of other cameras there at the registry office and the pub afterwards yesterday. Indeed it was a bit like being among the paparazzi at one point! Archie , the ring bearer, alone took over 500, mind you he was a bit tipsy most of the time! Anyway, we tied the knot after 29 years together - one of the longest engagements in history someone said. I don't know why it took us so long really. Sorry we couldn't invite everybody but we wanted a a quiet intimate wedding with just close family and mostly friends of Hazel as it was her idea and her 50th birthday treat. Luckily the registry office at Winsford was a good choice as the lady registrar was lovely and very laid back about the whole thing. We had a pub lunch afterwards at the Golden Pheasant in Plumley - a small village nearby with a function room that lead out into a nice garden and play area where we were able to take some photos after the meal. So lucky with the weather too.

Space Age Chicken

Hot off the press! A slim volume of my collages that people have been asking me for over the years. Thames & Hudson etc. weren't too keen so in the spirit of DIY I've had to go elsewhere. You can find it via the HP button in the side panel. Other news is it's still raining but the sun did shine long enough yesterday for a walk to nearby fishing ponds where we sat admiring the dragonflies and the scudding white fluffy clouds in a bright blue sky. The lane was relatively free of rubbish so not much to pick up on the way home. The hedgerows have grown amazingly though after all the wet stuff so imagine a lot of rubbish has been obscured by grass and foliage!

More Wobbling Daffodils!

Updated video of Archie's amazing machine he made from recycled biscuit tins etc.

Happy Birthday To Me!

65th year on the planet. Who'd have thunk it? Will be nice to get a pension at last after all my hard work - ha ha! Archie going to college will make it even more useful! Lots of nice presents including a new Panasonic Lumix SZ1 camera from Hazel which I have been playing with- trying to figure out all the settings. Here's one I took at the Salt Barge beer garden where we went for an evening meal of vege burger, salad and chips. A huge plateful - couldn't eat it all. Delicious Tatton Ale too. Yum! In the morning I walked into town to take some photos of the gargoyles and other buildings of Northwich, some of which look very old but in fact are quite recent comparatively speaking. These carvings are all covered in netting to keep off the pigeons which spoils them a bit but I suppose is a necessary evil. Archie made me this lovely birthday card.

New Collaborative Online Book.

Just one of the many collaged pages from a new collaborative bookwork with Norman Conquest of Beuyscouts Of Amerika fame. Get it FREE HERE.

Michelle & John's Wedding

Nice weekend in Chatham Kent courtesy of Michelle and John Delamare-Timms who got wed in the Commissioner's House in the Historic Dockyard. The journey down was a bit fraught as first the trains were cancelled at Hartford so we had to go home again and phone for a taxi. None available but luckily our kindly old retired taxi driver Roy came out of retirement briefly to give us a lift to Crewe. What a lovely man. Just in time to get the 11-10am train to Euston. Then a short walk to St. Pancras which is a nightmare. No signs and nobody to ask for directions- how foreigners cope is beyond me! So eventually found the right platform and the train to Chatham. Walked round Chatham for a bit. Bigger than we thought. They even have a Primark and THREE pound shops! Then a taxi to the Historic Dockyard and the hotel. Had a wander round the boats, ships, submarines and cranes etc. (photos on Flickr). Found out later we should have paid £45 for a family ticket! (We tried creeping in the back way the next day but got spotted by a tubby security bloke who told us to wait until the wedding, then we would be allowed in. Nice to see everyone at the wedding he following afternoon. I don't have much chance to meet up with my family so a rare happening. The short Flip "Magic" mix film gives you some flavour of the afternoon and evening. I even had a slow waltz ( or was it a foxtrot?) with Hazel and managed to avoid most of her toes! The next day we woke bleary eyed as we didn't get much sleep due to ranting couple in the room above ( or was it outside?) I should have recorded it all. I'm sure Harold Pinter could have worked it into a fine script! Got taxi to station and then to Brighton via Victoria which was a mistake - nevermind. Dragged ourselves round the degree shows for two hours - saw lots of nude cyclists zoom by the art school and then went home. Audrey picked us up from Hartford station which was working this time thankfully. Still in recovery mode.

Daffodil Wobbling Machine

Sneak preview of mad machine that Archie made for his final piece at his art foundation course at Mid Cheshire College. Daffodils made from recycled biscuit and choc tins. Powered by electric drill with simple cam attached. He's going to make a better film once it is installed properly with a white background and no extractor fan noise.

Tatton Biennial

Lucky enough to sneak into the PV of the Tatton Biennial Sculpture exhibition in the grounds and gardens of Tatton Park. We got there early so were able to eat some nibbles and have a drink before wandering around the gardens looking at the excellent work.

Many of Hazel's ex-students and students were involved in some way. All based on the theme of "Flight" there were the obvious aeroplanes and UFOs and less obvious inflated winged heads and Barbara Cartland's glider.

We missed all the boring speeches and got back in time to look around the Mansion house at the smaller works dotted around amongst the plush surroundings.

Barb & Des Visit

My lovely sister Barb and lovely other half Des came up to visit yesterday on their way to the Lakes for a holiday. Luckliy the weather has improved a bit so we were able to go out for a walk around Marbury Country Park and squelch along the muddy paths to see the bluebells. The woods were a little dull and not the intense bright blue one expects - probably a bit early for them in all their glory plus the sun had gone in!

We went into town afterwards to wander around the Continental Market which had popped up unexpected. So Hazel bought some odd looking cheeses and chutney for later and Des bought some brioche and tasty sunflower seed bread to have with the lasagne I made later.

Then to Doreen (Granma) and Audrey's for tea and cake. We inspected the new recycling bin system and wondered why somebody would run off with their front gate? Nobody had ofcourse - it was just a trick of the light.

New Mail For Old

Good news is that Archie did get into Brighton so we celebrated by having extra helping of Marmite gravy on our Quorn roast- hooray!
Been sorting through lots of old photos and mail art trying to find things suitable for the Southend Art School group on Facebook. Added a few things including old Beecroft gallery catalogues and snaps that have seen better days. Blimey they look pre-war some of these! The envelope above is one Hazel sent me when we were courting back inn the 80's. I sent it to her first and she added to it and sent it back in the usual mail arty fashion.
Good to see old art school chums like Fred Eve, Barry Wenden, Dick Woods and Russ Colombo popping up to wallow in nostalgia at the SSA group. Also go a nice email from Derek Ellard who now lives in Australia.

Brighton

We went to Brighton on the train last week. Archie had an interview at the Art School Sculpture Dept. so we went along to help carry his stuff and keep him company. A chance for three days by the sea and to look around although we'd been before many times when we lived in London- for day trips. The train journey was really quite quick considering and we were in Brighton in 4 hours and that's with a hellish tube journey on the Victoria line which is very crowded , even in the middle of the afternoon! Coming back it was even worse!
Anyway, that bit over with we eventually found our B&B which was very nice and called Paskins Town House - highly reccomended despite all the stairs to the third floor. We could even see the sea if we balanced in the window sill and craned our necks! Delicious vege and even vegan breakfasts if you wanted them. We went to the beach and piled up pebbles and then walked to Hove where Jilly & Roger live to have dinner and look round their new flat. Yum! Delicious aubergine bake and salad and wine that we bought in a nearby shop. Roger read some of his poems and Archie attempted to tune the ukulele without much success. We got the bus back to the B&B as it was quite a long walk and our little legs were worn to a frazzle already.
More walking the next day- all round the Lanes and then back to the B&B to get Archie's folders and sculpture to lug back to the art school which was near the Pavilion. It all seemed to go well and they even bought some of his Knob Bags. Fingers crossed!
The weather was really amazing for March - it felt more like July! Got sun burnt and more achey from walking along the prom several times- listing to live bands and people watching. Took loads of photos but only two here. More at Flickr.
Delicious fish and chips at renowned Italian restuarant towards Hove in the evening- sat outside to watch the sun set.

Southend Art School 1966/7

A few faces here that I remember from my art school days. Just found this on the Southend Art School FB page. Lots of interesting photos on there including some from me if I get around to it. Most of them are from after 1967 so don't recognise many people in the years Ken Bottom took over as principal. Not sure when this function was or where it was? One I missed obviously.

Curios Radio 2

Open publication - Free publishing - More collage

Modern Vintage Illustration

Books are like buses - none come along for ages and then two at once! This time it's "Modern Vintage Illustration" by Martin Dawber - due out this year he tells me. I have a couple of collage works in it. This year seems very lucky for me so far - let's hope it continues!

Artists' Postcards Book

Jeremy Cooper's fabulous book artist's postcards turned up today which has several of mine scattered through it , all in glorious colour. Some of the text is slightly off and the index misses a couple of pages but otherwise I am thrilled. I am in good company as many of my old mail art chums are represented including Anna Banana, Mark Pawson, Nigel Bents, Robin Crozier etc. and a good range from Fluxus to Brit Art and beyond. Good to see Angelica from Scrapatorium and Flickr in there too.

More details HERE

Buy at Amazon.

Collaborative Flyers 1985

Open publication - Free publishing - More collage

Knutsford

Nice walk around Knutsford this morning to see a few charity shops and mooch round the graveyard. Amazing to see the path made from old grave stones and this huge wall made of grave stones. The coffee morning was interesting too we saw advertised - a white elephant stall, home made chutneys and jams, cakes and a book stall. Hazel bought two knitted outfits with hair and eyes for Cadburys creme eggs. I found a DVD of a French film about a ventriloquist with Eric Von Stroheim. Also got a small picture frame from another charity shop. Sadly the Oxfam was closed for refurbishment. Popped in to see Hazel's Mom and sister afterwards at Lostock - saw some Spring lambs on the way.

More Shopping

We don't often buy furniture, infact hardly ever as we have no room for it and we aquired most of our wonky chairs and tables from other people over the years. But Hazel spotted a lovely old oak tambour in the antique place near us recently and she had to have it.When she knocked the price down and said I could use it for my spare DVD's it then became more of a required item. Later we discovered they are quite pricey going for 300 quid or more so ours seemed quite cheap by comparison and it certainly looks the part - goes where the chair used as a coffee table used to be in the front room. Just the right height for a cuppa and glasses and oofa-doofahs fit on top very nicely thankyou. Oofa-doofahs in case you were wondering are Granma and Auntie Audreys name for the remote controls! Also in the antique place I found a clockwork Grinning Gorilla and some postcards. It was like Xmas all over again. More like a post Valentines treat what with the egg on toast and side order of chips in the cafe. Yum!

Petite Pierre

One of those little joys of a film that we managed to capture on the old VHS machine many years ago and have looked for a better copy but never seen one until now. Not sure this IS better but its slightly longer than the copy we have I think. Emmanual Clot who directed it does a wonderful job with the atmosphere, editing and the music.
Short films don't get any better than this!

When Pierre dies his creation was neglected and vandalised but thankfully it has been moved to a Outsider Art Museum called Fantabulosa? Kenneth Williams used to love it there.

Murry Krishmush!

Open publication - Free publishing - More catalog

More nonsense from the past. A small publication I churned out every festive season for friends and family based on those annoying little mags that drop out of the radio Times and Sunday papers when you least expect it.

Peace In The World Or The World In Pieces 1984

Open publication - Free publishing - More 1984

I have been having fun trying to figure out how to transfer old 'zines and catalogues to Issuu - a site for publishing online documents of all kinds. The pdf files give me a lot of trouble - also working with Word which refuses to do anything I want it to! How do I get rid of those big borders round the edges of pages for a start? Ill figure it out eventually I expect after tearing my hair out and ranting at the PC screen for hours!

I proposed the idea of a mini mail art show on an 8 foot long pinboard for the Whitechapel Open back in 1984 and to my amazement I was accepted and the board with help from my old chum Dick Turpin was duly installed in the warehouse the Whitechapel was using that year to show the work as the main gallery was closed for some reason. I didn't have a grant of any kind to had to bare the expense of materials and postage myself which wasn't easy on the dole!
The invites sent out I waited for all the mail on the theme of war and peace (or 1984 ) to come rolling in - which it did and during the exhibition , which was about a month long, I religiously took the daily mail along to the exhibition space to pin the participants work up onto the board. You can read inside the catalogue just how many and from which countries etc.

Dick's cousin or Uncle , I forget which, kindly donated the catalogue, which was litho printed in the East End of London or Barking? Anyway, totally over ambitious and a big headache at the time but I look back with fond memories of putting it all together and as I leaf through this slim volume I wonder what happened to all these people I used to correspond with?

Dad's Army Art School

Had a strange dream last night which centred around the old Southend Art School but all the tutors places were taken by the cast of Dad's Army! Arthur Lowe was teaching lithography and a squirted water in his face squeezing a sponge as I mopped the litho plate ( this did actually happen! ) and hilarity ensued. Captain Mainwairing called me a "Stupid boy!"
Leo Hardy's ( the principal) was played by Godfrey. he just stayed in his office all the time and poked his head out of the door occasionally to say "O dear!" and pop back in again.
Pike was teaching life class and getting very embarrassed and calling for Uncle Arthur who was the ceramics tutor I think. It all gets a bit confused and fuzzy.

The collage above is the card I made for Archie to celebrate the confirmation of his dyslexia. He's been having an ongoing test at college and at last he's found out what we all knew all along but his High School and 6th Form college failed to spot or even acknowledge! Thankfully the folks at Mid Cheshire take it more seriously. Its good to know he'll get some extra help whilst at Uni. and a free laptop and printer!

Curios Thing Compendium

Open publication - Free publishing - More collage

Poop Poopy Doo

Another week whizzed by or maybe two. My resolution to make one collage a day is going well. This is the latest for the Kollage Kit theme of Tigers, Lions and Bears. Do bears sit in the woods? Also completed a flick book for a project in Holland. I don't usually bother with mail art projects these days but this one caught my eye - in a few ways. Luckily a had a small book of receipts that was ideal. I traced some old zoetrope illustrations from a children's book and repeated them a few times. Simple but effective. I'll see if I can film it with the Flip camera.

No boots this weekend or any walks as the weather was a bit iffy.
Today I walked into town and back. Very mild for January so surprised to find a squashed snowball on the way - maybe thrown from Norway by a troll? Bargains of the day were two tiny memory sticks from the Isle Of Man for a quid each in the Red Cross Shop. They had details of some conference or other and lots of photos of the island and hotels etc which I deleted. Also got some films including Red Dwarf series 3, The Jolson Story and The Day Today - Series One. No sooner have I made lots of space on my shelves than I begin to fill them up again!

Welcome to 2012

Blimey- it's windy out there - a gust caught my shopping bag whilst I was trying to stick a stamp on a letter by the postbox and tipped most of the contents out onto the street where they blew in all directions! Arrgh! Mad scramble for the precious things of the bag- namely letters, bus pass and library card. Lost a few receipts and bus tickets but they don't matter too much - they must be halfway to Chester by now!

That's Xmas and New year's Eve over for another year. Back to normal now with all the decorations and cards taken down and that feeling of living inside Miss Haversham's shed elimenated.

Also had a nice walk around Shakerley the other morning to see the ducks and other bird life on the lake. No ice this year but a bitter cold wind blowing so we didn't stay long.
My only NY Resolution is to produce at least one collage a day no matter how small or ill conceived it might be. Day two and two in the bag ( folder ) so on course so far - so good.

Another walk involved taking out lots of plastic carrier bags and filling them with the roadside detritus that the council doesn't pick up for some reason. We felt good about ourselves being so community spirited despite the odd looks from passing motorists who were probably responsible in the first place!

Merry Crumble!

Here we are gathered round the festive twig. Had a nice day out yesterday in Liverpool despite the gloomy weather. Good to see the Alice In Wonderland exhibition at the Tate although we felt it could have been a bit more fun - for the kids. A nice maze or a Mad Hatter's Tea Party or something. It was all a bit too serious and celebral despite the inclusion of Bill Woodrow and Peter Blake. Lots of stuff that really shouldn't have been in it. Also popped in the Walker to see the Matisse books but as Hazel said the gallery lacked that spark - felt a bit isolated and empty. Some terrible pretentious twaddle on at the other gallery I always forget the name of. No festive joy there. We had lunch in the Hole In The Wall which was a mistake as it was very busy and we waited ages for our egg on toast which turned out to be an egg toasted sandwich with a side salad. Which we didnt mind too much as it turned out cheaper. A lot of noise though from rowdy diners.

Didn't do much shopping as it was so incredibly crowded with queues forming outside some trinket shops - so obvious still lots of money about.
Popped into the Oxfam and the Comic shop and found some books we liked but not the price. I've done most of my Xmas shopping anyway. Just some chestnuts and puff pastry to get and we shall be almost there!

Psycerbolics

A blast from Christmas pasts here , 1968/9 maybe , under the influence of something I'm sure though probably nothing more than Thrimpton's Old Perculier.

My earliest memory of Xmas was going to a big department store in London and having a ride of Santa's submarine to his fishy smelling grotto under the North Pole. Elves with fins and flippers? I can't quite remember that clearly but seem to remember the fishes and penguins swimming magically past the port holes ( canvas strips on pulleys being cranked along ) as we chugged along and then lead out through another door to where a red coated plump Neptune of a Santa was waiting to ho ho ho and give out presents. It may have been a tin of water colour paints in the gaily wrapped parcel or that may have been another time.

Another vivid memory must have been around Xmas time - a snowball fight in Corringham in Essex where we lived just after we moved from London. It was a pokey first floor flat in a row of delapidated houses. We accessed our flat up some rickety wooden stairs to a balcony and the kitchen door. A tin bath hung on the wall outside. Gas mantles and the radio worked with a big car battery on the side board. Anyway, I was throwing snowballs down from the balcony to passing urchins and they in turn threw them back. I had not realised the door to the flat was open and snowballs that missed me found their way into the kitchen and made quite a mess. Mum wasn't very pleased when she found them half melted on the lino floor.

Who Ate All The Pies?

Weird dream just before I woke up about finding collaged soggy boxes of old gramophone needles in a fly tipping area by a bus stop. I was telling the people at the bus stop how awful all this fly tipping was and secretly thinking " heh heh, I have the gramophone needles though". The collages on the boxes were old ladies cooking pies but they were infact all mechanical inside like robots seen in section.

I looked through my collage archive on Flickr and found this one I did a few years ago. It's about the nearest the dream gets though pretty sure the collages in the dream were in black and white.

Weekend Trunk Calls

Not a particularly busy weekend though we did manage to sort out the Xmas card photo - dressed up in our silliest festive jumpers and hats we posed around the the festive twig with dangly pine cones that Archie made copying the illustration in the Ladybird Book of Things To Make. Going to get 100 printed today and make up the cards over the next week or so. I bet you can't wait!

Also the boot sales. The one at Witton was a bit of a disaster due to the inclement weather. Only three stalls outside and three inside. Luckily the i-Insect lady was there so bought two off her. Hazel bought some last week and I was keen to get some of my own. Trumpety trump!

Archie bought a huge bag of old Ultimate Real Robot magazines with attached bits of cyborg to make for a quid. The lady selling them said 50p first of all but Archie thought this too cheap and doubled it. When he got home however he realised 50p was too expensive for the pile of mouldy smelly crap he had bought in the dim light of the shipping container that served as a stall. He threw most of it in the bin!

The one at Antrobus was a lot busier but a quid to get in which was a bit steep. They even had a few stalls outside. I bought two old steam train books and a DVd of "Spiral Staircase" " a Hitchcockian thriller". Hazel got loads of stuff from the 20p stall including a lovely old 1937 copy of the Radio Times with extra Coronation of King George 6th colour supplement. Worth it alone for the amusing adverts for sheds, dog food and Liver Pills. Also a King George 6th glass fruit bowl, a potty, a set of cutlery and all manner of other tat.

Nuclear Family

Havent really done all that much of note lately but a quick update. New blog seems to be faltering slightly with me the only one adding to it. I thought it was a good theme too - Family. This is one I did which seems to have gleaned lots of comments on Flickr. Strangely other collages which I consider much more accomplished have been ignored completely. Again I seem to be at odds with the world around me! Nevermind - it helps me focus on my collage work which was the main reason for starting a new blog in the first place.

Besides the alternate daily shopping trips and healthy walks we have been to the boot sales which continue despite the Winter weather. The one at Witton, although small, comes up with bargains week after week. Last week I got a huge bag of stuff mainly because it was so cheap - DVD's , CD's and books. More stocking fillers. Hazel found some great creepy crawly i-insects which run on tiny batteries and whizz about looking very authentic. Only a quid each and in the shops they are sometimes as much as six quids!

They still keep trying to get planning permission for the land at the end of our garden which is annoying. They have been turned down several times already so hopefully they will be again though in the current climate one wonders.

Hazel has been poorly with a nasty sore throat and laryngitus so off work for a week. Amazingly I havent caught it ( touch wood ) but Archie had a mild dose of it but cleared up pretty quickly.

Keep taking the tablets!

Will & Adela's Wedding & Guy Pile

Here's the first guy pile with the one I made at the front. There's a better photo of me dancing with it that Hazel took but seems to be horizontal and no idea how blogger can twist it round.

A lovely time was had by all needless to say though we did feel a bit like gate crashers as we didnt know anybody- only Will & Adela. The disco wasa bit loud ( showing my age here! ) so glad when it stopped and the guys were called for and we danced around for the judges. Needless to say we didn't win any prizes - some amazing elaborate ones had been created.
Here's the lovely bride and groom singing a heart warming duet by two pink piggy cakes . No fireworks though but some cows looking over a fence and lots of kids running around high on icing sugar and pop I imagine! Coincidentally it was our anniversary so an interesting way to celebrate it. Now we shall never forget Will & Adela's as it's the same day as ours and the Bonfire Night which in itself is a massive clue and sticks out like a sparkly rocket on the calender.
Outside the Hotel in deepest Cheshire the guys are piled up before the big dance off. That's not Nick Clegg at the front next to Cow Guy.

PS. We had to take our guy home and rather than burn him we took his papier mache head off and put it on a shelf in the front room so now he looks down at us while we watch telly.

We labouriously unscrewed the balls of newspaper inside used as stuffing and flattened them ALL out again for putting in the recycling bag. The clothes and slippers are going to Oxfam.

28th Anniversary

Hard to believe that Hazel and I have been together for 28 years now. It don't seem a day too much as old Peter Sellers used to sing to his Old Dutch. Hazel gave me this lovely old variety bill she found in a charity shop today and a nice little tin lady robot with saucepan lid bosoms.

I made her the card below. There are kisses on the bottom but they missed being scanned.

We off out later to a hog roast and disco to celebrate Will and Adela's marriage so that should be fun especially the home made guy fawkes competition. Our guy has been falolloping about in the back room for ages now and itching to get out there and strut his funky stuff! More photos soon!

Library Sale

This spell of warm weather has made all the little flies appear again. One is just flitting around in front of the computer monitor making "V" signs at me - that's what it feels like anyway - buzz OFF!

Some more catching up to do -

Tony and Penny came over to join us at the Crafts Centre near Tarporley last week. They hadnt been before so we showed them the delights of the candle shop, ye olde wishing well, pet shop aquariums etc. Hazel was busy so she just stayed for lunch in the cafe and then went home to do college work. We also looked round the antique emporium and bought some postcards.

Two boot sales on Sunday at Hartford business park and Witton Albion. Got a few films including High Fidelity and Woodstock (directors cut). Archie got a few things including some nice Ladybird books and a dial and a light switch. Hazel got a few bits of crockery and other bits and bobs that will no doubt turn up on her collections blog shortly.

Archie is making a stop motion animation with his friend Hannah upstairs . We watched the rushes of the first one the other day and it looked hilarious , even without a soundtrack.

Nice that he has found some creative arty friends at the new college he goes to.

More bargains at the library sale today including a nice book about Signwritten Art with lovely old shop fronts in. The other day I found some DVD's for a quid including Gainsbourg about Serge that looks interesting though not too keen on his music. Also a triple CD of Island label stuff from the 60's and early 70's. Nice to hear Dr. Strangley Strange again!

More Postcards From Home

A little behind in our orders - said the shop keeper to the boy sitting on the bacon slicer. Those were the old days ofcourse when they HAD bacon slicers on the counter in corner shops. Like the one Mrs. Turpin had down Hamlet Court Road in Westcliff - not far from where this picture postcard was took (See bottom card ). My mother lived nearby also for a few years - two roads back in Second Avenue.
This and few more postcards were purchased recently from the antique emporium avec le Crafts Centre which I can never remember the name of. Anyway, we always like a to buy a few and sometimes a nick nack or two if the price is right. We are spoiled rather by charity shop and boot sale prices so anything over a pound sounds extortionate!

This one was from the Oxfam . I collaged it afterwards for the Flickr group "Post Collage". Funnily enough found some of my own postcards there last week too. So did Archie's friend Hannah who knows a bargain when she sees one. She asked Archie " What's your Dad's name?" and when he told her she told him about the postcards she'd found and was keen then to see the original collages. So that was strange. I found out a few more to give her. I still have tons of "The Arses of England" somewhere but they have been buried in a cupboard or the shed or somewhere I expect.

Anyroad. Catching up with the news. Had a proper haircut. Won't need it doing until Xmas! Hooray! Will and Adela came over for dinner. They told us all about their wedding preparations and the Bear festival thingy at Brereton ( this Saturday ). Also saw them in the Cheshire Open Studios last Sunday which was fun. We bought one of Adela's lovely etchings and watched Will chase a fly with a giant wooden fork.

Went to the "Stuff A Bag For A Pound" sale at the Age shop. Got all kinds of junk - they really shouldn't let us in those places!
making a guy for Will and Adela's welding celebrations. They won't tell us what it's for but not to burn they said. So making an effort to make mine as interesting as possible. He has a papier mache head now and ready for painting.
Also compiled and sent of the Issue 22 artist book assemblings which have haunted me for the past few months. Glad to get shot of them! I sewed all the spines in the end which was a right palarva! Never again!

Went to Imperial Wart Museum North with Hazel and some of her 1st years who all seemed very nice. Took a lot of photos which you can find on Flickr. Also saw the small Andy Warhol exhibit of "Divas" which was ok but seen it all before really. Got the tram back to Piccadilly and the train home.

Hazel's old school chums Tracey and Mark came over via Manchester to take their daughter Daisy back to college. They live down in Cheltenham I think? Had tea and cake and nice chat - showed them round the house as they had never seen it before.

Phew! it's been very warm lately - a real Indian Summer which is nice though a bit too hot at times. Poor confused plants and trees think it's spring and started flowering again!
Its a bit cooler today thankfully and more like Autumn.
Went on a nice walk with Hazel to Anderton via Carey Park ( see Flickr ) and had coffee and shared cream scone in the cafe overlooking the River Weaver. Saw lots of strange sights including a book shop narrowboat pitched on the tow path, a boat that sold coal, oil and kindling, a baby toad and poor lost baby swan.

Andy Plant

Fascinating film about automata maker Andy Plant.

Where The Knuts Come From

Went to a big boot sale in Knutsford today on the Heath. A Fun Day in aid of the Scouts and Guides I think. No second hand woggles or knotting badges to be seen though. The sun was shining so a good turn out. Organised parking which is awalys good though the chap next to us left his driver's door open. We kindly closed it for him incase he really had wandered off distracted by the thought of bargains!
I didnt get much really considering the many stalls. Nice to find some buff card wallets that will be good for the assembling book covers I am making at the moment. 14 people have promised to take part but only 4 have sent pages so far which is fine by me. I would quite like a copy myself and if 14 people send pages I would have to go without a copy! Serves me right for not getting my sums correct.
Also got two DVD's of films that are unknown to me - I Love You Philip Morris ( with Jim Carey) and J'taime Paris by work by 20 directors all submitting 5 minute love stories set in Paris.
Hazel got a nice old air raid wardens bicycle lamp which was made it illuminate your front tyre and little else (whoever she might be?). Also a new dial for Archie's dial collection. He got some rubbish trucks so he was happy. Dustbin lorries rather than trucks that are rubbish!
The postcards here are from our jaunt to the antique place near us the other day.

CARTOONIST AT HOME - British Pathe

CARTOONIST AT HOME - British Pathe