Here on Paradise Island it's that time of year when everything is either falling or about to fall.
That goes for leaves on trees, of course. A leaf each second so is flung at will,
Here, there, another and another, still and still.
And trees themselves are falling.
Eddie, my Inner Editor: This tree has fallen onto a bench. I'd have thought you'd notice that.
Hello, Eddie. I did notice but I didn't feel the need to comment.
Eddie, who just happens to be a primate: I'm going to be the editor of this post so here is a picture of me.
Eddie, please don't start your monkey business. I am trying to establish a story about autumn here. Or Fall, as some people call it.
Eddie: Here is a giant monkey falling off a bench.
Eddie: It's made from ten thousand pairs of flipflops sewn together.
Yes, the artist is Florentijn Hofman and the Fat Monkey was made in a park in Brazil in 2010.
But please don't start with the primates.
Eddie: Ok then, here is a flowerpot person sitting on an autumnal bench.
Tamsin, a sweet local girl: Ohhhhh, I loooooooove this! It reminds me of Bill and Ben the Flowerpot men.
I'm not quite sure how this is relevant but it is the time of year when we start bringing in the pots and lifting the bulbs.
Tamsin: And lifting the logs.
Eddie: And benching the logs, of course.
My husband, His Excellency: I can see where this is going already. You mention logs and benches . . .
Yes.
His Excellency: And then you're going to say how there is often little difference between a log and a bench . . .
True enough.
His Excellency: And then you'll point out how last year, by extreme misfortune, I accidentally cut up a very valuable log bench.
Eddie: It cost twenty thousand pounds. Not that I'm counting.
His Excellency: It could have happened to anyone.
Eddie: Were you drinking tequila by any chance?
Tamsin: I can't drink tequila. It has a strange effect on me.
Flowerpots, logs, tequila. Can we get back to the subject of Fall now please?
Tamsin: Yes. That's what I mean.
Thank you, Tamsin. And speaking of clothes, it's a time of year for benches to get fully dressed.
Some people are already keeping warm.
Troy is looking quite autumnal these days too. He's wrapped up in stylish, colourful wool.
And so are the benches.
Yarn bomb guerillas the world over work hard to keep benches woolly warm.
Eddie: Isn't this an urban thing?
I suppose it is, mostly. Why do you ask?
Eddie: No reason.
Here in Fribble-under-Par Miggy's mum makes covers for benches . . .
. . . but she would like to make it clear that benches should be brought in for winter; they should not be left out to suffer the cold.
It's also time to bring in the harvest.
Eddie: Yes, we've had a happy harvest this year.
In my garden here at La Casa Perfecta it was agrate great year for deviant carrots.
Ockie the Octopus Girl enjoyed a visit from her sister and her mum.
Tamsin: I can see the family resemblance.
Apparently Ockie's shapely sister made quite an impression on Colonel Maize.
Tamsin: Golly, she doesn't seem to be wearing much.
Not like me, all wrapped up in my wool dress from Ballyfrumpy in Ireland.
His Excellency: I notice that Innocent isn't wrapped up yet though.
This is her Corn Husk dress, designed by Studio Joop in Holland for his autumn collection.
Eddie: I guess Joop isn't bothered about keeping his models warm.
Tamsin: I think he has other ways of doing that.
Enough fashion talk. Back to Fall.
It's Fall in Germany right now. Or Herbst, as they call it.
It's Fall in Canada, otherwise known as automne.
The maple syrup leaves are falling all around the benches.
And it's Fall in Japan where the benches are covered in stars.
Tamsin: And it's autumn in New Zealand.
No, it's not. For reasons that I'm not going to explain to you, Tamsin. It's waayyyyyy too complicated.
Eddie: I hope you're not going to go all around the world showing pictures of fallen leaves.
His Excellency: That would cause your readers to drop off.
I don't want people to fall asleep. I just want to point out that this time of year a lot of things are falling.
What, like waterfalls?
Yes. And angels.
And pianos.
Tamsin: And nerds.
Nerds? On a bench?
Tamsin: Yes, if you're sitting on a bench at the wrong time . . .
His Excellency: The girl looks rather pleased about it.
Tamsin: I fell in love on a bench once.
It's easily done. Benches are just the right place to fall in love. Or les amourex des banc publics, as they say in France.
Tamsin: This is Ockie's sister and her boyfriend wearing matching outfits. They look sooooooo cute!
His Excellency: Hmmmm. As far as Ockie's sister is concerned, I think Kernel Maize has roasted his cobs.
Nerds, pianos, cobs. This story is falling apart.
Eddie: I could show you some monkeys on a log bench.
What part of NO MONKEYS don't you understand, Eddie?
Eddie: OK, then I'm going to restore some equilibrium.
Wow! What a beautiful bench picture!
His Excellency: Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
It's from Finland, where people are sensible and take a balanced view of things.
Tamsin: So you wouldn't get benches falling over in Finland?
Eddie: It's unlikely. Unless the bench is overcrowded.
Eddie, I'm warning you: NO MONKEYS. Not even sock monkeys.
And this is no idle threat.
Eddie: Have it your way then. Here is a picture of some fallen benches.
His Excellency: Looks like they've fallen from grace.
Yes. Everywhere there is a danger of falling.
Good thing this picnic bench in Japan has a ban on use.
Tamsin: Those Bench Monday people on Flickr are always standing on things.They're in danger of falling every Bench Monday.
His Excellency: Yes, and apart from the safety issue, standing on benches is anti-social.
Eddie: Maybe Bench Monday will be banned?
Tamsin: Or maybe they could just honk if something falls off?
Good idea, Tamsin.
So. It's Fall here on Paradise Island and there are lots of things falling.
Eddie: This is getting dull. Let's take a different path.
That goes for leaves on trees, of course. A leaf each second so is flung at will,
Here, there, another and another, still and still.
 |
And trees themselves are falling.
 |
Eddie, my Inner Editor: This tree has fallen onto a bench. I'd have thought you'd notice that.
Hello, Eddie. I did notice but I didn't feel the need to comment.
Eddie, who just happens to be a primate: I'm going to be the editor of this post so here is a picture of me.
Eddie, please don't start your monkey business. I am trying to establish a story about autumn here. Or Fall, as some people call it.
Eddie: Here is a giant monkey falling off a bench.
 |
| http://www.florentijnhofman.nl/dev/projects.php |
Eddie: It's made from ten thousand pairs of flipflops sewn together.
 |
| http://www.florentijnhofman.nl/dev/projects.php |
Yes, the artist is Florentijn Hofman and the Fat Monkey was made in a park in Brazil in 2010.
But please don't start with the primates.
Eddie: Ok then, here is a flowerpot person sitting on an autumnal bench.
 |
Tamsin, a sweet local girl: Ohhhhh, I loooooooove this! It reminds me of Bill and Ben the Flowerpot men.
I'm not quite sure how this is relevant but it is the time of year when we start bringing in the pots and lifting the bulbs.
Tamsin: And lifting the logs.
 |
Eddie: And benching the logs, of course.
 |
My husband, His Excellency: I can see where this is going already. You mention logs and benches . . .
 |
| https://www.flickr.com/photos/isg-online/6613027597 |
His Excellency: And then you're going to say how there is often little difference between a log and a bench . . .
 |
| http://www.flickr.com/photos/caribb/ |
True enough.
His Excellency: And then you'll point out how last year, by extreme misfortune, I accidentally cut up a very valuable log bench.
.jpg) |
Eddie: It cost twenty thousand pounds. Not that I'm counting.
His Excellency: It could have happened to anyone.
Eddie: Were you drinking tequila by any chance?
Tamsin: I can't drink tequila. It has a strange effect on me.
Flowerpots, logs, tequila. Can we get back to the subject of Fall now please?
Tamsin: Yes. That's what I mean.
 |
| www.etsy.com/shop/neverdyingpoet |
Thank you, Tamsin. And speaking of clothes, it's a time of year for benches to get fully dressed.
 |
| https://www.flickr.com/photos/85264217@N04/9668029272/ |
Some people are already keeping warm.
 |
Troy is looking quite autumnal these days too. He's wrapped up in stylish, colourful wool.
And so are the benches.
 |
| https://www.flickr.com/photos/29694534@N03/8072891095 |
 |
| https://www.flickr.com/photos/isg-online/14540963721 |
Yarn bomb guerillas the world over work hard to keep benches woolly warm.
 |
| https://www.flickr.com/photos/malisia/5595328006 |
Eddie: Isn't this an urban thing?
I suppose it is, mostly. Why do you ask?
Eddie: No reason.
 |
| www.etsy.com/shop/hayagold |
Here in Fribble-under-Par Miggy's mum makes covers for benches . . .
. . . but she would like to make it clear that benches should be brought in for winter; they should not be left out to suffer the cold.
It's also time to bring in the harvest.
 |
Eddie: Yes, we've had a happy harvest this year.
 |
| www.etsy.com/shop/outbackinthebarn |
In my garden here at La Casa Perfecta it was a
Ockie the Octopus Girl enjoyed a visit from her sister and her mum.
Tamsin: I can see the family resemblance.
Apparently Ockie's shapely sister made quite an impression on Colonel Maize.
Tamsin: Golly, she doesn't seem to be wearing much.
Not like me, all wrapped up in my wool dress from Ballyfrumpy in Ireland.
His Excellency: I notice that Innocent isn't wrapped up yet though.
This is her Corn Husk dress, designed by Studio Joop in Holland for his autumn collection.
Eddie: I guess Joop isn't bothered about keeping his models warm.
Tamsin: I think he has other ways of doing that.
Enough fashion talk. Back to Fall.
It's Fall in Germany right now. Or Herbst, as they call it.
 |
It's Fall in Canada, otherwise known as automne.
 |
The maple syrup leaves are falling all around the benches.
And it's Fall in Japan where the benches are covered in stars.
 |
Tamsin: And it's autumn in New Zealand.
No, it's not. For reasons that I'm not going to explain to you, Tamsin. It's waayyyyyy too complicated.
Eddie: I hope you're not going to go all around the world showing pictures of fallen leaves.
His Excellency: That would cause your readers to drop off.
 |
| http://www.flickr.com/photos/fstorr/ |
I don't want people to fall asleep. I just want to point out that this time of year a lot of things are falling.
What, like waterfalls?
.jpg) |
Yes. And angels.
 |
And pianos.
 |
| https://www.flickr.com/photos/lel4nd/3886972174 |
Tamsin: And nerds.
 |
Nerds? On a bench?
Tamsin: Yes, if you're sitting on a bench at the wrong time . . .
His Excellency: The girl looks rather pleased about it.
Tamsin: I fell in love on a bench once.
.jpg) |
It's easily done. Benches are just the right place to fall in love. Or les amourex des banc publics, as they say in France.
Tamsin: This is Ockie's sister and her boyfriend wearing matching outfits. They look sooooooo cute!
His Excellency: Hmmmm. As far as Ockie's sister is concerned, I think Kernel Maize has roasted his cobs.
Nerds, pianos, cobs. This story is falling apart.
What part of NO MONKEYS don't you understand, Eddie?
Eddie: OK, then I'm going to restore some equilibrium.
 |
Wow! What a beautiful bench picture!
His Excellency: Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
It's from Finland, where people are sensible and take a balanced view of things.
Tamsin: So you wouldn't get benches falling over in Finland?
 |
Eddie: It's unlikely. Unless the bench is overcrowded.
 |
| https://www.flickr.com/photos/jek-a-go-go/4223788082 |
Eddie, I'm warning you: NO MONKEYS. Not even sock monkeys.
And this is no idle threat.
Eddie: Have it your way then. Here is a picture of some fallen benches.
 |
His Excellency: Looks like they've fallen from grace.
Yes. Everywhere there is a danger of falling.
 |
Good thing this picnic bench in Japan has a ban on use.
 |
Tamsin: Those Bench Monday people on Flickr are always standing on things.They're in danger of falling every Bench Monday.
 |
His Excellency: Yes, and apart from the safety issue, standing on benches is anti-social.
Eddie: Maybe Bench Monday will be banned?
 |
Tamsin: Or maybe they could just honk if something falls off?
 |
| www.etsy.com/shop/winterparkproducts |
Good idea, Tamsin.
So. It's Fall here on Paradise Island and there are lots of things falling.
Eddie: This is getting dull. Let's take a different path.
 |
| Wood Path in Autumn 1902, Hans Andersen Brendekilde |
We should wrap up this story about autumn and falling.
I think you're right, Eddie. We've got everything covered.
His Excellency: Except poor Innocent. She's still out there shivering in her Corn Husk dress.
I think I'd better take my Bench scarf out to her.
You can't. It's keeping the bench warm.
Eddie: Why don't you start a fire for her?
His Excellency: Yes, I've done that already.
You didn't take a log off that pile by the door did you?
His Excellency: Well, as a matter of fact . . .
Tamsin: It looks like there's a nice blaze going now.
That's the award-winning log bench I just purchased from a designer in Japan!
Eddie: It cost twenty thousand pounds.
His Excellency: I wish they would stop making benches that look like logs.
Tamsin: And logs that look like benches.
Eddie: And monkeys that look like logs.
Tamsin: My new house is made of logs.
Eddie: Mine too, and I'm afraid it might fall into the wrong hands. Not naming any names.
Tamsin: I've heard that people in log houses shouldn't throw matches.
Quite right, Tamsin. And given what we know about His Excellency, I think we have every reason to be afraid.
Credits
Here at Benchsite we've certainly FALLEN for benches. I'm shouting because I want to remind you that October 22nd is Caps Lock Day. Along with National Poetry Day and Columbus Day and Halloween, Caps Lock Day is fast becoming a fixture on the October calendar. And if you've fallen for these log benches, there's a special Christmas yule log post about benches. Also cake. http://benchsite.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/log-benches-just-logs-and-cake.html
Ockie the Octopus Girl is married to Mikey the Little Sailor, who edited the ever-popular World Oceans Day benches in 2013 and the Maritime Boat Benches in 2014.
If you're really keen you can read all about their wedding last summer. Suffice to say, Mikey was attracted to both her marine heritage and her interchangeable limbs. This year Ockie's mum visited and as Tamsin says, you can see the family resemblance. Ockie's sister is one of many deviant carrots which grew in my carrot plot this year at La Casa Perfecta. Yes, I know, I put them too close together but aren't they fabulous?
Kernel Maize is a sweetcorn little fellow who created some corny nice benches last autumn. If he really has fallen for Ockie's curvaceous sister, he's in bad luck because clearly she already has a boyfriend. The anatomically correct pair are from my Deviant Carrot collection, autumn 2014.
For a fabuous film of love on French benches, accompanied by a song by Georges Brassens, see Les Amoureux des Bancs Publics at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eztSYUFUe8I
Evil Erin is a nurse and to be honest, she doesn't look all that evil. She loves her camera (a Nikon D70s), her Flickr Sisters, pancakes, hula hoops, snowboards and summer. Emergency Brake is the name of the photograph with the unstable bench, which Erin photographed for a Bench Monday in 2009.It doesn't look very stable and Erin reports that after the photograph she tumbled into the red bark beneath the bench and got a sliver. Oh dear. How we suffer for art. https://www.flickr.com/photos/evilerin/3484838850
George Redgrave is the cheerful face of Flickr and a committed Bench Monday-er. He's a retired schoolteacher, still waiting to become a grownup sensible sort of chap. On January 28, 2013 (a Bench Monday) he proposed that Bench Mondays be banned on grounds of the anti-social behaviour they encourage. This argument about anti-social behaviour on benches has been thoroughly covered on Benchsite already. You'll notice that in the photo George is standing on a piece of blue plastic, thoughtfully protecting the bench in a very pro-social way. But banning Bench Mondays? What on earth would we do without Bench Mondays?
I think you're right, Eddie. We've got everything covered.
His Excellency: Except poor Innocent. She's still out there shivering in her Corn Husk dress.
I think I'd better take my Bench scarf out to her.
You can't. It's keeping the bench warm.
Eddie: Why don't you start a fire for her?
His Excellency: Yes, I've done that already.
 |
You didn't take a log off that pile by the door did you?
His Excellency: Well, as a matter of fact . . .
Tamsin: It looks like there's a nice blaze going now.
.jpg) |
That's the award-winning log bench I just purchased from a designer in Japan!
Eddie: It cost twenty thousand pounds.
His Excellency: I wish they would stop making benches that look like logs.
.jpg) |
| https://www.flickr.com/photos/easypickle/1300186442 |
Tamsin: And logs that look like benches.
Eddie: And monkeys that look like logs.
 |
Tamsin: My new house is made of logs.
Eddie: Mine too, and I'm afraid it might fall into the wrong hands. Not naming any names.
 |
Tamsin: I've heard that people in log houses shouldn't throw matches.
Quite right, Tamsin. And given what we know about His Excellency, I think we have every reason to be afraid.
.jpg) |
| https://www.flickr.com/photos/beggs/14505392432 |
Credits
Here at Benchsite we've certainly FALLEN for benches. I'm shouting because I want to remind you that October 22nd is Caps Lock Day. Along with National Poetry Day and Columbus Day and Halloween, Caps Lock Day is fast becoming a fixture on the October calendar. And if you've fallen for these log benches, there's a special Christmas yule log post about benches. Also cake. http://benchsite.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/log-benches-just-logs-and-cake.html
The red leaves on a bench were photographed by Jasabout in Seattle in October 2008. https://www.flickr.com/photos/jasabout/2983648538 Jasabout is a pixel puncher and he has some gorgeous landscape photos and a whole album of beautiful autumn leaves.
The lines from the poem are from Thomas Hardy's Last Week in October. Here is the whole verse:
The trees are undressing, and fling in many places -
On the grey road, the roof, the window-sill -
Their radiant robes and ribbons and yellow laces;
A leaf each second so is flung at will,
Here, there, another and another, still and still.
The lines from the poem are from Thomas Hardy's Last Week in October. Here is the whole verse:
The trees are undressing, and fling in many places -
On the grey road, the roof, the window-sill -
Their radiant robes and ribbons and yellow laces;
A leaf each second so is flung at will,
Here, there, another and another, still and still.
The old bench hit by trees and abandoned in the forest was photographed by Patrick in 2006. Patrick lives in Cologne and the forest is in nordrheinwestfalen https://www.flickr.com/photos/lordkhan/285858314 Patrick's other albums cover Stockholm, Berlin, Istanbul and - a real treat for the eye - Ireland.
Eddie is my Inner Editor, who just happens to be a primate. If you've seen much of Benchsite you will know what a problem Eddie is for me. He was born in The Year of the Monkey Bench, which might explain his behaviour. lHe has ruined helped me edit the post about my swimming bench and the Blue Monday benches. He interfered with stepped in to help with the Orange bench mystery. However, he has a habit of setting his own agenda with the benches. Look what a mess he made great job he did on St. George's Day . And as for my Red benches in February? No wonder I was very grateful seeing red. I've had a bit of a break from him as he's been in Mexico for a while. Now he's back and the primate pictures are in danger of overwhelming my stories.
The flipflop Macaco Gordo (Fat Monkey) appeared in last year's Monkey Business on St. George's Day, edited, of course, by Eddie. Fat Monkey is by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, who is well known for his large-scale public art projects. Fat Monkey was made in a park in Sao Paulo Brazil in 2010 by sewing together ten thousand pairs of flipflops http://www.florentijnhofman.nl/dev/projects.php Here is a brilliant short video about the making of the monkey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5FyGf7PCA8&feature=related
Tamsin is a sweet local girl who works here in Fribble-under-Par in the Not Quite Good Enough pharmacy. She has a French fiance, Garcon Orange, and a baby named Isambard Kevin, whose paternal origins are unknown. And she has a rather odd perspective on life, as shown in the post she helped me with about big and small benches. If you think size doesn't matter, you ought to see it.
Tamsin is a sweet local girl who works here in Fribble-under-Par in the Not Quite Good Enough pharmacy. She has a French fiance, Garcon Orange, and a baby named Isambard Kevin, whose paternal origins are unknown. And she has a rather odd perspective on life, as shown in the post she helped me with about big and small benches. If you think size doesn't matter, you ought to see it.
The lovely flowerpot person on a bench was in a park in Lexington, Kentucky in 2006, photographed by Hannah Headley, who is a library assistant at the University of Kentucky. It was a beautiful autumn day and Hannah captured the fall colours and the benches https://www.flickr.com/photos/hannahheadley/288931947
Pararescuemen applicants were bench pressing a wooden log in a mud pit during a screening process held by the Air Force 306th Rescue Squadron in Tucson , Ariz. U.S. U.S.
***Karen's albums are alive with colour. They absolutely dazzle.The blue bench with logs behind it was photographed in November 2009 https://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahbelle1/4096502016 ***Karen's profile says nothing specific about her but its quotations (Kennedy, Vonnegut, Lincoln, Bertrand Russell, Little Richard) say everything.
I have two husbands. One is Mungo, my imaginary husband, who features in lots of other Benchsite stories, but not this one. This one includes His Excellency, who has a reputation for destruction, even when he means well. He's a philosopher and, to say the least, not a very practical person. You can appreciate his difficulties if you know his history. Mungo, on the other hand, keeps a good workbench. Read about both of them at http://benchsite.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/workbench-wonders-two-husbands-lots-of.html
I have two husbands. One is Mungo, my imaginary husband, who features in lots of other Benchsite stories, but not this one. This one includes His Excellency, who has a reputation for destruction, even when he means well. He's a philosopher and, to say the least, not a very practical person. You can appreciate his difficulties if you know his history. Mungo, on the other hand, keeps a good workbench. Read about both of them at http://benchsite.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/workbench-wonders-two-husbands-lots-of.html
Doug lives in Montreal and photographs lovely things in Quebec Quebec
Kevin, aka Idiolector 1.3, photographed Log Wizard, the bench with a chainsaw on it, in 2013. https://www.flickr.com/photos/idiolector/8636742804/ Although I love his photos, especially Street Art and Litteralism, I'm not even going to try summarising Kevin's profile. It involves krypto-pedestrianism and quite a few photos of dog pooh. Here it is:
We love poetry on Benchsite so it's great to see that John Shirley from West Virginia is a Never Dying Poet. www.etsy.com/shop/neverdyingpoet At his Etsy shop he sells original cross stitch designs: bad romance, saucy samplers, glorious geekery - he's got them all, including the tequila sign about clothes falling off. And speaking of tequila, there are lots of fabuloso Mexican benches at http://benchsite.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/a-fiesta-of-mexican-benches.html
Retis is an artistic and performance group in Montréal and they have done a great number of amazing things as public art, including guerilla yarn-bombing benches. The one shown here was done in 2013 in Parc Garneau, Quartier Ville-Émard in Montréal. My French isn't brilliant but as far as I can tell, at this jazzy event, led by artists from the Angora open collective, there was a joyous brouhaha in which 50 bancs in the parc were dressed in 300 sheets of recycled wool. The result is well worth a look. https://www.flickr.com/photos/85264217@N04/9668029272/
Retis is an artistic and performance group in Montréal and they have done a great number of amazing things as public art, including guerilla yarn-bombing benches. The one shown here was done in 2013 in Parc Garneau, Quartier Ville-Émard in Montréal. My French isn't brilliant but as far as I can tell, at this jazzy event, led by artists from the Angora open collective, there was a joyous brouhaha in which 50 bancs in the parc were dressed in 300 sheets of recycled wool. The result is well worth a look. https://www.flickr.com/photos/85264217@N04/9668029272/
The pumpkin head person on a bench in Slindon, West Sussex, is in memory of Daisy and Annie Walmsley. It was photographed by David Edwards, aka Badly Drawn Dad, in 2011 https://www.flickr.com/photos/dhedwards/6283587355 Badly Drawn Dad says he has two lovely grownup (?) children, but he's no more dadly than any other dad. He is badly drawn, though.
Troy is wearing a very comfy sweater which, strangely enough, used to belong to Miggy before she outgrew it. Miggy loaned it to Lady Jessica Brassica during her brief period of fatness in January 2014. Lady Jess was feeling blue at the time and had every reason to devour boxes of Christmas chocolates. Now she's fit again and has enjoyed a Summer of Love with Troy in her beautiful beach hut.
Manda Vixen is a crafty kitten and she loves to make things. Sewing machines, yarn, thread - her photostream is full of crafts. If you look carefully, the back of the bench seat called Popcorn and Flowers spells out Palo Alto Arts Center. The photograph was taken in 2012 at the Palo Alto Community Center. https://www.flickr.com/photos/29694534@N03/8072891095
As far as I can tell, Keepps resides in Switzerland. He or she has a nice array of beautifully photographed benches, including the log bench with the broom, photographed in Gstaad https://www.flickr.com/photos/isg-online/6613027597 The yarn-bombed one is from the Place de la Navigation in Geneva, photographed in June 2014. https://www.flickr.com/photos/isg-online/14540963721 If you're a fan of alpine benches, Mungo and Miggy and I travelled to Switzerland this summer.
Miggy's mum lives here in Fribble-under-Par and occupies various benches in the town and on the beach. This photo is from last year, where she organised Knit Bomb Thursdays so that we covered all the Paradise Island benches just in time for winter. See how we kept them woolly warm.
There are many revolutionary yarn-bombers around the world and Alícia Roselló Gené is a member of the 5th Crochet Guerrilla group. In April 2011 the group went to Plaça Vila de Gracia in Barceona wearing handmade crochet beards and chained themselves with yarn to the bench. As you'd expect, the crochet guerillas are in disguise so we don't know which one
Manda Vixen is a crafty kitten and she loves to make things. Sewing machines, yarn, thread - her photostream is full of crafts. If you look carefully, the back of the bench seat called Popcorn and Flowers spells out Palo Alto Arts Center. The photograph was taken in 2012 at the Palo Alto Community Center. https://www.flickr.com/photos/29694534@N03/8072891095
As far as I can tell, Keepps resides in Switzerland. He or she has a nice array of beautifully photographed benches, including the log bench with the broom, photographed in Gstaad https://www.flickr.com/photos/isg-online/6613027597 The yarn-bombed one is from the Place de la Navigation in Geneva, photographed in June 2014. https://www.flickr.com/photos/isg-online/14540963721 If you're a fan of alpine benches, Mungo and Miggy and I travelled to Switzerland this summer.
Miggy's mum lives here in Fribble-under-Par and occupies various benches in the town and on the beach. This photo is from last year, where she organised Knit Bomb Thursdays so that we covered all the Paradise Island benches just in time for winter. See how we kept them woolly warm.
There are many revolutionary yarn-bombers around the world and Alícia Roselló Gené is a member of the 5th Crochet Guerrilla group. In April 2011 the group went to Plaça Vila de Gracia in Barceona wearing handmade crochet beards and chained themselves with yarn to the bench. As you'd expect, the crochet guerillas are in disguise so we don't know which one
Alícia is. https://www.flickr.com/photos/malisia/5595328006 If you're prepared to be radicalised in a yarn-like way, the crochet guerillas are recruiting in a place near you. ¡The crochet guerrilla want more men in needlework!
Did you notice how Eddie distracted me in order to slip another primate image in? It's the one with the urban graffiti bench, which I found in the Etsy shop of Haya Gold from Tel Aviv. www.etsy.com/shop/hayagold
Haya says there is a small neighbourhood in Tel Aviv where every month new graffiti art is painted on walls, fences, doors, and everywhere possible. Haya does fine art photography, fine art prints, and home decor. When Haya's friends asks her What's new? they know there will always be something new; her shop is constantly getting exciting new stuff. Most photographs displayed in the shop are on fine art heavyweight paper at the convenient size of 8" x 10", however all the photographs can be enlarged to almost every size and on any kind of material.
Did you notice how Eddie distracted me in order to slip another primate image in? It's the one with the urban graffiti bench, which I found in the Etsy shop of Haya Gold from Tel Aviv. www.etsy.com/shop/hayagold
Haya says there is a small neighbourhood in Tel Aviv where every month new graffiti art is painted on walls, fences, doors, and everywhere possible. Haya does fine art photography, fine art prints, and home decor. When Haya's friends asks her What's new? they know there will always be something new; her shop is constantly getting exciting new stuff. Most photographs displayed in the shop are on fine art heavyweight paper at the convenient size of 8" x 10", however all the photographs can be enlarged to almost every size and on any kind of material.
Junmon603 from San Jose, California is a grouchy, well-travelled kind of guy who likes hiking and taking photos. He's got a lot of stunning mountainscapes in his photostream. Then he was driving around Mendocino in November 2011 and just happened to find a lot of gourds on a bench in someone's front garden. Aren't they gourd-geous? https://www.flickr.com/photos/28139153@N00/6383632289
The Happy Harvest bench is by Cindy Oppel. Her Etsy shop is Out Back in the Barn, where she makes benches with interchangable messages for holidays. Using Velcro on the back of the sign makes changing them easy, so you can buy as many different messages as you like. She also does hand-painted woodcrafts and homemade jam. www.etsy.com/shop/outbackinthebarn
Ockie the Octopus Girl is married to Mikey the Little Sailor, who edited the ever-popular World Oceans Day benches in 2013 and the Maritime Boat Benches in 2014.
If you're really keen you can read all about their wedding last summer. Suffice to say, Mikey was attracted to both her marine heritage and her interchangeable limbs. This year Ockie's mum visited and as Tamsin says, you can see the family resemblance. Ockie's sister is one of many deviant carrots which grew in my carrot plot this year at La Casa Perfecta. Yes, I know, I put them too close together but aren't they fabulous?
Kernel Maize is a sweet
For a fabuous film of love on French benches, accompanied by a song by Georges Brassens, see Les Amoureux des Bancs Publics at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eztSYUFUe8I
The Corn Husk dress was created by Studio Joop in Overbearing in Holland for his 2014 autumn collection. (It's that time of year when everyone has a Collection). The dress is made from authentic corn husks, dried slightly, and molded to fit. Innocent is his top model and she, of course, looks good enough to be roasted and slathered with butter.
You needn't worry about Innocent being cold though; here she is in her woolly blue jumper, a sneak preview before Christmas.
Tamsin is in front of her house with her son Isambard, wearing her version of the corn husk dress. I don't know about you but I think Tamsin gives it a sort of geisha twist. Ever a follower of fashion, Tamsin likes to try anything new. In another photo in front of her pretty log cabin, Tamsin wears a crocheted wool dress created by Lady Jessica Brassica at her studio in Ballyfrumpy in Ireland. For some craic-ing Irish benches see http://benchsite.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/st-patricks-top-o-irish-benches.html And if you're a fan of frocks, see what happened at new year by reading all about it in the Paradise Island fashion forums.
You needn't worry about Innocent being cold though; here she is in her woolly blue jumper, a sneak preview before Christmas.
Tamsin is in front of her house with her son Isambard, wearing her version of the corn husk dress. I don't know about you but I think Tamsin gives it a sort of geisha twist. Ever a follower of fashion, Tamsin likes to try anything new. In another photo in front of her pretty log cabin, Tamsin wears a crocheted wool dress created by Lady Jessica Brassica at her studio in Ballyfrumpy in Ireland. For some craic-ing Irish benches see http://benchsite.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/st-patricks-top-o-irish-benches.html And if you're a fan of frocks, see what happened at new year by reading all about it in the Paradise Island fashion forums.
The plain bench with lots of yellow leaves was on the Gota Kanal in Sweden. It was photographed in October 2006 by Tomas Hellberg, who is a software engineer and wannabe photographer living in Linköping
There are oh so many benches featuring maple leaves and this one looks particularly Canadian I think, though it isn't. It was photographed by Richard Cassan, who is from Ontario, but he was living in Seattle in October 2008 when he took the photograph. https://www.flickr.com/photos/frankyr/2933187464
The bottle of maple syrup, on the other hand, actually is Canadian. It was given to me by my friend Pistacia after a trip to Vancouver. I'm going to need to make quite a few pancakes to get through it.
The bottle of maple syrup, on the other hand, actually is Canadian. It was given to me by my friend Pistacia after a trip to Vancouver. I'm going to need to make quite a few pancakes to get through it.
The bench with beautiful red starry leaves is from a botanical garden in Japan, photographed in December 2011. The photographer is Motoshi Ohmori, who has named the photograph https://www.flickr.com/photos/motoshi/6556775637 Here at Benchsite we are very keen on Japan so, not surprisingly, we have some sensational Japanese benches, not all of them covered in leaves.
Francis Storr was on his way to work at the ungodly hour of 6:45 am on a Saturday morning when he spied these hungover schoolboys next to Costa Coffee in Tunbridge Wells.They seemed to think that sleeping it off on a town-centre bench was a good idea. http://www.flickr.com/photos/fstorr/ For some very well-educated school benches, see http://benchsite.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/schools-out-for-summer-benches.html
I'm amazed at how many benches end up on or in Flickr waterfalls. Benched Falls refers to the unfortunate bench which finds itself at the top of a rather vigorous waterfall in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It was photographed by Matt Cloutier in 2014 https://www.flickr.com/photos/124766284@N06/15204551200
Kat from Toronto is a Northern Lights Man. Photographing people and their lives is one of his favorite subjects; his favourite pictures have a strong story-telling focus, and are almost always candid. He's interested in capturing a record of what people are doing in Toronto in the 2010s and he also finds the textures of the city interesting. He's right when he says there's a picture to be taken at every street corner. Near Wellesley and Queens Park he photographed the poignant homeless person statue in 2013. Its title is Ballad of Fallen Angels https://www.flickr.com/photos/orangegreenblue/8687493418
Leland Francisco's photograph of the falling piano is called Let a Smile be your Umbrella. If that were so, a piano would come crashing down through the umbrella. Leland, from Guam , loves Looney Tunes cartoons and was inspired by these for his 2009 surrealist photograph. https://www.flickr.com/photos/lel4nd/3886972174 And if you're interested in piano benches, tune in at http://benchsite.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/tuning-in-to-piano-benches.html
Erin Nekervis says that madness takes its toll; please have exact change. In 2011 she photographed The Nerd Who Fell to Earth at Logan Square in Chicago.
The Someone Fell in Love Here bench is in Falmouth in Cornwall, photographed in 2012 by Tim Green, aka atoach, who lives in Bradford in the UK. Tim has an admirabe collection of bench photos in his photostream https://www.flickr.com/photos/atoach/7796509862 His blog is at http://timgreenfromqueensbury.blogspot.co
Equilibrium is the name of the stunning photograph of two balanced benches on a lake in western Finland. It was photographed in October 2011 by Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho, who is from Portugal but currently living in Finland. Miguel is enthusiastic about photography, with an emphasis on outdoor scenes. He is
inspired by distinguished atmospheres, light, tones, as well as simply a place or element that catches his eye. His albums show his passion for travel. https://www.flickr.com/photos/miguelvirkkunen/6281476612
Advice from a Tree came to me on one of those email roundrobin things, which I normally dislike. The source here is unknown and I have tried really hard to trace it. A name something like Joanne Ruftis appears in the corner. I'd love to credit the rightful owner if someone wants to let me know.
inspired by distinguished atmospheres, light, tones, as well as simply a place or element that catches his eye. His albums show his passion for travel. https://www.flickr.com/photos/miguelvirkkunen/6281476612
Advice from a Tree came to me on one of those email roundrobin things, which I normally dislike. The source here is unknown and I have tried really hard to trace it. A name something like Joanne Ruftis appears in the corner. I'd love to credit the rightful owner if someone wants to let me know.
The bench that has fallen over backwards was in Wellington, New Zealand in 2012. It was photographed by Kristina DC Hoeppner, who has an impressive number of interesting bench photos in her photostream at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/4nitsirk/6828541679 For some European diversity, check out her Luxembourg bench at http://benchsite.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/united-in-diversity-28-benches-for.html
The sock monkey and his companion on the very small bench was photographed for a Bench Monday in December 2009 by Jessica Wilson, aka jek in the box
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jek-a-go-go/4223788082 Jessica lives in LA and has a good beat that you can dance to. She bakes, sews, crafts, and takes pictures of every single thing that surrounds her. This makes her happy and helps her see the world through rose-coloured glasses on those days when she really wants to crawl back into bed with a pretty handmade quilt over her head. And speaking of quilts, her Etsy shop has plenty of gingham at
https://www.etsy.com/shop/scrumdillydilly
Mess with me and you mess with the whole trailer park is a sign that is all over the place. I photographed this one on the High Street in Ryde, Isle of Wight.
Mess with me and you mess with the whole trailer park is a sign that is all over the place. I photographed this one on the High Street in Ryde, Isle of Wight.
Ben Tilley lives in the UK and loves photography. He has albums full of exotic travels to places like Kenya and India. The tumble of grey benches is entitled Bench Graveyard, photographed in November 2010 at Cannizaro Park in Wimbledon, London https://www.flickr.com/photos/benluketilley/5222042226
The beautiful painting Wood Path in Autumn (1902) is by Danish artist Hans Andersen Brendekilde (1857-1942).
Leo Reynolds from Norwich England
Chris Lewis is a web developer in Seattle. His albums are full of dreamy American Roadtrips and other places outside the US. The nearly-falling-over picnic bench was photographed in 2007 at Lake Towada in Japan.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrissam42/529205996 My favourite album of Chris's is his Things Crossing.
Evil Erin is a nurse and to be honest, she doesn't look all that evil. She loves her camera (a Nikon D70s), her Flickr Sisters, pancakes, hula hoops, snowboards and summer. Emergency Brake is the name of the photograph with the unstable bench, which Erin photographed for a Bench Monday in 2009.It doesn't look very stable and Erin reports that after the photograph she tumbled into the red bark beneath the bench and got a sliver. Oh dear. How we suffer for art. https://www.flickr.com/photos/evilerin/3484838850
George Redgrave is the cheerful face of Flickr and a committed Bench Monday-er. He's a retired schoolteacher, still waiting to become a grownup sensible sort of chap. On January 28, 2013 (a Bench Monday) he proposed that Bench Mondays be banned on grounds of the anti-social behaviour they encourage. This argument about anti-social behaviour on benches has been thoroughly covered on Benchsite already. You'll notice that in the photo George is standing on a piece of blue plastic, thoughtfully protecting the bench in a very pro-social way. But banning Bench Mondays? What on earth would we do without Bench Mondays?
Honk if anything falls off is a car bumper sticker but it fits handily here. It comes from Winter Park Products in Florida, a new Etsy shop. www.etsy.com/shop/winterparkproducts They have a wide range of products including, among other things, bags and boxes, jewelry, face painting, stencils, tin toys, and a huge number of stickers.
The bench covers are something I wheel out every autumn as I have one or two benches in my garden, as you can imagine. The best benches get stored in the shed for the winter but others have to make do with these covers.
I have one or two Bench dot products. Of course I do. And I often give Bench dot scarves and socks as presents; people have come to expect it, as you'll see in my Christmas shopping story.
I covered burning benches last autumn and there are quite a few benches on fire, one way or another, on the internet. The burning bench shown here is by Valentine Svennson from Stockholm. Photographed in 2003, it is one of several fires in his Retro collection. I'm not going to ask whether Valentine started the bench fire. https://www.flickr.com/photos/val_s/5924398105
Nov2874 has some lovely photographs in his Ride Around the Countryside album, including the burning log in the fireplace, photographed in 2014. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nov2874/15267764389 I am pleased to say that this log is not the expensive designer log bench I purchased in Japan. Phew! That's twenty thousand pounds saved then.
Greg is from Pittsburgh, currently living in Seattle. He has some glorious photos of Seattle, my old home town, and he has also photographed a number of log benches, some of which are very difficult to distinguish from logs. In his photograph All natural furniture (2007), he poses the question Log or Bench?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/easypickle/1300186442 The log bench, found in Karlsruhe in 2007, is certainly natural. Greg says, quite rightly, that it's the Fallingwater of park benches.
The lovely carved wood Japanese monkey couple are a favourite in Benchsite stories, especially where Eddie is concerned. They are from http://www.rakuten.co.jp/kanmuryou/ From what I can gather, Rakuten is sort of the Etsy of Japan.
When travelling in Germany I always admire the way they stack their wood, and the arty things they make with it. The log shelter house with a bench in front is not really Eddie's house, since Eddie lives here on Paradise Island and this bench is in Germany. It was photographed by Franzfoto in 2012 and available on Wikicommons at
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zusmarshausen-Holzh%C3%BCtte_mit_Sitzbank,_Einladung_Hock_di_na_02.jpg
Darumas are hollow dolls which are often given as gifts because they are seen as symbols of perseverance and good luck. They are often sold in the vacinity of Buddhist temples. The daruma in a pile of ash was photographed in Japan in 2014 by Beggs, aka Brian Jeffery Beggerly. Beggs describes himself as a code monkey, who now lives in Singapore. He has some brilliant photos from his travels in Japan.
No comments:
Post a Comment