Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Junkyard Zoo

Today's Wonder of the World is...Junkyard Art!

Flickr photo by Ray Pempengco
I don't usually pick up hitchhikers, but I might make an exception for that guy!
I discovered him and a bunch of his crazy friends a few years ago when we took the kids out west on vacation. We'd been back from our French life for a year and realized that though our children had been all over France and through much of Europe, they'd never seen most of the USA!

We hadn't put The Swetsville Zoo on the agenda, but when we saw the roadside signs, we had to check it out. It turned out to be a highlight of the trip!
It's in Timnath, Colorado, not far from Fort Collins, and it's the brainchild of Bill Swets, a retired dairy farmer. You can read more about his zoo here.

Take a look of some of the animals he crafted from spare parts.
There's a spider...

Watch out kids!

And a rocket ship.


A dinosaur...


and an alien!

Flickr photo by Paul 'Tuna' Turner
There's even an owl, though I wouldn't bother him if I were you.

Flickr photo by 1987porsche944(posting a LOT of band photos)
He's too busy conducting.

Bye little green guy!

Flickr photo by kirbmart1000
I enjoyed the visit!

I don't know about you, but seeing creations like that just fuels my creative fire!
I get so pumped up to see ordinary things not only saved from the landfill, but transformed into extraordinary treasures!
If you've been around a while, you've heard this before. It's exactly what I try to do in memoir--find the extraordinary in the everyday. No wonder I begged for this for my last birthday!

Photo by Jeanette Janson
I've shown Father Time to you before, but I thought it fit this post, so here it is again. Lucky you! And lucky me! I get to look at it every day. Jeanette Janson made it. Go here, and see what other treasures she's cooked up!

And guess what? With all this junkyard creature talk, I had to pay a little visit to Etsy.com, just to see what junkyard creatures might be walking around over there.
Look what I found!

Photo by reclaim2fame
I'm in LOVE! I found her here.
She's got a pretty price tag too, but maybe if I'm extra good...
Santa? Are you listening?

Have a Wonder-full Wednesday, everyone!
Love, Becky

12 comments:

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

I love junkyard art too! Whenever I go to a street art festival I spend more time at the junkyard art booth than any other!

Suzie said...

Those are terrific

Susan said...

Ohhh, I just love all this stuff.

Rosemary said...

Cool Becky!!
I hope Santa comes through!!
Have a great day!
Rosemary

LW said...

I think junk art is fantastic…
There was a house of a junk artist that I use to past all the time a few years back.
He always had the most wonderful things, so wonderful that I almost
drove my car off the road a few times because I couldn’t take my eyes off of his work..

I also enjoyed your post from yesterday and added a few new books to my winter list…

Louise

Unknown said...

Becky, that was delightful! Swetsville Zoo looks like a fun place to visit!

CC said...

Those are so awesome!

a Tonggu Momma said...

I hope Santa brings you what you asked for... we all need a little junkyard art. It's a reminder that it's possible for ANYTHING to become beautiful.

Anonymous said...

My sons would adore this post--and then beg me to help them build everything they saw in our own backyard!

lotusgirl said...

Combining today's post with yesterday's one of Sarah Dessen's books has a main character that is a junk, etc., artist: The Truth About Forever. It's the first of her books that I read, and it is the one that got me interested in reading all the others.

Linda Summerfield said...

Right up my alley!!!

rochambeau said...

How creative!!
This zoo is amazing! My kinda zoo!
xox
C