THE THINKING PLACE GETS BONES

The Thinking Place facing Northwest with two sugar maple saplings as support bones

Dearest Readers,

Status update:

A strained back required a two-week hiatus, but I’m back to building my lovely hut in the field here in Peacham, Vermont. Aging and my own bone fragility frustratingly required patience and trust that this body would heal itself if I would be kind to it, and not push too much. Pain meant no gain. 

Here's the sequence of events that unfolded over five days this week:

Two ideal curved maple saplings growing in the lower field

I saw down sapling number 1

Sawing down sapling number 2

Pulling the sapling over the rock wall up the hill to the site

Testing the arch of sapling number 2 at the Thinking Place site

Positioning sapling number 1-harder than it looks!

Positioning sapling number 2

View of support bones facing East-left side with too gradual a slope. The branch would not curve symmetrically.

Tying the two arched supports with twine

More hut building to come this week, dear readers,  weather and back permitting.

EARTH, AIR, WATER

Rainbow across my field and front yard, Peacham Vermont_10.9.2014

Dearest Readers,

Autumn in Vermont has a soul that lures me into the landscape. Nature has become my religion. Long walks and quiet contemplations outdoors with Etta (my dog) are conduits for soulful leaps of internal joy and existential soaring. The mysteries of a maple forest, expanses of shocking sky-scapes and silent meditations by Martin’s Pond here in Peacham Vermont transport me to bliss. It’s like Mardi-Gras before Lent. Gaudeamus Igitur before the snows begin to fly. Leaves fall.  Vistas open up and suddenly I'm connected to something much bigger than myself.

Etta and I explore a forest of young maples_Peacham Vt_10.8.2014

Setting sun in the trees outside my front window near Hapenny Rd in Peacham Vt_10.9.2014

Etta at Martin's Pond with setting sun_Peacham Vt_10/7/2014

My wine, cheese, bread and peanut butter at Martins's Pond in Peacham (Some for Etta too)

Final sun at Martin's Pond_Peacham Vt_10.7.2014

PERFORMANCE AND ENDURANCE–The Thinking Place Progresses

The Thinking Place slowly rises. Etta James stands guard, October 1, 2014

Dearest Readers,

A status update:

My Thinking Place rises slowly in the Vermont field.  It’s messy at this point. I’m stacking and interweaving the sticks without trimming, for now. I may need a protruding branch to support a limb, or enhance a shape that may present itself as the hut materializes.

I work on it for 30 minutes about three days a week, alternating with long hilly walks to the post office in downtown Peacham two or three days a week. Sunday is my self-appointed day of rest. Building the hut is a slow process. I get pretty tired, but my method suits my propensity to make art in small daily doses. It’s like counting on big living rosary beads. Little Etta James is off the leash and ever patient. She never asks, "What the heck are you doing?" 

Cecelia adds big branches–September 18, 2014

Cecelia brings more sticks–September 22, 2014

Cecelia tries out an entrance arch-foggy morning-September 24, 2014

More updates in a couple weeks... I'll be away for a while visiting my daughter and grandson in Brooklyn for his 6th birthday.

Soaring Stick–charcoal on paper–18"x24"–2014