up to date pic

this is the nature shelter as it is today...as u can see its very muddy!

muddy fun

The last two visits have been muddy affairs. in fact, that reminds me, i have a pair of jeans still in my car boot that were once blue, now clay brown! Its sodden wet everywhere in the uk at the moment. the river is high, the footpaths like the somme, the golf course flooded. So i walked the wet, deserted greens, finding some large fir branches that had been blown down in the recent winds. I picked one up and entered the slippery wet slope of the wood. Much huffing and puffing later, many splinters and breaks i reached the shelter where i sawed off various bits of the branch and layed them in place. I then went back for another. this one was even bigger. i slid all over the place nearly twisting my leg off on a slope, but i made it. After an hour or two of slopping wet clay over the bits that needed building up i sat on my plantpot and relaxed. The air was fresh. drips were dripping everywhere off trees and bushes. it began o rain again. i didnt mind, just sat there getting wet .then i heard voices. down below, groundsmen were doing drainage work! damn! i was stranded. the lack of foliage would make me visible if i sood up and moved about so i resorted to 'sniping' along the wet ground, over humps, hollows, branches, wet grass...i made it, but i was filthy. i reached the footpath and felt really fit and wild! then back into civilisation for a cup of tea and a warm!

We Have Fire!

Momentous day today! i spotted the heavy rusty old chiminea in the garden earlier and thought..lets go for it! I have made a lot of headway lately with he shelter..as i said in an earlier post, i was not on some mad mission to complete it all in a week or two, it has evolved slowly over years...an organic dreamed up creation! I had planned for a while to install my old stove into it and the time was right. I lugged it to the car and drove it over to my sisters house. Running in to tell my news i enlised the help of my nephew Lewis. We donned wellies and carried the old stove down the path to the golf course. We had a window of opportunity to cross so i picked up the heavy thing and ran the greens. lewis said 'how did u run carryin that?' 'adrenaline' i replied. We climbed tthe wooded slope, over the meadow , up the next slope and to the clearing. Lewis was amazed at the progress of the shelter. he had no been for some time. Next, i dragged the chiminea into the shelter, forcing it through the lower part of the stick/mud/clay/straw, so the chimney was poking out, then i stacked clay around it so as not to burn the shelter down. Taking some paper out of my pocket and gathering a few twigs i excitedly lit the first fire! It was an amazing sight seeing the smoke coming out of t

he chimney!