Stones really know how to Keep in Shape

 Unlike humans, stones, even if they hang around doing nothing, don't get out of shape too quickly. In order to keep their shape, they vehemently resist the forces of time and weathering, and the various forms of mechanical tampering that men have come up with through the ages. Yes, in the end they might sometimes have too submit to crushers and the indignities of huge splitting and sawing machines. But I suspect, if they had their way, if they had their choice, they'd like to be appreciated for the shapes they come in, the way God made them. An authentic dry stone waller, if he's being true to the nature of the material he is gathering, tries not to change the shape of the stones he's been called upon to use. A little chipping here and there, a splitting by hand, of larger  (overweight?) stones is acceptable. Generally however, if not exactly what is needed, the shapes they come in, almost always suggest how they could become 'fit' enough, with just a little human coaxing (coaching?), and only by 'exercising' enough restraint on our part.

Make no Mistake

 Sometimes rocks look like food - a melon perhaps , a loaf of bread, eggs, candies, chocolate or popcorn.

We need the inner nourishment of stone. For those of us who love stones and rocks, it's not something we can do without. Thankfully there is usually enough produce along the road side that we can get our fill. Sometimes it's a pick your own operation. Our eyes may often be bigger than our vehicles, though. 

Quarries are like big rock grocery stores. We can pickup all kinds of 'produce' there and bring it fresh to our garden. I've always said that a garden without stones is like a BLT with out the bacon.

Unlike food, stones are always in season and never go off. They never over-ripen or become soggy. Leftovers are always useful and often worth keeping around indefinitely until you can use them with other grains and scraps, in some sort of dry stone combo. 

Mushrooms are my favourite.  They pop up everywhere, and look good to eat even in winter. They're best on top of walls. The thing is, none of these rock/foods will make you sick. You can't make a mistake.You can always identifying it's a 'rock' even if you don't know what type it is. And really, if you think about it, they are all magical!

 

 

Reflecting on/under Bridges

 

Two Types 0f Stones

Sometimes it feels like there are only two types of stones.

Landscapers here in Canada often use something called 'Armour Stone' to do terracing and retaining walls. These are much bigger 'freezer sized' stones than we like to use. They don't need to be that big to hold back the soil. 

The word 'armour' makes it sound like they are at war. When you see all the heavy equipment they use to put them in, and the saws, drills, and sometimes grinders and other powerful weapons, it does look like a bit of a battlefield until they are done. 

Dry stone wallers are not at war. Many of us love what we do. We love each other too,
The stones we use could well be called 'Amour' stones. Oui?

Still Thinking we are not over Thinking yet.

 

Remember your password, people !

These are just a bunch of random characters who, if you remember them properly, will 'let you in'. Let you access your hidden self. Let you see your history, allow you to check in and put your life in order and do some personal accounting . Yes, these letters and numbers are real characters, and even though they are a bother, they really are not trying to make your life difficult. 

Without them, your life would be visible to everyone. Your past words, your mistakes, your faults, your inconsistencies would all be exposed to the world. Therefore to keep the busybodies, and the rift raft away, to keep your secrets from anyone seeking to do you no good, you’ll need a few chosen characters to help you.

Realistically you need at least 8 characters to have a proper up to date password. You can choose them if you insist. But likely the password would be a lot ‘stronger’ if you let total strangers do the job of maintaining your privacy.  Characters chosen from a line up selected for you by A.I. or friends of AL Gorithm are the safest.  

The difficulty of course is remembering characters that essentially (technically) have no correlation to your personal life.  They can’t have any connection with the date you were born or your favourite dessert, or the name of your first dog either. 

It’s better too, if most of them are not just names, like Jay or Kay or Vee.  Better to have your life protected by characters that are also symbols. Some or them can even have accents. There’s less risk if you use Asterisk too ,or names that have confusing word associations like Hash, Pound ,Colon or Parenthesis.

Remember don’t ever reveal your password characters to anyone.

But how are you going to remember these individual characters, and how will you keep these rascals in their proper order? Fortunately for you, we can teach you a special technique for not forgetting any of the characters in your password. First click on the window below and then just type in your password.

口口口口口口口口

Reverse Stepnology

Looking at my footprints, backwards in the snow

Not worrying what's behind me, trusting where I go

Put my best foot backward, then stepping back again.

Judging where I'm going, by seeing where Ive been.

Get the body tuned to, travelling in reverse.

Purposely unwinding, things that last come first.

 

The Paths We Carve

We get comfortable with the paths we've carved that we travel everyday. Sometimes it is time for a new path. Sometimes it is easier to use the path someone else carved out for you. And sometimes it is just easier to walk through less snow.

Stono-Mobius Erectus

 

Dots

Believe it or Not.

 In Canada, a well-built dry stone wall along a busy residential street can often act as a kind of 'aesthetic speed bump' and be a calming antithesis to the frenzy of traffic activity wizzing past. Where an ordinary speed bump only barely slows down traffic to a safe speed at the actual buMp, a good looking wall gives a visual signal, along its entire length, to slow down, inviting drivers to enjoy a safe drive, while keeping the car's suspension from getting wrecked, and also helping maintain a delightful suspension of disbelief.