Two Tablets

The creative potential contained here in the palms of each hand is immense. The new ipad and the common stone may seem to be random unrelated objects that have absolutely nothing in common and yet if you really start to think about it a peculiar parallel starts to emerge. The computer and the rock both can, and have been used to, process and store information, inspire, calculate, control, direct, predict, build upon and channel all the fundamental elements of human culture as well as focus and transform all our creative impulses. The element they both have in common is silicon. Silicon (Si) is a nonmetallic chemical element occurring in several forms and found always in combination. It is more abundant in nature than any other element except oxygen, with which it combines to form silica: used in the manufacture of transistors, computer circuitry , solar cells, rectifiers, and silicones.

The basic ingredient found in most rocks is the very same stuff that makes up our computerized world. The rock and the computer represent two extremes which mysteriously converge in their fundamental role as the basic building blocks of civilization. The rock is the raw computer. It is the source of creativity which has enabled us to order our universe and structure all human knowledge and transform human potential. From the rock caves of early man we have emerged as creatures dependent on stone to house us, hold our livestock, defend us from danger, contain our deities, store our knowledge, house our dead, memorialize the past, celebrate our art and show off our technology. The computer is the latest stage of a simple process of our finding expression and establishing meaning and purpose through stone. The pyramids and standing stones, the museums and libraries the cathedrals and monuments all are architectural circuitry in a vast transforming megalithic megabyte process.

To build a stone wall, (and to 'think with one's hands') is merely to introduce a structural pattern to local randomly generated material using the most elementary manual switching devices.

On Leaving Some Stones "Unturned".

In a culture determined to explain everything away, whether through science or religion, it is gratifying to discover there are still stones around that haven't been 'turned'. While the facts are easy to come by, the mystery is getting more and more difficult to find, especially at Easter time. Discovering a stone along the way that has been 'unturned' is an invitation to imagine what is hidden below. Probably nothing, of course. But possibly a treasure, a secret message, a tiny animal or a secret door to a magic place.

I 'turn over' stones every day. I dig them up by hand and I roll them into position in the walls I'm building. This is not a miracle, but it is a wonder. I never know how large a stone is going to be, especially when there is obviously only part of it sticking out of the ground. I don't know what shape it will be either. It could be absolutely useless for the purpose of fitting into my wall. It might be impossibly big too. If it has a nice face and is of a size I can move I will take great pleasure in moving the stone away to its new home in the wall.

This stone was one I uncovered on Lingmore Fell last month in Cumbria. It will make a great 'throughstone'. But the story is not over.

The explanation for the opening I leave in the ground may become the foundation for a theory of the universe as valid as anything anyone has ever come up with. Generations may successfully survive and good will spread on earth based on an absolutely correct interpretation of why the stone was moved. I will think I moved the stone to build a wall with it but I may be missing the bigger picture.

As I dig with my hands, ( if I dont have a shovel or pick with me ) I have to decide at one point or another that a deeply buried stone is worth the effort. To leave such a stone unturned however is not a failure, nor does it constitute a waste of time. It is an opportunity to stand back from my life and let the mystery and discretion prevail. Thinking with my hands requires not trying to hold on to everything with my mind.

Working with Rock is Always a Touching Experience

Thinking with my hands, which has turned out to involve a higher level of commitment than I first realized, is nevertheless proving to be a rewarding experience. It is gratifying to have followers write to say they are enjoying the blog and that they find it funny and sometimes moving. Im glad to hear that it is reaching people and that I have 'touched' a chord with them. I like to think I am in my stride now, and that there is lots more to 'touch' on in the future months.

Continuing along the dilemma of 'one hit wonders' I thought it it would be wrong not to mention the appropriately titled and very touchy feely song that came out in the 80's that was one hit wonder Dan Hill's only big hit 'And sometimes when we touch'. This song struggled with the drawbacks of being truthful and questioned the merits of honesty.

The lyrics go on to say "That sometimes when we touch, the honesty's too much."

This sentiment may have some meaning to it, but for what I suppose are pseudo poetic purposes, the theme of the song isn't developed very well. If there is too much honesty in touching someone then there is little hope for talking or any other form of communication including sign language, or for that matter song writing. And as far as there being such a thing as too much honesty, I think that theme is far better tackled in a very funny film I saw recently on a flight back from Britain called 'The Invention of Lying'. It is worth seeing.

No one honestly knows why Dan Hills rock hit about feelings and honesty did so well and yet he was never able to repeat his success.

Honesty in the 'rock industry' may be a dubious thing, but for me, working in the other 'rock' business, touching stones is probably the most satisfying thing about building dry stone walls. The honesty isn't too much at all, but it is sometimes profound. Stones are perhaps the most honest things I will ever run into. They have no pretensions and they have a dependability about them which is unequalled in the real world. With a rock, what you see is what you get. Because of their inherent 'reality' and reliability, many people almost intuitively sense the benefit there is to being around them or bringing them home. In some strange way it seems we have an primeval need to hold them and touch them. I dont think it would be a bad thing to have a bunch of bumper stickers made up that read 'Have you hugged a rock today'.

Sgt. Cyrus' Achy Breaky Lonely Hearts Club - Disbanded

One has to wonder about one hit wonders. As a waller, the idea of not being able to consistently repeat what you do successfully and to the same high standard as you achieved on previous walls is unacceptable. Not just the walls themselves, but each stone has to be skillfully fitted and placed with the full knowledge that you will be needing to place each consecutive stone next to or on top of the one beside it, over and over again, correctly and efficiently. You are always planning ahead. It would be wrong to describe any aspect of it as being a one shot deal. The entire process is about continuity.

The idea of people getting together to build a really cool dry stone wall is not that different from what's involved in being in a rock group. A wall, like a song, is both the final product and process. It is an event which a number of people can choose to be involved in ( making it and/or being present when it is created ) and then afterward it 'exists' in its completed form, for people to repeatedly appreciate after the fact. What makes a song a hit or a success should have a lot to do with talent and artistic content. A wall is no different. It may not be judged or appreciated on the massive scale that a rock tune might be, but there is just as much need for it to be good and be able to stand the test of time. And you should be able to do it again.

When a performer or a waller can not be consistent in their quality or their output, it may be convenient for them to say that it's just part of the ups and downs of the 'rock' industry. Maybe their agents didn't 'handle' them right. Maybe their apparent success happened too soon and they were expected to produce new 'rock compositions' too fast. Maybe they tried to force or 'concrete' the elements of their style rather than let their structure develop and fit in with the musical landscape around them. Maybe they were looking to be making more and more 'hits' when they should have let the love of rock lead them to see where they naturally fit in.

Today's one hit wonder is 'Achy Breaky Heart'. It was a 'smash' hit. It got people excited, and it was fun to think it was building up to something, but it was a bust. Nothing really came of it, or rather 'after' it. Billy Ray Cirus must have 'hit a wall', so to speak. Sure, he had a few creative spurts before and afterwards but ultimately he seemed to have put himself between a rock and a hard place. I saw him perform this song at a concert a long time ago with what seemed like a million other people. It took place at the Sky Dome in Toronto which was never really a successful music venue to begin with. The acoustics were terrible, and I remember the giant roof started to roll back as he tried very hard to keep going and give it his best. Many of us were 'waiting' for him to perform this his number one country rock piece. He served it up (for all us waiters ) on a tray. But the crowd called out for more, as the ceiling flew away.... No no, wait a minute, that's a whole different 'one hit wonder' !

If at first you succeed, why not 'keep on rockin'?

When Joe and I are working building walls we often listen to music. The music alternates from jazz to classical to rock. We like to keep it a musical democracy. Sometimes we throw in some reggae if the sun is bright and we are getting hot. The number of 'classic rock' songs Joe knows amazes me. He can tell me the names of groups from the 60's that I cant even remember, and I was there. Accompanied by the constant sound of the radio and surrounded by an endless pile of stones that need to be shaped, it's just like the DJ says in his excitedly contrived voice,"The hits keep on coming! "

As far as one hit wonders go, there are a two crossover beauties worth commenting on. 'Classical Gas' is a unique non-vocal piece that is cleverly arranged and does sound vaguely classical . Too bad Mason Williams didn't give it another go. Maybe he changed careers and became a real mason, installing classic style gas fireplaces instead. Anyway Joe likes this tune and I like to think if Mason had produced more orchestrated pieces like this one, Joe might have cultivated a bit more tolerence for music like Pachelbel's canon, and then who knows, after that maybe even developed a taste for Copland or Joaquín Rodrigo.

The other not-so-classical 'one hit wonder' with a classical reference is the well known classic 'Rock Me Amedeus'. This song too presents a kind of 'blog-bridge' from walling to music, which means 'thinking with my hands' isn't wandering off topic too much. I am at least choosing singers or song titles which have some 'rock' or 'hand' connotations, even if the associations are oblique ones.

Here is a song that was done by a group called Falco who were never heard from again! Sort of like trying to find that phone number you wrote down of the landscapers who did your neighbours backyard retaining wall last fall. You cant even find them in the phone book. These guys must have been wanted by the authorities for tax evasion. Again if Falco knew enough to produce one smash hit why didn't they stick around and find a way to repeat their success? And what was that song about anyway?

Unlike Mason Williams, Falco made no attempt to sound classical. They were into purely eine kleine 'felsmusik'. Their musical premise, if they had one, was that Mozart was a 'rock star' of his day, and presumably they were all as licentious back then as everyone in the rock scene is today. (Not the dry stone 'rock' scene, of course!) As I review the video version of this song I can't help but think that everyone was too exhausted and dissipated to try to attempt to repeat their success or do any other variations on this theme. The world has thus been spared from hits like 'Shake Your Booty Bartok'.

Step Right Up. Swing the Hammer. Ring the Bell.

It's generally not a good thing to be recognized as a one hit wonder, unless of course you build dry stone walls and split stones for a living. Then if you can split them single handedly and often enough with just one blow, people may be impressed and not only consider you to be a one hit 'wonder' but think of you also as a bit of a 'rock star'. The unfortunate people in history on the other hand, who for one reason or another, got only one kick at the can musically (or is that one swing of the cat, or one recipe for that cake they left in the rain ?) probably wouldn't enjoy the notoriety associated with being on the many one-hit-wonder lists so feverishly documented and posted on all those heartless websites one finds on the internet.

Never mind rock stars, even classical composers are not exempt from this indignity. The name Pachelbel comes to mind. Poor old Johann (did you even know his first name?) His 'Canon' written in 1680 scored a big hit in the music world for him back then, and still does even today, but relatively speaking the common consensus amidst the general public is that he never fired another shot. Maybe he did write an 'artillery suite' perhaps or a 'musical musket' but alas his only well-known piece was a bit of a loose canon that sunk any aspirations of staying afloat musically.

It is probably not a good thing ( if you want to go the distance or develop an extensive repertoire) musically speaking, to start with a hit that has a title analogous to hitting the mark, ( ie. taking aim at something for first time) or anything generally having to do with 'big bangs'. Handel may have been pushing his luck with his Royal Fireworks Suite especially if they/it had fizzled, but then he already had a few 'hits' under his belt.

This week I will be taking a whimsical 'waller's swing' at 'one hit wonders' of the rock world . There are several that I can't wait to get my 'hands' on.

Please feel free to make suggestions (in the comments box) of any of your favorite 'single hits' too, for us to go ahead and 'knock'

It all can change with the wave of the hand.

It seems that some days I can be in the zone and other days I'm not. Some days my hands know exactly what to do and other days they fumble and hesitate and don't make very good choices. They can pick up several stones before they discover the right one to go in the next space in the wall. This is not very efficient. It is also frustrating. Often being out of the zone is a matter of being too crowded. If the stones you are using are too near the wall there is no room to work. If all the stones you have to choose from are all piled up on top of each other this makes for awkward working conditions too. Sometimes the ambient noise is distracting. Music can put you out of the zone as often as it can glide you into it. Ironically 'rock music' is not always the best music for working to. Weather is sometimes a factor. However cold wet weather isn't always a problem and one can be 'in the zone' in the most adverse conditions. Conversely one can be out of the zone when absolutely all the working conditions are ideal.

If I feel like I am getting out of the zone I usually do a lot of the hearting for a while. Taking time to just place the filler stones until you get back in your stride seems to work. Your eyes and hands mull over the material available to you and the spaces that still need filling while you are hearting and you get a much better feel for the types of shapes available. Slowing down helps too. If you are trying to rush (rather than going with the flow) it's as though the stones purposely work against you.

I think of walling like surfing. You have to wait for the big waves. You cant make them happen. And then when you get in front of a good one, you paddle like crazy and then ride it out.

My helper admitted he was out of the zone all day today. He was quiet and persevered but it was obvious I had a better day productively. We joked about it. We agreed it would be good if you knew ahead of time if you were going to be 'out-of-the-zone' the entire day. Then you could just skip going to build walls altogether and go do something else that day (like surfing on the internet instead).

Welcoming Hands- A Stone's View.

The Dry Stone Waller Revisits Spring's Surfacing Fieldstones Before stones of eggs hatch feathered heads or tadpoles eel from gel-a-ti-nous embryos, fieldstones crown the brown, thawing ground and, after decades of mid-wifing stones, I'm so smitten with my youthful marvel exhumed in desiring, like a child around puppies, to lift each newborn up, turn them over, and run hands over wet heads and torsos, that, over supper, my wife spies the young buck who, long ago, abruptly frostheaved her life and, that evening, she loves me so much that, as I thust up and up and up in lust, I'm like a rising stone given a second life, and I welcome hands gripping my schist hips before feet scamper the granite shoulders and, when it's over, one warm fingertip alights the forehead's cliff, slides down the face-wall of the jowels, and, like the lost hiker in the White Mountains, seems to know home is somewhere close, now that she stares into that familiar old-man-on-the-mountain nose.

A poem, by Dennis Camire, whose chapbook of poems about Dry Stone Walls (being published by Fishing Line Press) will be coming out shortly.

The Task at Hand

We had a meeting today with a number of people involved with the DSWAC who are all still very much interested in promoting the quality and type of dry stone activities our organization has made available here in Canada for the last ten years. It was gratifying to have such a positive enthusiastic group together and to find ourselves in agreement about certain key issues.

Our decision to continue to maintain our direction while better establishing the status of 'association' is based on our enthusiasm for the craft with all its creative opportunities rather than thinking we need to 'prove' something to those watching from the sidelines. We realized that we all were motivated by the same love of what we do, walling, and the genuine desire to see more people develop skills and find creative opportunities here in Canada without taking on any unnecessary trappings.

The process right from the beginning of our coming together as an organization has been a refreshing mix of experimentation combined with the knowledge acquired through good teaching, hands-on practice and a focused application of walling principles which are consistent with our unique Canadian geographic, economic and historical circumstances. We will of course continue to encourage any members interested in accreditation to make use of the excellent DSWA of UK examination program which provides testing here in Canada every year at our annual dry stone wall festival in October

Many of us are committed to supporting a Canadian movement, which while respecting past traditions and bonds, continues to find new avenues for pursing the art of building with stone without mortar and will be looking ahead to have those who work with dry laid stone (whether within the landscape trades or any other associations) unified in the task at hand, by emphasizing the enjoyment in doing what we do, rather than finding fault with others who for whatever reason do it differently.

Hands on the Rebound.

This image of a new basketball net fixed to an old dry stone barn in a barnyard in Cumbria presented an interesting juxtaposition of ideas.

I think I was quite on the 'ball' when I 'passed' this 'hoop' in the 'perimeter' area of Doddon Valley while 'traveling', as it were, in the Lake District. I 'jumped' at the opportunity and took this 'shot' with my camera from the 'back court'.

The picture was a real 'slam dunk' visually, with the contrasting hand and rock imagery. I understand that in basketball slang, the ball is often referred to as a 'rock'. Hands that built walls of rock and stone in the past have now given way to younger hands that play games with balls nicknamed 'rocks'. In 'past times' it was essential to know how to work with rocks building walls and shelters in order to survive. Hands had to do it. Today some of these same walls now serve as backdrops for recreational 'pastimes' and outdoor games. Hands are involved but now there is an element of choice and fun. Hands score on the rebound.

On another note,

I remember my friend Peter Mullins, who ran the large Gradall 6000 rear-'pivot' steering forklift at the 2010 Ventura Stone Symposium, kept a basketball with him at all times, taking breaks now and then to flex and strengthen his hands with it. He told me that exercising, by dribbling the basketball throughout the day, provides a valuable back-stretching for the hands that apparently can not be achieved through any other form of exercise. I watched him not only dribble the ball on his breaks but also gracefully 'pivot' the Gradall many times, as he competed against the Ventura Rocks.

I pretty much get enough hand-exercise still lifting rocks everyday.

No Hands!

Walling isn't backbreaking. It is labour intensive, but it isn't really strenuous work. That's why it is always funny to hear people say things like "Boy, that looks like a lot of work ! " or, " I could never lift those stones and do the kind of work you guys do all day".

People will often come by while were working and actually nod their heads and genuinely feel bad for us having to build walls all day for a living. Here we are enjoying the great outdoors, sun shining, no noisy machinery, no stressful deadlines, not confined to some fluorescent lit office working at some high stress job, just hugging stones all day, getting lots of exercise, making beautiful walls that will last hundreds of years, and people are actually feeling sorry for us.

As wallers go I am not really that strong. I generally don't lift really heavy stones. I think with my hands and lift with my legs or with boards or better yet, try not to have to lift them at all. A heavy stone can be rolled into place or simply moved into place with a dolly. If I have to lift a big stone, I don't lift it right up to my chest but let my legs do the work. I can sometimes move a big stone around like this using one hand. Sometimes if a rock is heavy enough you don't need hands at all. Here is one I lifted today. I guess if the stone got any heavier it would just float away!

A 'Touching' Song

Where it began, I can't begin to know when
But then I know it's growing high
It wasn't the string, whooo
The string seems to look lower
Who'd believe how we fly!

Hands, touching stones, reaching out
Touching one, touching two.
Oh, sweet 'Contour Line'
Good fits never seem so good
I've been inclined to believe it never would

And now I, I look at the wall, whooo
And it doesnt seem so stoney
We fill it up one over two, oh
And then we heart
Hearting up to the boulders
How can I heart when there's a 'thru'?

Oh, one, touching one, reaching out
Touching three, touching two.
Oh, sweet 'Contour Line'
Good fits never seem so tight
Oh I'd been inclined to believe it looks right.

Ohhh, sweet 'Contour Line', good fits never seem so good

How Digits Do it?

At one time the expression "digitally manipulated" referred to moving things around by hand, using some or all of one's fingers (digits) to position things carefully . Nowadays it signifys the way a pixelated computer image has been enhanced or retouched using a software program like photoshop.

A digital image is different from a film image.Traditional film image editing is known as photo retouching, using tools such as an airbrush to modify photographs, or editing illustrations with any traditional art medium. Graphic software programs on the other 'hand' which can be broadly grouped into vector graphics editors, raster graphics editors, and 3d modelers, are the primary tools with which a computer user may manipulate, enhance, and transform images. Many image editing programs are also used to render or create computer art from scratch.

My favorite program for doing this sort of digital image manipulation is Photoshop.

While it used to be that you could often tell if a photograph had been altered, with digital image manipulation programs like Photoshop you can't tell anymore. Many funny and unusual effects can be created, which if done right, can trick the viewer into thinking that what you are looking at is real and that the camera simply recorded what actually happened.

Like a magic trick the 'slight of hand' is created by using computer technology rather than using any hands at all.

Although all the stones in this old slate wall were laid by hand and in the original sense of the word 'digitally' manipulated into place, ( in this case by Cumberland farmers walling nearly two-hundred years ago ) the photo above was not in any way 'digitally' altered. While the image may at first be difficult to figure out, once you realize that it is the throughstones I am lying on, the photo makes sense.

Experienced First, Second and Third Hand.

Today we waved good bye to Cumbria and the great congregation of dry stone walls circumscribing many of the farm fields in Great Langdale.

This has been 'hands-down', the best holiday we have had in a long time. I feel very privileged.

Unless you come from this place or have visited here, you might not understand what the overwhelming attraction of dry stone walls actually is. For me, experiencing again such a diversity and density of dry stone structures 'first hand' has recharged my batteries and made me determine afresh that, one way or another, my Canada should include stone walls.

Walking is definitely the way to see the Lake District. Everyone walks. Unlike Canada, where to go for a walk in the countryside, you often have to make your way along straight, dusty concession roads with cars and trucks constantly whizzing by, the meandering British footpaths by contrast make everything more accessible and hiking so enjoyable. It helps that the whole country has been designed (as if by by some uber-landscaper) on a pleasingly human scale. Even though everything is so much closer together, people walk not just to get somewhere, but as an end in itself. I think of the lyrics to the James Taylor song which affirms, "It's enough to be on your way," and realize that it is more than enough when you are surrounded by such beauty. Yes, there is the exercise you get, and many interesting things to see and talk about along the way, and then there are all the historic points of interest to get to, but essentially it is just the 'perambulation' that is the real attraction. Perhaps Ambleside in Cumbria was actually named in recognition of its pleasing accessibility by foot.

I try to imagine this Cumbrian landscape without the walls. Yes, it would still be dramatic and beautiful, but there would be an essential ingredient missing. The walls delineate and give perspective to a vista, otherwise inaccessible to those who pass this way once or twice, and would still require a lifetime to absorb if you lived here. Walls give proportion and scale to everything. These ribbons of stone draw our eyes across the hills and allow us to cover a greater area than we could ever reach by foot. In the same way as having our dog run ahead and splash through water we would never run through ourselves and flush out the birds and sniff out things off in the distance we might never have noticed, the walls act as a kind of extension of our being. They provide a kind of OBE. (out of body experience); not just part of the scenery but a geographical extension our hands and feet.

There is a kind of 'second-hand experience' contained in this Cumbrian landscape. We don't have to touch it 'first-hand' but merely let ourselves reflect on it from a distance. For those who slowly grasp how far these walls extend and the amount of work involved, a kind of affinity is established with the landscape. We join with others who have lived and worked and walked here in a collective appreciation for the intensity of labour that went into humanizing the environment, without destroying it, as so often can happen.

Is there a 'third-hand' experience here too? Like some sort of 'all-feeling' all-seeing third eye?

I can't dismiss the feeling that my hands have been given eyes to see beyond what is here.

There is a sense of getting 'in touch' again with something important, which so often is merely interesting, or perhaps monumental at best, There is a feeling of having passed this way before and somehow having gained wisdom.

The tradition of stone has been established here which sanctifies the vernacular. We find ourselves on a continuous pilgrimage pondering again and again the lingering, almost spiritual significance of a country of walls built by common people. This flowing tapestry of stone walls perhaps will never be understood.

Pointing 'Along' the Wall- No Pointing 'In' It!

Along with seven other people and myself, Martyn Leaver participated in a walling weekend at Cleabarrow farm near Windermere on the second weekend of March. The three hundred plus acres of rolling farmland owned for many years by the Scott family (who are related to Captain Scott who led the famous expedition to Antarctica ) is criss crossed with seventeen and a half miles of free standing dry stone walls, some of them quite tall. The farm and the walls were built in the early 1600s. Martyn who is a professional waller and a member of the DSWA of UK single handedly maintains these walls and over the years has repaired many of the sections where time has begun to take its toll.
He is seen here standing in front of a large section 'pointing' to the rest of the 250 feet of wall he has recently completely rebuilt. All the stones which are mostly mill gritstone including the large through-stones and heavier cams were lifted by 'hand' into place, using milk crates to stand on.
Martyn lives with his family in Kendal in Cumbria which is part of the lake district. He told me he enjoys working with his hands. His interests include restoring old boats, shooting the longbow and rock climbing. He spends every other weekend doing volunteer walling with other members of the DSWA repairing many of the walls in the area.
Martyn has a private business, Leaver Stonework and Paving, and explained to me that he does mortared work and cement 'pointing' as well as dry stone work. Like many other waller/masons Martyn admits that he loves building free-standing walls and prefers it far more to having to work with cement or doing flatwork. This preference seems to be the acid test amongst stoneworkers in Canada as well as Britain. To work with stone structurally, without adhesives or cements is far more satisfying and is considered a craft rather than a just a job. Martyn talked about hoping to visit us in Canada in the future to help 'lend a hand' and further strenghten ties between the DSWA Canada and the many wallers in Britain.

Restless Hands

On the outside my hands may look inactive and merely in my pockets 'waiting around', so to speak, but on the inside they are busy fixing the 'gap' in this old dry stone wall. They can hardly hold back from doing it. There have been several other times this week where I have wanted to stop along a Lake District hiking trail and repair parts of a wall.

There is an expression used for a certain kind of activity where someone does something positive or constructive for strangers without any reward, and for no particular reason. It's called a 'Random Act of Kindness'. Ive read about it and even seen bumper stickers encouraging this sort of thing. I think any wall that is in need of a little bit of repair could use this sort of thing.
It occurs to me that leaving a community with a newly repaired wall is kind of a 'random stack of kindness' The DSWA here in Britain makes a point of doing this sort of thing all the time. Volunteers go out and fix walls for the day, purely out of an appreciation for them and a desire to see them not all disappear from the British landscape.

I think of this as a type of "contra-vandalism". It is a way of us getting back at the chaos, destruction, meaningless and yes often bureaucratic red tape surrounding our lives. Its a way of doing something structural, beautiful and uplifting in our community without having to always jump through a myriad of administrative hoops to get it approved.

In fact, I'd like to be part of a guerrilla squad of dry stone wallers who take it even further, not just repairing walls (as we have so few of those in Canada) but build whole new walls and nice stone benches and small sections of old-looking dry stone gardens and beautiful enclosed areas of stone, all done covertly by an efficient group of volunteers during the night, and leave these stone 'features' to be 'discovered' the next day. Hopefully people would be happy to have something as wonderful as a natural stone wall to walk by . No doubt they would appreciate the added character to their park. In this way the dreary public places people pass by every day could be gradually transformed.

Or would they all have to be taken down? I wonder.

My hands are getting restless just thinking about it.

Hand of a Professional

Master-craftsman and chief examiner for the DSWA of UK, Andy Louden, took us on an all day tour of some interesting dry stone walls and bridges in a very remote part of the Lake District yesterday. Andy explains (with his hands) that his favorite stone to work with is this irregular volcanic stone ( seen in this picture) found in the walls throughout the area we walked through, near Wasdale, Cumbria. The stones are quite small and slightly rounded and few of them have any length at all. These are not easy stones to work with and the walls have no through-stones and generally no caps. The slate stone found in many of the other parts of Great and Little Langdale provide a much better selection for wall building. Nevertheless these walls are both beautiful and obviously structural as they have survived the test of time. Many of the walls are much wider than necessary and reminded me of the consumption walls found in parts of New England. The corners of the walled fields broaden out into great stockpiles, made up of all the extra stones that have long ago been cleared off the land.

At the end of the day we stopped into Andy's Local pub for a drink and met with John Aitkinson of the National Trust and learned more about the training session Andy is going to be teaching coming up later this month, which will be run for several of the National Trust trail workers including our good friend Gavin Rose.

Handling Things Together

Last week we were repairing an old wall at Cleabarrow farm near Windermere. Martyn, Joe, Pat and Tony, all members of the DSWA of UK carried this heavy lintel stone over to the new opening we had created in the stone wall. They placed it over the opening to finish the top section of 'hog hole' we were building. Everyone had different 'skill levels' but the job got done smoothly and efficiently.

Handling a big stone requires that everybody works together. If one person lifts too much, someone else will end having to work harder to compensate for the imbalance, while another's efforts to help lift may become redundant. It is important to share the load equally. Cooperation involves not so much duplicating or copying what others do, but finding where there is both a place and opportunity to support the weight, and then simply fitting in. Each hand has a unique responsibility to balance the load without tipping up everyone else. There is danger of hurting someone if there isn't communication. There is danger of hands or people getting crushed if someone lets his end down (or lifts it too high) without telling people. Deferring to oneanother helps too. This isn't the place for hands to show off or compete or insist that they are more officially qualified. This isn't the place for too many hands either, no matter how good their intentions.

Hand Delivery

DSWA secretary Alison Shaw met with her Canadian counterpart Mary Harris in the lounge of the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel to discuss new DSWA books and dry stone literature that we will be taking back to Canada to make available at our 2010 walling events. Alison has done a great job for the DSWA for some time now and has ran a very tight ship for them. We have been able to order a lot of very good dry stone literature from her over the last 8 years of our association. This time the walling books will be 'hand- delivered'.

Along with professional waller George Eddington and National Trust trail builder Gavin Rose, dry stone artist Andy Loudon also joined us for a social drink. Discussions turned to differing walling techniques and career opportunities in Britain and Canada.

Andy shared some interesting asides about working with well-known artist Andy Goldsworthy on the Tilberthwaithe Sheepfold.

Alison tells us the DSWA is gearing up to host the 12th International Congress on Dry Stone Walling September 4-6 in Ambleside Cumbria. This year's theme will be 'Dry Stone Walls as part of the Cultural Landscape'

Ambleside is a beautiful town right in the middle of Cumbria and has many dry stone walls.

We walked Ambleside today and posted this from Esquires, a Starbucks like coffee shop with a view overlooking all the old slate stone buildings.

Bridge Hands

It was about 8 years ago that I saw my first dry stone bridge. My friend and colleague Norman Haddow took me to see this bridge which he had built using local stone in what seemed like quite a remote part of Scotland. It was based on the bridge at Glenn Lion which he had visited with his family many times as a boy. He had built this bridge barely two years before he showed me it and yet it looked as old as the hills.

I had a bit of an epiphany when I saw it. I couldn't remember ever seeing anything built of stone that looked so right, so beautiful, and so structural. I was pretty sure that we didn't have any bridges like it anywhere in Canada and yet it was plain to see as far as adding character it would be a wonderful thing to introduce into the Canadian garden landscapes.

A year later and with Norman's help we organized the first DSWAC 'pack horse' dry stone bridge building workshop in Canada. A handful of enthusiastic stone aficionados signed up for the course and together tried their 'hand' at building a bridge in Port Hope, Ontario at the first Canadian Dry Stone Wall Festival. Norman was a fantastic teacher.The footbridge we built and the whole idea of the festival too was a tremendous success.

The rest is history. Five Canadian bridges later and another one planned for this October at our 'Rocktoberfest' in Gananoque, Ontario (which Norman will be attending again, as he has done for the last seven years) we have now returned to Britain to tour the Lake District visiting the many beautiful stone bridges that can be found all through this part of the country.

I am particularly fascinated with one in little Langdale called Slater's Bridge, made of, you guessed it, slate. It has a very uneven walking surface consisting of the rounded-down well-worn tops of the long slate voussoirs. It has an unusual rugged look created by even longer voussoirs forming what may have been the original handrail posts which have since been replaced with metal ones. I suspect it was the bridge the quarry men used every day when they went to and from the local quarry.

Ironically they don't build dry stone bridges here anymore in the Lake District. They build new ones and replace the old stone bridges using wood or metal. This is a great shame because so much of the countryside and architecture here has been maintained and preserved so well. Perhaps we can bring dry stone bridge building back to this part of the world some day, like reintroducing some endangered species to its native habitat.

A dry stone bridge perhaps represents all that is good in this craft. Where the idea of someone 'putting up walls' can sometimes have a negative connotation, the analogy that is suggested by describing someone as a 'builder of bridges' is a very positive one. Of the people I have worked with on stone projects, those who have worked on bridges with me have demonstrated a fairly unique strength of character. While a person might build a 'wall' out of selfish or guarded motives, a bridge by definition requires a cooperative and accommodating nature. If a waller loves his craft and he is good at it, and more importantly, has integrity, then he will have no trouble making and maintaining 'bridges' in all areas of his life.