Yehaw !

I was just about to start blogging about the new bridge when this breaking news came in...

John Bland texted me yesterday to say he'd completed his arch !

The 200 pound  keystone had been set in place and the form was ready to be taken out on Saturday afternoon.

The skies opened and the long awaited moment arrived.

The form removed to reveal a very pleasing well fitted architectural shape.

The long wall and arch in front of his parent's property which John has been working on and off for over two years is now finished. Congratulations John!

Crown Bridge

Tomorrow I am starting a series of posts about the dry stone bridge I have nearly finished building over a small creek in a beautiful wooded valley not far from Baltimore Ontario.

Good bye form

Quite a crowd gathered to watch at the moment when the form was removed from the Moongate feature at the Dry Stone Wall Festival in Alton Ontario last weekend. 

Testing after the Festival.

The wall behind the 2010 dry stone blackhouse on the Landman Farm in Grand Valley Ontario was the scene of Monday's certification testing of four new Canadian candidates. 

This was how it looked a week ago

They had to carefully take down and rebuild a fine looking wall that was constructed during a wonderful workshop that Eric and I taught there back in 2011. The setting was so beautiful. 

Neil Rippingale of  DSC in Kentucky and Norman Haddow and DSWA of GB were the examiners. 

This is how things looked after the four sections were rebuilt.

Congratulations to Kenny Davies, John Bland and Evan Oxland on obtaining there initial certification . ( Kenny and John with the DSWA, and Evan with the DSC)

Congratulations too to Andre Lemieux on passing his intermediate .

Scenes from the 2013 Dry Stone Wall Festival of Canada

The Book Booth

The Carriage Works Wall

The kids walling area

Norman's Class

The removing of the form.

The moongate team

Bryan Post's class

Some festival pics.

Norman getting to know his students at the beginning of the festival

Kids building with wood stone and bricks.

Faithful walling supporter and journalist Willa Wick joined us for the day

Neil and friends building a festival moongate

First day of Stone Trust's dry stone wall workshop taught by Brian Post.

First day of DSWC of Uk workshop taught by Norman Haddow 

Main Festival gala meal and presentations at the Alton Mill

Towers arches and walls

Beer kindly provided by Stone Hammer

(Doug Bell's harvest table and stone pedestal he built in Guelph at our development called Downey Trail)

Some of the volunteers , wallers, students and instructors.

Festival Gathering Momentum

Walls Without Trowels

Sean Donnelly half way though the DSWA test to obtain his advanced certification building a retaining wall in Alton

My son and amazing chef, Colin Shaw-Rimmington walling with the best of them

Andre and Dan sharing a beer, wearing shirts that celebrate the evolution of walling in Canada

Craig and Randy arrive at the festival to represent Trow and Holden Tools.

Walling in Yoga pants. 

Algonquin Heritage Masonry College student  Marisa helps out doing some hearting.

Menno Braam, who recently obtained his initial DSWA certificate congratulates Sean Donnelly who passed his advanced at the end of yesterday.

Pre-Festival Activity in Alton Ontario

I made a practice 'tower' with dry stone bricks Thursday in preparation for what we will be creating with the kids with wood, bricks and stones. I will be working with kids of all ages building neat stuff during the two days of the Canadian Dry Stone Walling Festival in Alton Ontario (being run by the new DSWAC). Bring your whole family this Saturday and Sunday and build exciting things with us.

Neil Rippingale of the Dry Stone Conservancy is here already helping build features and test wallers and teach students.

The amazing Jane Wooley executive director of the Dry Stone Conservancy is here too. http://www.drystoneusa.org

 She and Neil drove up from Kentucky to be here this weekend.

My good friend Norman Haddow from Scotland has been busy all week giving private instruction to students who can't be here on the weekend, repairing older walls in Alton, getting to know all the town folk and of course moving big rocks into position for the event.

The famous John Bland is here too. Here he is inspecting the various stone material we are working with. 

His wall and arch is nearly completed near Montreal.

At the end of Thursday preparation work for the coming festival, Eric took a lot of us to see the Kerry Landman Memorial Tree he built at Island Lake Park. If you come to Alton you are not far from this amazing feature just outside Orangeville.  It's worth the drive to see it in person.

Info about festival is at http://www.dswa.ca/story/latest-news

It all hurts until somebody starts having fun.

We had to claw our way along the hedgerow and retrieve tons of round fieldstone and load it onto the trailer to take to a new job yesterday. It felt like 100 % humidity. It was hot and sticky heavy work. There was poison ivy everywhere. The hawthorn kept scratching our arms and whacking us in the face. The rocks were slippery and awkward. It was late in the afternoon and we were achy and tired. But even with all the hardship, somehow it still seemed like an enjoyable task.

Dry Stone Walling Festival updates

This is one of two very large carved signs that were over the doors of the original commercial stone buildings which stood on the property of what is now this year's dry stone festival site in Alton Ontario. They had been salvaged, forgotten and then rediscovered in a field in Caledon Village and have now been incorporated into the design of the north wall which is being built this week by volunteers with the newly formed Dry Stone Walling Association of Canada prior to the actual festival event  .

Here is the other one.  Nine feet long !

Does anyone have any information about these two companies?

It's Up !

The new Dry Stone Walling Association of Canada website is now Up!

drystonecanada.com

Can rocks really sing?

If-rocks-could-sing!

This looks like it could be a very cool stone book.

Thanks to Sean Donnelly for this link.