The pine offcuts I got two years ago for firewood are great because they fit together nicely and efficiently in the banana boxes to be taken in to the house. You might remember my post about the huge volume that arrived by truck one day, and were such a chore to stack.
We ended up having them on the back porch, the front veranda, and then there were still just as many leftover to fill two pallets in the carport.
Two winters later and we're just getting to the bottom of the carport stacks.
However, the bottom pieces of wood have become wet with rain over the last year. On each visit, I spread out a layer, and it seems dry enough by the next visit.
But! Look at the lovely patterns the fungi have made! I was transfixed with delight. Look closer... (click)
... and closer....
Can you see the dog running over the windswept, wintery moor, and the rooks flying up into the crepuscular sky?
No, I can't see the dog or the rooks but I can see the face of Jesus on your mouldy old log! It's a miracle! The pilgrims will come. Just inform the local Catholic church.
ReplyDeleteOh no, please don't! I've just run out of weetbix - I'm not set up for pilgrims.
ReplyDeleteI see the stoning of St. Stephen, the wreck of the Hesperus, and Alec Baldwin climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro....
ReplyDeleteHere in the southern U.S. we don't encourage burning pine in fireplaces because of all the pitch and tar that coats the inside of the chimney, making a fire hazard. We are all about hardwoods like hickory and oak.
I hope you have planted more hickory and oak so that in 100 years time your forebears will have a sustainable crop.
DeleteYou're a miracle, Robert.
ReplyDeleteRe burning pine - I don't feel I should be burning any wood at all, but should be using solar panels -> water heating exchange.
The pine here seems to be the cleanest burning wood. The chimney sweep said there was practically nothing up the chimney; and it's been seven or eight years since I last had it done...
I can't add anything to the exceedingly silly comments you have received from people who don't take miracles seriously. Oh dear. Just been struck by a bolt of lightning. Perhaps there is an invisible person up there after all.
ReplyDeleteWell, if you're writing, you must have survived, and they say it doesn't strike the same person twice, so you can say whatever you like now.
DeleteOh dear, that's right, it's the same PLACE twice.
Magical!!
ReplyDelete(we burn olive wood, by the way, and I must admit I always save some groovy looking pieces for "artistic" reasons ...)
Heh. Well.. I aided and abetted the magic with photoshop of course...
DeleteBut olive wood! - from over here, to burn olive wood seems a sacrilege. Are they pulling out the orchards for some reason?
I have an olive wood ladle that I bought from a market in Province. I treasure it so much, I hardly use it!
There's plenty of olive wood here - it's like it grows on trees (waits for laugh ....).
DeleteSeriously, there are so many trees, that there's always someone cutting down old ones too - as some olive farmers retire and sell up, their trees getting cut down to make way for a house and a lawn...but there are always plenty of new trees being planted as well. Swings and roundabouts , as we say!
We've just this week had a load delivered ready for next winter - it's cheaper to buy now :) There may be a photo and post next week.
PS - use the ladle! Better to have ladled soup and lost, than never to have served soup at all.
And of course I didn't realise it was photoshop (as I don't know how it works). I thought you'd done the dog with one of those gadgets that artists use for burning/engraving/carving into wood, he says, flummoxing about for arty-type vocabulary. Anyway, the result is cool! Groovy! Splendid! (Delete as appropriate)
DeleteI'm glad the olive orchards are not disappearing. I thought they were a very long-lived tree and not likely to be replaced very often. Perhaps it's just that gnarly look that makes them look old...
DeleteI should use the ladle. I will!
I don't think the growth on the wood will last long at all, dependent as it is, on staying damp. So, if its art at all, it's photographic art.
So I reckon I can 'stick' on a dog nicked off the internet. I wonder what a whole lot would look like printed big and framed up...? hmmm...
Ages since I've visited. Must do so.
rubs eyes..... hang on there's a dog on there!!
ReplyDeleteYep. Heh.
DeleteYou added the dog, didn't you? But I agree, each one of those pieces of wood could probably be turned into a piece of art!
ReplyDeleteI confess. I did add the dog.
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