Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Big Chunky Old Mostly Rusty Things

Hiking with my friend M today we went into some woods that I haven't walked in for a while.  M is great at finding things-- she's the one who found Owl Man as well as the hidden shelter last spring-- and today she showed me an old chimney that was so beautifully constructed.  All that's left of it is the last four or five feet and part of the fireplace.  We admired the moss garden that lives on the stones, and M found a rusty round lid to something, maybe an old stove burner cover or something to do with this fireplace.  I drew it, topside and flipside.

When I got home I spotted three nice heavy rusty objects that J and I found on our recent trip to the rail yard.  I had put them outside near the carport to rust some more, and it was fun to see them today and remember that trip.  They also reminded me of a many-years-ago trip that three-year-old J and I made one afternoon:  we went out exploring on the UNCA campus, walking around some old tennis courts that had been turned into a parking lot.  We played air tennis for a while, and then J found a rusty thing, some kind of a fastener maybe.  He was very interested in picking up the rusty things, so we made a game of collecting all the rusty things we could find in that place that afternoon.  We found several pocketsful of rusty metal things and brought them all home.  We wondered what these objects were and how they had ended up on the tennis court/parking lot.  J doesn't remember this afternoon, but he still likes to pick up stuff and so do I!  He's the one that encouraged me to bring home these rail yard treasures.

1 comment:

  1. i once had a 55 gallon rusty barrel that i wrapped old sheeting around and fed over a couple of autumn months--water and vinegar and yogurt "juice" and rain (of course) and even snow...i kept it damp then let it dry. the resulting cloth was very cool!

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