Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Cairn Building

Michelle and I set out this morning on a mission to rebuild some of the cairns that an unknown-to-us cairn builder had built last spring and that had since been toppled.  We had especially enjoyed this group of cairns and wanted to restore at least some of them.  We found rocks strewn around in the grassy woods near the river and one lone cairn still standing.  I at first approached this project intending to impose and restore order, but Michelle was more willing to quietly look at the rocks and follow their direction.  This seemed a better approach to me,  especially after I watched her successfully balance some rocks that I would never have attempted to balance.
We had a wonderful time out there in the chilly breeze with the river singing in the background.  We used the rocks in the locations in which we found them, and we left some vines in place on rocks as well as some rocks on the ground.  We didn't try to make people or animals, but after we completed the cairns we noticed that some looked like women walking or small children or altarpieces or even a bird.
We made eight, five on a procession and three more a little distance away in a separate grouping.  The lone old cairn stands between our two groups.  I drew some of the cairns while Michelle sat on a large stone and listened to the river.  When my hands were thoroughly frozen we hiked back to my house.  We want to come back soon and build some more plus build some in some other locations.  These cairns really built themselves!

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