Wood, Sweat and Manual Labour

After working my brain throughout the week I've always enjoyed letting my muscles take over the work at the weekend. It used to be at the stables, in my teens right the way through to my mid twenties. Spending time out of doors working hands and legs and back and heart with physical tasks gave my mind, usually so taken up with school work (both as a student and a teacher) a chance to wander while my body took on the repetitive, familiar tasks of sweeping the yard, mucking out and bedding down stables, leading young riders and filling up hay nets.

These days I don't have such a regular outlet for this physical need, save for treading the footpaths and fields around home. So, this weekend, faced with a huge pile of logs taking up half of the drive way, I rejoiced in the change to spend a beautiful afternoon shifting them to a more permanent home.

As the cat chased the last of the afternoon sunshine down the garden, I moved load after load in our 8 gallon trug (now missing one handle), first to the log store that Sam built over the summer, which filled before I'd really made a dent in the pile. Then to the old stone outhouse and finally, with that full to bursting, to just outside the back door with the last few.

And of course a few of them made it inside and onto the fire this evening.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend as much as I am.
S. x

Wood is good

Over this first lovely (though slightly cool and damp) summer in our own home I have spent as much time out and about in the beautiful woodland surroundings and the garden as I have inside the house (not to mention my new classroom - more on that another day).

Outside, I have loved sharing this wonderful woodland just a short step up the lane with all of our visitors. We have even come away with a few treasured logs set to become a coffee table, heat pads and of course fire wood. OK, so transporting these great hunks of unwanted logging left overs was, umm, interesting but so worth it when you think about how each piece is a part of nature, has seen years of change and is of course unique in shape and size and the pattern of its rings. We have enjoyed many many outdoor fires in our fire pit with friends and family. I am yet to come across anyone who does not give in to the mesmerising qualities of flickering flames and glowing coals once the sun has gone down.

And inside we have a few woody projects on the go too. The addition of two log burners ready for winter and a soon to be made book case and TV cabinet which we are super excited about. Rustic and beautiful solid oak with rough bark edges wherever possible. A few weeks away yet but we are very excited to see the results.

Enjoy your week lovely people, and if you can, find a little wood of your own and just breathe it in.
S. x