Forever House (#5)

Early days on our (Gould's) verandah

9th February, 2013
You may have noticed that it has taken 5 blogs to cover my ruminations of the 9th February. I actually spent both evenings by candlelight writing in the van while I was there - and I wrote a lot. So bear with me.

The first cob

When I first decided to build the Forever House, I had a different vision in some ways, to what I do now. But, so much of the dream is the same now as then. My kids were 10 and 11 - I thought I was building for them as well. My original floor plan had three bedrooms. that has been reduced by one, and the dining lounge area is smaller than originally planned. Sometimes I wish I had just done a shack - but I didn't, and what I have done, when it is finished, will be a great size for sharing with other people. That's my more enduring plan these days. To get the place liveable and bring small groups here for a long weekend or whatever. Live in the mud house, swim in the river, walk, read, be catered for, starlit baths. I have my little caravan to hang out in, and facilitate the group's enjoyment. Fires, Camp ovens, candles, no technology. Mudding workshops, writers retreats, photographers, yoga, painters, cyclists - there's lots of tracks in them there hills. So that's my motivation To spend my working days looking after people in a place that I love - in this finished house. Jeff and I, and our friends and family will come and be here as and when we can. Long weekend in October 2014 - that will be ten years since the firt cob of mud was laid. That is my goal.
 

10th February, 2013
As I contemplate my departure, listening to the birds, I think among them are a good number of bell birds. My knowledge of bell birds is far from comprehensive, but I think it would be better in the landscape if I could not hear them at all. Trees die when bell birds are around - I must google and remind myself of the reasons why. It's close to 9 and I will be gone by ten. Again I contemplate a walk to the front gate, which is 8k round trip up and down significant mountains. But I have already eaten poached eggs and promite on toast - the first actual meal I've had since arriving on Friday; and I had a bit of a stumble in Casino on Friday and have damaged my left foot - the joint at the big toe. So I've managed quite well on that toe so far this weekend. Might leave well enough alone. The walk is quite a mental and physical workout.

I noticed on my way in on Friday that at least four of the rock statues I built on my walk last time I was here, are still standing - withstanding flooding rain no less. The kids and I started building them years ago - just stop the car and all jump out and build a statue or two on the way home from school. It caused a bit of grief with one of the shareholders at the time - he was convinced we were dabbling in something we didn't understand and that we could be calling anything in to Currawinya.Bad things, bad spirits. I explained that for the kids and me, it was all about making rocks balance on top of each other and the aesthetic of the finished statue. Funnily enough, that share holder Peter became a regular satue builder himself.

I first came across rock statues while away on a ten day Vipassna meditation retreat in the Blue Mountains. That was actually the last thing I did before my 2nd husband Ian, the father of my children, and I separated. Anyway, it was a non talking retreat, and no eye contact. We meditated for a total of eleven hours a day, and in between times, apart form meals, we could find a place in the bushy grounds and sit. No reading or writing materials allowed. I used to walk a path there for exercise and I noticed a few small rack statues to the side of the path one day. Each time I passed there would be more, and I added to the growing collection. The collection was scattered after a while, they were seen as a form of communication... a distraction from the purpose of our being there (I heard whispered when we were allowed to talk to each other on the last day.) But I am very glad to have learned about them and the way they do communicate something. To my eye, they always take on a persona. And the general feeling is happiness when I see them no matter who has built them. They leave me wondering about the builder. A bit like wondering about the artists, writers and songwriters who create works I relate to.



For about a year I have been leaving the caravan all packed up to deter rats - because or one occasion I arrived; I won't describe the disgusting invasion I found of my little home away from home. I think enough months have passed where there has been absolutely no sign of entry or festy droppings, and so a tarp over the mattress  will do and I the lounge can stay as it is. Everything crossed that's how I find it next time.

Danika Peita and I by the camp fire one morn

Lots of cicadas and the odd crow calling. I've not been outside except to empty my bucket. The van is probably twenty-five metres from the drop toilet, not a place to visit in the dark - and most particularly for a wee. The toilet was burned down in the fire that also burned the house in 2004. My brother-law Andy threw up a bush carpenters dunny around the hole int he ground back in 2004. And finally, I have concluded that I need to give the job of building a new outhouse to hopefully Dave. This last storm, and probably a random trespassing cow, have pushed the existing structure too far. The slab around the whole in the ground is too small to allow a mud wall to be built on three side. Well, the walls of the house are about two hundred and fifty mils wide, and eve though I co them narrower for the toilet, I could never do them narrow enough to leave a decent amount of space inside. So I'm thinking either timber or metal poles and the recycled courrugated iron from the current loo, which was recycled form some part of the burnt out building before that. I'll need to make a small stained glass window and find a door of sorts. Though its kind of nice sitting in a doorless dunny as it is at the moment. But if I intend to bring visitors out here, not everyone is as comfortable as I am with such things.

The dunny at its best

So I'm off to take a couple of pics of my progress this trip, and then I'll be gone in my poor old flooded car home to host a meeting on Jeff and my deck at 3pm. I am part of the Milling around Events Committee for the Rous Mill Hall - we're planning this year's events. The other lovely community I am committed to.