Time well spent

Today we put the finish coat on our Earth Oven--a mixture of clay and sand and water and pine needles. We decorated the border with some of John's favorite kind of river rock--smooth egg-shaped stones. Quartzite, I think. They stand out amidst the brown sedimentary slabs that are most common on our river floor.

Our daughter Kathe arrived last night for a visit, so this morning she joined her dad mixing mud, barefoot on the tarp, and then helped sculpt the outer layer of our oven. I added some small, smooth river stones, a bit larger than the tiny ones I used to make today's earrings.

Searching for stones in a river bed. An amusing waste of time, hard I'm sure for many people to imagine as fulfilling or worthwhile. But I find it a calming, solitary pursuit of the sort that gave such rich texture to my childhood. Taking time to study the simple beauty in small things. 

An oven of earth, like those used for millenia to bake the food of our ancestors. 

Time well spent.