Day 161 - Sunday

Small snail

interesting bugs

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Red Admiral

Storms and heavy rain prevent any excursions into the forest this morning but by mid afternoon the sun is out again. It remains humid and I return to a place where I had seen fungi yesterday. Looking in my fungi pocket book I decide that they are probably St. George’s mushroom (Calocybe Gambosa) which are edible so I take a few back with me. Yesterday evening the only creatures out were slugs and snails covering the paths in such numbers that it was almost impossible to avoid treading on them. In contrast the forest is alive this afternoon with all sorts of creatures.
Curious about what happened to various projects mentioned in the blog? Here is an update:

I) (Day 14 – Talking rubbish) The sculpture made from waste rubbish (mainly milk cartons) is still on my ‘to do’ list. I did make a trial one that looked like a robot but it was still rubbish and I decided not worthy of the blog.

II) (Day 80 – Sculpture) The sculpture which was to be made in a secret location in the forest is still on my list but snow intervened and then the papiermache Auerhahn sculpture. Also the ‘secret’ location where I had begun to stockpile material (mainly dead branches) was bulldozed soon after. The bulldozers also ran over my Rock Snake burying it deep under mud. Well it was in the middle of the forest track. Maybe sometime in the next century when they are building an office block there an archaeologist will uncover the snake again and conclude that Rock Snakes did exist in the Black Forest before global warming.

III) (Day 123 – Auerhahn II) The concrete Auerhahn is progressing slowly and is about one third complete. Waiting for rain soaked soil to dry in my kitchen and technical problems with the cement setting has slowed the process down.

IV) I am preparing Auerhahn III a clay version to fill in the time while waiting for the soil and cement to dry.

V) (Day 46 - Zick Zackweg) The video made from stills of the zigzag path proved to be too long, boring and in the end too large to put on the web so I abandoned the whole idea.

On other subjects:

VI) (Day 125 – Rain) The woodpeckers appear to have flown their nest, as I have not seen them in several weeks. I did hear the young calling about a month back but never got to see them despite passing by frequently. It got me thinking where do they sleep now? On a branch all in a row, clinging to the trunk of a tree or have they just moved to larger premises. If the human race followed suit and moved to smaller apartments once their off springs had flown we might also be more environmentally efficient. Just a thought. Maybe the snail has the right idea; travel slowly and carry your home on your back.