If .... there couldn't be a war

If all the soldiers refused to fight there couldn't be a war.... Such was the philosophy when I was a student in the late 60's and early 70's. I was studying architecture and certainly believed then that my chosen career could help build a better world. We all did - and cheerfully took on waiter-ing cleaning, bartending or whatever to keep ourselves fed and independent. We were also conscientious objectors to military service since we didn't see that as part of a better world. That's clearly an oversimplification when you look at the good our armed forces have done in disaster relief. 

These days it's pretty hard to get anyone to believe that we were motivated by an altruistic dream. Where has that world gone? I feel so heartbroken and despairing. As an "economic unit" my life is a failure - l could do so much more but it is not wanted... where is the world that is enriched by beauty, that builds compassion from the expression of love and humanity?

"Blessing" remembered

Last year it was such a wrestle with the camera and the timing to get a full day sequence of the finished sculpture at Lightning Ridge - but finally getting to put the pictures together has taken me right back there - to the clear light and the peace. So here is the day in the life of a rock - albeit one that I messed with a bit.

And if the embedded version doesn't work for you you can go to Youtube to watch it....

and a big thank you to Roger for completing the recording process when I had to return to Melbourne.

The Social License to Operate

A social license to operate is an intangible, fragile thing - an extension of Good Will in businesses. It depends on perception, communication, transparency and community values. I suspect though that it will be a pretty good indicator of the future viability of a company. I've done my rant about the ills of decoupling money from the goods and services it represents; now I'm thinking that a method of assessing and recording the social license might be as important as the current accounting of a company when due diligence is done.

A system of assessment would need to be agile and flexible to allow for lots of different situations and technologies, and would need to be able to cross national borders. It needs to be community based and not an arm of a multinational company. In other words it needs to be crowd sourced and used. And verified - no one wants a good company ruined by false information or misrepresentation.

Should an individual self assess? What is my long term philosophy?

I think in future rubbish will be more expensive than recycling

Recycled will be cheaper than virgin materials

Renewable should mean just that - consumption no greater that the earth's replacement capacity - with a bit built in for resilience and global repair.

Kiri and Jamie's Tea light holder

And where do I stand? A long way behind my own standards: this little item in cast glass doesn't just have glass manufacture and a kiln firing - there's a pile of waste mould material I have to answer for - how can that be re-used or recycled? I should get back to carving wood!

And this one says....

"Pardon me thou bleeding piece of earth..."

Thus spoke Shakespeare's Mark Anthony addressing the newly dead Julius Caesar of his need to negotiate with Caesar's murderers. I'm regretting my complicity in the economic system that made these trees "surplus to requirements".

The trees were planted in 1916 - in a paddock of thistles. Henry and Dolly and their six month old baby put their first energies into establishing the orchard - and it bore fruit in 1920. You can see the fine grain of the annual rings - but I know now how this one will go so I won't sand any more until the shape is ready.

More of the story in an interview with Aimee Volkofsky at http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bushtelegraph/tree-pull-sculptor/5095778

Fruit Wood - the start

a stick with cracks... but William pear wood

The wood looks pretty shattered - being felled by bulldozer is not the ideal way to start a sculpture. So I picked the smallest piece and figured I'd have a go and see how the pear wood responds to the tools.....

It's a bit softer than the Manchurian pear so I'll have to see what sort of polish it will take - when I get to that point... Still this piece has some grace and reminds me of my Nana.

and under the bark there really is some nice wood.

My maternal grandparents retired to Mornington just after the second war. They considered chickens at the start but Grandpa worked out it was cheaper to buy the eggs. By the time I came for summer holdays the fruit trees were well established. They had two sorts of peach, apricots and plums. I remember hot days - I just sat in the shade and ate the best fruit but Nana sat up in the hot west window of the kitchen bottling fruit as hard as she could go - "to save its life". On other days Nana was tall and elegant and dressed up to the nines and went shopping in town with her friend Mrs Murray.