Yesterday, Maria wrote about the Sloppy Bricklayer’s Wood Pile, she was abashed by the collapse of a cord of wood she had just stacked. Maria takes her wood stacking seriously, she sees it as an art form, a complex process of imaging (she never measures, that’s for dumb men and rubes), thinking, engineering, much as one might think about a quilt.

Yesterday, she spent several hours rebuilding her cord and stacking the new cord that arrived a few days ago. I was inside exhausting myself at the computer. This morning, she proudly waved her hands around to demonstrate how one log goes there, another goes here, and how she uses brick-laying and other techniques to balance it all out so it will stand up through the fall and winter.

I nodded approvingly, but have absolutely no idea what she was talking about, her hands were going around and around like a windmill. No fool, I said, wow, that’s amazing.

And it’s true, it is amazing. It looks as carefully designed as it was, it is a piece of art and architecture.

I am pleased to report were are once again, fully prepared for the winter. Two wood stoves being cleaned, seven cords of wood, a barn full of hay.