Come on Up to the House....

I was thinking about the Chris Jordan film below- which is such an important piece of work but will probably just be more flotsam in cyberspace in terms of impact- which makes it even sadder.. so I decided to cheer myself up with some new music. Tom Waits had a new album out yesterday which is just terrifically bonkers as ever..and the record got me thinking about why Midway has reached the point it has- I find Mr T's music throws off so many tangents you can go anywhere with it.. but anyways- as usual he has the answer to the question how it happened..

A message from the Gyre

An Ocean Gyre- that has a ring to it doesn't it? A phrase of Melvillian portent if ever there was one. Subtropical Gyres are giant mid-ocean currents caused by heat expansion. Midway Island sits in the middle of the North Pacific - 2000 miles aways from the nearest landmass. Around it swirls a gyre, and in that circles a half century of dumped trash and flotsam- a terrible plastic soup for the Albatross that call Midway home. Chris Jordan is producing a documentary on Midway- and the impact of our throwaway society on a place 2000 miles distant from it. Sobering stuff....

Location Location Location

I was going to attempt to draw a map of where the crew reside when not out gallivanting, but my artists skills are demonstrably hopeless. Fortunately we have a gifted artist who's a virtual woodland resident in every sense. Rob Turner has been working with the Kent Wildlife Trust on the Wildart project in the Blean Woodlands and has also been blogging on his woodland adventures for a couple of years now. Rob has a dog, Cosmo, who accompanies him on his near daily visits up here. Sid and Cosmo don't get on too well- principally because of Cosmo's never to be forgotten ineptly un-homicidal attack on our dear-departed chickens. Cosmo it has to be said, was about as good at killing chickens as he is at facing down the Sidster. No matter. The bad blood still boils. Schnauzers don't forget trespass. Mess with the chicks, YOU MESS WITH DA WHOLE FAMILY.
Rob's blogs are at:  http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/493778/0/2/desc
and http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/654257/0/2/desc
and here is his map- thanks Rob!

Crew Members

In this show, as in all shows, there are stars- or core crew as we like to call them-, dis, as dey say in Port Arcourt, be dem:

Big Sid

He is big, he's black, and his brain is made of fat.  Sid is a Giant Schnauzer. He has presence. He has self- belief. He is, as far as he is concerned, Capo de tutti Capi, especially in Thornden Wood. You want some?

Ethel Pup- aka El Puppage, Dup:

Ethel Pup is a German Pointer of indeterminate lineage- suspected Spaniel input. Pup does two things: she runs, she hunts. That's it. All else is nothing and nothing else is required.
She confesses. She comes clean. Guilty as charged.
She is the Pup.

Boo Boo:

At this stage neither big nor clever. but we have hopes.....

The Pacific Princess:

Mainly she tolerates it- and keeps everything together. No 1 Crew.

Family Values

Sometimes things just click- and there's a shared passion that gets everyone through the rough times that are always lurking in the recesses of every family. And some love is always good.


A Steelhead Family - Official HD video 3.1 from Andrew Hardingham on Vimeo.

Stuff we do in Autumn

Things happen in a wood this time of year- fruit does its stuff- even untamed- we need to get the logs in, the spiders get busy and mist comes up to hide Sid- which is saying something- he takes some hiding. But mainly its a time for bonfires- one of my favourite things..days like these just need smoke.

Daylight


The light bends rose bowed so close
Pressing urgent on
To fields that await the end race
With the truth of stillness
And the joy of a presence so far away
Sends the light delirious in beauty to
Stop there and rest forever breathing deep
And free amongst the forms surrendered

The apples come on..

And then go out....

Everybody's laying down some stores..

And working on warmth

Good Morning Sparklehorse

This is Tomasz. He is a Konik Pony. Konik is actually the base word for horse in Polish- so somewhat confusingly he is a Horse Pony- which I am sure makes perfect sense in Poland- a place where I  suspect most things do..He lives feral with three chums in Thornden Wood. Normally he is grey. Except at sunrise- when he does this. A very very clever trick.