About the Wood

The wood is the important story here.  Each creature is the product of the growth and time of trees and shrubs.  All of that conspires with climate and weather, with the accompaniment of beetles, grubs, fungus and parasititic infestation.  How the grain of wood records all this drama is an endless fascination.
I forage for wood on various dog walks and hikes into the outdoors where I live and travel.  I have strict rules about only collecting dead and down wood.  If a piece has begun to decompose to the point where it already belongs to the soil and the biota underneath, I leave it to return to the cycles to which it belongs. I must not disturb or offend the powers that be. 
The wood that becomes a creature is my earnest attempt to glorify all that experience of the parent plant, while exhalting the spirit that dwells within each peice.