a pond in 24 hours - the serialization

and then...

[dan took this photo -- i was too busy having a mini orgasm after planting the reeds with clare]

and yes, the water is murky because the clay doesn't ever properly separate from the water molecules but the tadpoles like it. this is a frog habitat designed to operate as part of a permaculture system -- we're in zone 1. watch out crickets and bugs, hello micro-climate. the dam looks like this too. i'm not sure it will ever settle. and that's ok. orange is my favourite colour.

then everyone [well almost everyone] magically disappeared into the falling sunday night while clare, jay and i stayed on to wrestle with siphoning water [#FAIL], we just don't have dan's lungs, then to brave another morning of heavy rock lifting in the desperate hope to complete the vision... i am obsessive that way. some would say a slave driver.

besides we had lots of left over food and beer to consume. well, food anyway.

the morning after.

see the rocks? what broken back... this is what clare & i did on monday. her back is screwed too. and yes, it was hot. the stones became white stars of light. physical meets heat exhaustion is... exhausting. but look at the results!

another feather in the cap for KINO filmmakers. films & ponds in 24 hours. NB. film is definitely easier.

after trawling rocks from just after sunrise, we then waited till jay woke up & we *cough* gave him the opportunity to express his manliness and allowed him to roll the last couple of rocks into place. diagnosis: exceptional masculinity evidenced -- there's more than meets the eye with these arty muso types.

if anyone's interested there's some rocks that clare & i managed to get to the car but not into it waiting down at the creek for next time... it's all about sharing the love.

and the tadpoles survived. talk about happy endings even if i did have to revert to old editor format on blogger to share the pix. thanks for fixing the unbroken system google. lucky we're on such a pond high, i'm virtually untouchable. next comes solar pump & filtration. and water chestnuts... and some more bamboo.

TEAM POND [in alphabetical order]:

alex pappasavvas
andrew berman
clare devlin-mahoney
dan rossi
dan simmonds
francois chemillier
jay dalgleish
ruby
vanessa findley
&
yours truly

a pond in 24 hours [give or take 5 years]

this is the story of sustainable love meets long-term vision. a 24 hour photo essay of my mountain pond which has become a group collaboration over what seems, and is, aeons. the results of the working bee this wknd past are in. neither the first nor last of hopefully many.

originally all of this space was one big barren clay hill with all the top soil shaved off from prior excavation from trigger happy men expressing their testosterone through beer, machines and masturbation. the transformation has been a massive labour of love.  and still a work in progress. human lives are so short, the magpies said.

i started digging into the rock in 2005. i was handier with a mattock then than i am now but my efforts barely put a dent in what is primarily rock & compressed clay. it is extremely hard work. which warrants copious beer drinking. still there was a sizeable hole. and there it sat for a long time. waiting.

reiteration: it is hot work. see how dan pants like a little dog?

previously he'd bucketed out by hand over 300 litres of water [aided and abetted by ruby's innovative oxygenation programme] which the rain had inadvertently provided & the natural clay seal partially managed to retain in the pond. the frogs had moved in [YAY] a little prematurely. cue massive tadpole rescue mission. saint dan. we saved some mosquito larvae as well. we're so buddhist.

after digging a trench to bury the pond liner edges flush with the earth, we put recycled carpet underlay sourced from surry hills back streets, on top of the dug out clay to provide protection for the pond liner from the jutting internal rocks and hard edges. pond developers recommend sand but perhaps i'm retarded -- i just couldn't visualise side stickability. how does it adher to the walls? carpet is OK too. but a little stiff. we have both just in case.

did i mention that it's hot? hello pond liner posing as a three headed bondage ghost.

clare models the very latest in pondwear. available from any good pond accessory store.

pond liner is adjusted, decreased & edges buried into the trench. well, as decreased as you can get with a square sheet and a round[ish] hole...

ruby & i survey the scene as the others drink another well-deserved beer under the hot sun which strangely enough was only officially 23 degrees celcius but felt like 38. we're so buggered we can barely stand/speak.

that's right mofos... WATER! ruby does the honours. she is a water goddess after all. 

TBC... [only because blogger won't let me load any more images]. how very annoying for all of us.