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| Inukshuck on a rocky outcrop |
I ended last week's post with the same picture as above. Some of you may not know what Inukshucks are. Here is an explanation taken from Wikipedia:
An inuksuk (plural inuksuit), alternatively inukshuk in English (from the Inuktitut, is a stone landmark or cairn built by humans, used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America. These structures are found from Alaska to Greenland. This region, above the Arctic Circle, is dominated by the tundra biome and has areas with few natural landmarks.
The inuksuk may have been used for navigation, as a point of reference, a marker for travel routes, fishing places, camps, hunting grounds, places of veneration, drift fences used in hunting or as a food cache. The Inupiat in northern Alaska used inuksuit to assist in the herding of caribou into contained areas for slaughter. Varying in shape and size, the inuksuit have longtime roots in the Inuit culture.
We first learned of them when we visited Canada a few years ago and on our return built our own in the garden of Eastgate. The domaine here has some fine suitable stones and plenty of good places to put them. Our good friends, David and Johanna left us some to find during their stay here in the winter.
Jim and Peter built the one in the top picture and more are planned in other craggy places.
It has been a quiet week on the social front and we haven't been to any new places or dined out. Our time has been taken up with finishing chores already started, getting ready for Matthew's visit and preparing for our journey home on the 7th November.
The patchwork quilt is finished -
The kitchen is painted, although the ceiling could use another coat -
And much progress has been made on the wall of the extended terrace -
Jim has nearly reached the top - he has to added a flat top (a coping) that I can stand the tubs of flowers on that I will be preparing tomorrow? - like this -
Axel has fixed the dishwasher and we now have it reinstalled and working. What a pity that we didn't get him to look at it in the beginning of our stay rather than at the end.
It has rained a lot this week and 'les couleurs d'automne' are now fully fledged and in the weak sun the trees are dazzling. Alas when I took these pictures there wasn't any sun, weak or otherwise. The forecast is better for the days to come which I hope will materialise as Matthew and his family are to spend our last week here.
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| From the Nature Walk |
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| From Peter's Place |
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| From the Nature Walk |
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| Across the Redwood Field |
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| Across the Redwood Field - the Sequoia in the background |
Your pictures are better than mine! But I am still trying to work out whether the Inuckshuck faces north or not - and I think it probably does seeming as the PP Valley faces west. So He is there the little man with the stone arm lest any passing Esquimaux are wondering which is the way home, though what Esquimaux (or should that me Inuit?) would be doing in the Cantal I know not and certainly dount whether if you could transport them to the Cantal any would want to return. It is well known that that if 'it' means a deep frozen landscape, being sown into ones clothes and having to drink melted caribou fat, then most Inuit want 'Outofit' given half a chance, and so would I. So the Inuckshuck may have few takers, though he remains as beautiful as the autumn colours and will no doubt persist long after they have gone.
ReplyDeleteI like your Inukshuk very much! These are familiar figures on the landscape around these parts - the road for the airport is lined with small ones that locals have put on the berms alongside. Every hill or outlook has an Inukshuk or two - the are welcoming figures, I think.
ReplyDeleteThe landscape where you are is lovely. You must be having a late fall - all the leaves are gone from these parts.