The Avant Garden

My First Arch!

I was so proud of my first arch. I did this in the rockpile of my neighbors Tim and Sandy. I think I e-mailed it to everyone I knew.  November 5, 2004.

My second arch ...

My second arch was more two leaning flat-earth stacks, but it still stands tonight (020205). It lost its head once, but it didn't fall. November 6, 2004.

My third Arch!

I took a load of firewood 'round back in the Honda and used it to prop up the rocks while I stacked them. My father-in-law, Peter Kasper, was down for K-T's birthday (11) and he helped me. November 7, 2004.

Stone Serpent

Third Arch became the first arc of the Stone Serpent. This is the text of the e-mail I sent to everyone I knew: Beneath the surface of the Earth, when just the right combination of stones band together in just the right way, they form stone serpents and go up to the surface for a blast of fresh air and sunshine (it's good for combatting the winter blues). Though they move very slowly, most folks have never seen them. I was able to catch this one in my back yard and snapped a quick photo before (s)he went back down. Come over. There's a very good chance (s)he will surface again and you can see him/her live. We'll bait it, if need be.

Dave

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Ten Dollar Stack was a friend of mine. He stayed up from a rainy Nov. 11 until sometime in mid-January, when high water took him.  He was 6 feet tall from the top surface of Rock A. I plan on searching for his scattered remains when the River warms up and rebuilding. He was part of the Debris Trio. Played bass, I think.

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Wouldn't you hate to find yourself in a bar where the house band was "The Debris Trio" over and over again? Anyway, Ten Dollar Stack got two satellites to keep him company. High water in mid-Jan. took them all. They were pretty stout, all collecting an impressive array of flotsam. These are behind the house of my landlords, sorta my way of paying rent. Due to 34F river temps, they've been down a while. I'm expecting an eviction notice. Rock B of the right-hand stack is actually white; it's papered with leaves and rivermuck.

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Top shelf rocks make for nice stacks on a crisp North Carolina Sunday morning. Sometimes on those Sunday mornings, I feel like I am in my church, except my friends drive by and honk at me.

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We went to Atlanta for Thanksgiving weekend. My friend Joe Peery, who lives in the Grant Park area of East Atlanta, has a yard full of generous, limb-bearing trees. More than his gas fireplace can handle, anway. I broke the limbs in the limbpile up and made this cone thing on a pedestal, and left a place to put a candle in it. We lit it later. It was quite nerve-wracking, actually. Kinda distracted me from the party. There'll be others.

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These Seven Arches were the impetus for The Marching Arches. I decided to walk around the rockpile and collect the most likely workable rocks and make as many arches as fast as I could. I think this may have coincided with the day I broke down and bought kneepads.

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One crisp fall Sunday mornings I went to the vacant lot rockpile and drank coffee and listened to satellite radio and stacked rocks. I decided to stack with a religious theme, it being Sunday and all, so I did this thing where I stacked Jesus up on top, and the rocks at his feet are begging for healing; the ones in the stacks have been healed and are now listening to Jesus speak. A guy drove up on a motorcycle with a cat and a dog (no, I am not making this up; his name was Jack Duncan) in a basket and I explained it to him and it made perfect sense to both of us.