My boulder library

Ive been an avid reader since childhood and have always loved books. For me books have not simply been about their form (earlier paper and nowadays increasingly digital) but of the myriads of stories that they held within.

With my books

In the process of building my home, Ive been equally fascinated by the boulders and rocks that have either been on my home site or been excavated from the ground while building the foundations of our home.

Much of our home design has been an effort to keep the existing boulders in situ and have a structure that is in its midst without intruding on them. Ensuring we didn't inadvertently damage the boulders on the site has been a painstaking endeavour. Prior to construction start we made sure that the bases of the existing boulders would not be impacted - where necessary we used concrete and chicken mesh to strengthen their foundations. The rocks that were dug up as part of the excavation were carefully preserved in a 'rock nursery' at one end of our site.

'Air gap' between boulders and structure

Now that the basic structure is mostly complete, we have started focussing on the landscape. Our design for the grounds (modest as they might be) involves using these very rocks in a natural fashion. This week we will be determining the final areas where they will reside on the grounds.

I was reflecting on this pre-occupation with boulders and rocks (many of them potentially a billion years old or even older), when I came across this quote from Pulitzer Prize winning American writer, John McPhee - "Rocks are records of events that took place at the time they formed. They are books. They have a different vocabulary, a different alphabet, but you learn how to read them."

As a book lover, it delights me that my new home will be in the midst of a boulder based library. Every time I wander thru the grounds, the stories that they will tell will only be limited by my imagination.

...Leaving my mark

...Meet the 'Toad'al rockstar