Jim and I love pottering round by the water – collecting rocks and stones. Just yesterday he was down at Frostt Creek at Lindell Beach and worked on one of the dams to “improve it”.
On one of the long weekends recently I had a project in mind – I wanted to build an Inuksuk. We build them everywhere! We know the kind of rocks we need – but they’re harder to find than you’d think.
They’re also awkward and heavy.
Happily, we ended up with enough rocks for 2 – one in the front garden and one out back. They add a lot of character and I love that the front one is right in front of our dining room window and looks just as good from the back as he does from the front.
We had an amazing vacation in Mexico in 2014 and stayed at a cute little boutique hotel right at the beach, and we built these guys one afternoon – I wonder if they’re still there…
Back in 2010, I was back in New Zealand visiting friends and stayed out at Te Horo with my BFF Chrissie and her wife, Caroline. Chrissie had to work, so Caroline and I went to the river and collected rocks to build a mini Inuksuk which was poorly located because people kept backing into it. It was also not a good inuksuk, and more a goofy pile of rocks – but it was a very fun day and we were extremely proud of our stacking abilities.
That day at the beach was the last time I’d ever see the incredible force of nature that was Caroline Johnstone. She died in a tragic accident in the mountains after a day of snowboarding – unbelievably 10 years ago. It was devastating. Jim and I built an enormous inuksuk at Riverview in her memory. It was over 5ft tall and was a huge undertaking. She’ll never be forgotten, it’s not possible.
