Sycamore Sun Star

Sycamore Sun Star, originally uploaded by ...escher....

This was a collaboration with JRTPickle and the final thing that we made yesterday (you must take a look at her photostream - she is a very talented land artist). I had so many photos to download to my computer that I ran out of time and couldn't post them all. Whilst I was photographing this she assembled it and left it on a rock. I asked her if she was going to photograph it and she said "no, it's only a doodle."

I picked it up and looked at it and thought it might look cool upright like a windmill but the seeds kept falling out of the grass struts as it wasn't held together with anything. So I stitched together the ends of the seeds and tried to make it as symmetrical as I could so it would hold together properly and immediately I saw its potential, then mounted it on a stick and I searched for a spot with the right light to photograph it.

How glad am I that I did! What a great little sculpture and the late afternoon light was just perfect for it. Just wish it was all my own work! ;-) But hopefully it is a sign of things to come and has shown us what we might be capable of if we collaborate some more.

The place we were yesterday is called the Trough of Bowland. Bowland being the upland area between Morecambe Bay, the Yorkshire Dales and Cumbria. It is an outstandingly beautiful place but not as well known as the previous two honey-pots I mentioned. Most people pass through on their way to the Lake District without knowing what they are missing. I was one of those people when I lived in the South and it is only once I moved to Lancaster that I discovered it. I hope they never make it a national park so that it remains little known.

That said, yesterday was a beautiful day and the road through the Trough is very popular with cyclists, motorbike riders and Sunday drivers. I can understand the thrill of riding a motorbike through wild countryside but they sure do spoil it for everyone who loves peace and quiet, it is quite a selfish activity in my opinion and many a quiet afternoon is impinged upon by bikes ridden dangerously with illegal exhausts that make a hell of a racket. Three sports bikes passed us today doing two or three times the speed limit. A bit foolhardy as the elderly sunday drivers like to do a third of the speed limit. It seems these two things shouldn't really mix.

One of the cyclists who passed us today was Ministry who has been a contact on Flickr for a while. We have swapped many comments but not met and when he dismounted I was greeted with "there could only be one person round here doing that with leaves!" Very similar to what happened when I met Litrate and he was spot on. Normally I am out in less obvious places but we were bound to meet at some point.