I usually post on a Friday evening but this week, we went camping instead.

I took some knitting but really didn’t do much of it. Sometimes I feel that my knitting gets in the way of connecting with my kids and my partner. It is something I focus on and that takes up room on my lap. So I left my hands mostly empty this trip and filled my lap with children, marshmallows and smoke from the campfire.

On one of our walks through a part of the bush that had been burnt out quite badly, I noticed the work of human hands. Of course, I know intellectually that the tracks and campsites are maintained by Parks Victoria but this was something a little different. With all of the ground cover and shrub layer removed by fire, water erosion along the gully lines was quite severe. To counter this, fallen trees had been placed perpendicular to the slope to slow the water flow and to catch leaves and sticks to build up the humus layer. In the gullies, sticks and logs and stones had been thrown into the erosion fissures again to slow the water and catch debris. Pot holes that appeared in the tracks were infilled with big rocks.

The work of human hands indicated a care for the land that was contagious. We too looked for big rocks to put in other pot holes that had formed. How many walkers had seen the same and were moved to do the same? We are moved by the evidence of human hands for good or ill. Often, we are less inclined to care for a place when we see the evidence of damage, rubbish and neglect. We are a curious lot.