I love rocks. I have always loved rocks. As a kid, I spent countless hours climbing on the cliffs and rock falls close to my house. My first job, during high school and college summers, was working for a Japanese landscape designer and builder. One of my fellow employees was an Italian stonemason who taught me the skills of cutting stone and building stone drywalls. From my boss, I learned the art of placing boulders properly.
For those of you wondering what ‘placing boulders properly’ means, every stone has a top and a bottom, a front and a back. The skill I learned was how to figure out which is which and then place the boulder in exactly the right position in exactly the right place. In this way, the boulder would transform from a rock to something that would catch your attention, stop you in your tracks, and lead to thoughtful contemplation.
