So what’s been happening with this slow-burning project during the first part of 2011? Well, a couple of things.
Firstly, there have been several visits to hills in order to nab them and add them to the collection. Many a weekend has featured a ‘hill trip’, although usually this has only taken in one or two specimens, sometimes on the way to somewhere else. But gradually the number of hits has built up, and Trevor has been assisting me in the compiling of a Google map showing their whereabouts. I plan to add comments to each one – loads of potential with this technology!
Also, the project now has a website at www.world-tree.co.uk/howe. It doesn’t contain much material yet, but if it’s anything like my last self-directed project, just having the site there is a great motivation for making regular additions to its content. Which will hopefully be an aid to creativity …
And, a while back I had a mad crazy phase of misusing Google Translate to stir up The Elfin Hill a bit. Translating it from (translated) English to Danish to English to Norwegian to English to Swedish to English to Icelandic to English to German and finally back into English had some strange and amusing results, which I’m still deciding how to utilise.
But it’s the hill visits that are the main ongoing activity at the moment, and yesterday we spent a whole day out with the intention of adding a fair few to the haul. With the electricity off at home all day for essential works and with our own freelance day jobs relying on computer use, well, it seemed the ideal excuse! I’m really not sure how all this data will resolve itself, but meanwhile just ‘seeing what happens’ feels like part of the work itself and I’m going to run with that.
Yesterday’s bag – Tulip Hill, Tumbley Hill, Hangour Hill, Hungry Hill, Bartholomew’s Hills and Burrow Hill.
