Lumberjack

In the past I was the big person and I had to do everything or it didn't get done.

Its lovely these days - they're all grown up and they can cook and wash and get themselves from a to b - and best of all, I can rely on my son to split logs. (In past times when I used a splitting axe, I was always a little worried that I might lose a leg.)

We all love a wood fire in winter and I like to keep prepared. My woodpiles are staggered: the dry, the drying and the newly cut. Today we were stacking chunks of trunks that had been drying since last year - but now needed chopping.

Ben sliced away with such vim and vigour that he chopped the chopping block in pieces. And out poured a lot of little grubs that looked like young stag-beetle larvae. So we put the chunks away in a sheltered corner to give them a chance to grow up successfully.

Even baby beetles should be allowed to achieve their potential.