What do you imagine is the difference between seeing a beautiful object and an ugly one?

First of all, I would like to thank Erich for illuminating the charcoal soil phenomenon in awesome detail (check yesterday's comments section). I find this fascinating and will use some of this information in the upcoming experiments.

Having now finished (apart from the door) the general frame of the dwelling, I have come upon the need to think about the composition of the site (in addition to all the other design questions yet to be answered). So I took a walk to observe the natural composition of the area.

Leonardo Da Vinci used to has suggested staring at an oil-stained canvas in order to create a composition for a painting, as the mind can create any illusion in its process of imposing order upon something it does not understand. You can hear any name in the echo of a wind chime. So I set out to stare.

I happened upon a hidden opening - 

I came upon several natural hideaways artfully crafted with the cooperation of chance and the native species. I spent some time here (the view from which is the image above) -

A pine tree, some fallen wood, a rock and a blackberry bush

 

The place is alive. There was a bumblebee by my foot, he did not find what he was looking for in the grass while I was there -

Then I found a natural bower-

Two pine trees, a rock, and a needled path 

Is there a better architect than nature itself? It dawned on me how utterly stupid it was of me to begin without first observing. Even the night in the cave now seems superflous with respect to what could have come about by first observing what was there. Looking at what I've built, it seems like I carved a circle to separate myself from that which was around me. A discrete this-is-where-I-live box and not another question. Now that I'm aware of this folly, I think a more continuous integration with the site will result. 

Consider this dandelion -

The individual seeds around the dark spherical center I think serve to prevent the movement of the air in and out, through friction. So there's a captive fluid, As the center naturally heats up in the sun, the air around is heated and it takes on a natural buoyancy, perhaps it is lifted for just long enough for the paratroopers to be deployed. I wonder what triggers their release? 

In addition to natural dwellings, I also found some interesting patterns and textures:

Some seeds on a stalk -

A decaying branch -

From this old tree -

Some vines crawled up on a rock and there was no water -

Look at the space this interaction between tree and understory creates -

Here's a sculpture; A joint effort between time, neglect, and a farmer -

With a new understanding, I will continue.