Written in Stone

There is something about stone.  Solid, like it will last forever.  Maybe that's why we use it to mark the passing of the ephemeral- like people.

 The white limestone glistens in the sun like snow; it has its own beauty, apart from what is carved on it.

Yet even stone will weather, and break, and eventually wear away.  This slab of stone, which has borne the winds and rain so long that any carving is no longer visible, is at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia.  Built in 1741, it was here that Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"

 Even the hardest granite is made smooth and round by the constant  pressure of water in the James River.

The passage of time has marked them, as surely as the carving of names and dates marks the passage of humankind.  The time is counted in infinitely longer spaces, and the marks are of a different kind.

These beautiful formations of iron pyrite (fool's gold) are a mystery; no one knows even if they were living creatures, or some type of crystalline structure.  The message remains undeciphered.

 

These rocks appear to have markings on them.  If this were a sentence, what would it say?

For me, their message may lie in the association with a memory.  These stones were gathered on trips to the Great Smokey Mountains.

 Like this sandstone from Lewis County, Kentucky, stones tell us stories of a past where humans would not yet exist for hundreds of millions of years.  The earth keeps records from which we can learn.

Precambrian stromatolites are fossils of ancient colonies of algae, which grew in layers, forming the beautiful striations seen here.

 What ancient tree was this, before it was replaced with minerals and became petrified wood?

        Detail showing crystals in the center. 

   Fossilized redwood at Yellowstone.

I've been fascinated with rocks forever, and have collected them since I was a child.  This is how my house is decorated, with rocks on the buffet (above), on the mantel, the end tables- everywhere.

 A nice rock at Glacier National Park- I would have brought it home, except it's the size of a small house.

 A geode full of amethyst crystals.  

   Shale formation, Lewis County, Kentucky.

 And speaking of rocks...

 Glacier National Park

                                                      

Rocks??!

 A while back, I joined a group on facebook called "The Weekly Wildlife, Nature and Conservation Photography Challenge".  They do a photo contest each week focused on a different subject, such as "birds" or "two species in one picture", or whatever.  I usually don't participate,  because the subject is one that I don't have access to, like "tropical rainforests" (pretty scarce in Kentucky) or something, but mainly because I just don't have the time.  (Uh-oh, not that again!)

 But his week, it's "Rocks and Stones".  They seemed to think this would be a tough one, even giving helpful hints /suggestions about where people might look to find rocks to photograph. 

Rocks??!  Seriously??!  Rocks, we've got plenty of in Kentucky.   Many farmers for countless generations have wished we could have some soil instead, but- no.  It's rocks.  On most farms you will find somewhere a huge pile or piles of rocks, which had to be cleared out of the fields before they could be plowed.  I cannot fathom how long it must have taken to do this using just your hands, a mule and a wagon.

Another thing about rocks: I love them.  I am what some would call a "rock hound."  (Some might even postulate that my head is full of rocks.")  I've been collecting rocks and fossils since the first time I walked down a creek bed and picked up a bit of fossilized crinoid stem.  I've been known to wrestle an entire backpack full of geodes out of a deep creek bed- I think they might have weighed more than I did!  A day of digging around on the side of a cliff looking for fossils is a good day in my book.

So here are a few of my rock pictures.  I wonder how many photos you're allowed to enter- 100?  200?

 

* Disclaimer: Not all rocks pictured here are in Kentucky.   Rocks may be found in other places as well.