My Discovery

I was thinking about what I should write about for my very first blog. Then it came to me; rocks.  One of my coveted collections. My Pretty and fascinating rocks.  And then my mind went tracing all the rocks and stones I have collected, and from where, and then back through time to where it all started.

What was my very first fascination with rocks?  My earliest recollection is from my parent’s farm.  I remember going for walks, or adventures at the time, with my “big” brother (2 years older) through “the rough pasture”.  I am not sure but I believe it was deemed that name by my father.  And he named it this, because it was where the cows roamed and grazed, and it was far too tough to work for any crops because of so many protruding rocks. And many were not small. Some were the size of soccer balls and bar-b-ques.

There was an even larger rock, one that two kids, my brother and I, could easily sit on for a stop, to chat.  And he pointed out to me, the pieces of pink granite within the stone. And he told me it was granite.  This was my first geography lesson.  I was fascinated. To this day pink granite fascinates me. Whenever I see pink granite anywhere it brings me right back to that moment. A cherished memory of our wanderings along the cow paths, that wound through the rough pasture from the barn, up to “the gut” which was this beautiful little creek that flowed through a section of the farm, then veered through the cedar bush, to the towerline.  From there the paths went in a couple directions. These were like our own private trails.  We knew them well. Some lead into the bush.  Our little roads to adventure.  We were explorers.

My brother’s second and very important introduction to me was fossils. It was by way of another very large rock he pointed out, another time, almost completely covered in tiny sea shell fossils. How this one solitary rock of sea shell fossils landed here is a story of intrigue. In later years, while going for walks, I looked for that rock as it was so fascinating, a piece of geological history, and a kind reminder of our childhood. This was my very first introduction to the evolution of the earth’s surface.  I later discovered my intense and delightful allure with geography, which became my favourite subject in school.  And hence that journey, of collecting rocks in my adult life, while travelling, was ignited.