Memories of Stones.

I thought that this was a touching story. Husband and his hunting buddy came across an old fellow walking in the bush. They stopped to make sure he was OK and ended up chatting for a long while. The fellow explained that he was 77 years old and he had the beginnings of dementia and often got confused about where he was walking, but not bad enough to be "lost" lost. Husband and friend noticed that the fellow was carrying a largish sized rock, which they assumed was for protection.

A few days later they ran into him again (he wasn't still in the bush, it was a new walk. 😊) and had a long conversation, and then they gave him some tips on roads to take and landmarks to look for just in case he did get turned around and ended up "lost" lost. He was carrying another rock.

The third time they saw him, they felt like old friends as he hailed them down for another chat, and this time they asked him about the rock, and he explained. (I'll get to that in a minute)

A few days later husband and I were walking in the forest and ran into him, so I was introduced and he explained his dementia diagnoses and said he'd remember me as "Irish Girl with Pink and Purple Hair". God knows I've been called worse. He saw me glance at the rock in his hand and explained the story to me.

He said he is building a rock garden in his back yard, and every time he walks he looks for a rock that is pretty or unusual in some way; an odd shape or a nice colour, something a little different than your everyday rock. He said now that he actually looks, he is amazed at the beauty that you can find in a simple rock in the dirt.

Then, he says this, which moved me. "I know that before long I won't be able to remember walking here, or even where "here" is. I know I won't remember meeting you, or picking up this rock on a beautiful day in the forest, but I hope that every time I look at a particular rock in my rock garden, I'll know that it holds a memory of a good day, and even if I can't recall that day, I'll know it meant something special at the time." 

Geez, I almost teared up.

So today's walk was to look for beauty on the forest floor. 

An ordinary rock, but surrounded by a ring of frost.

I thought the "half and half" one on the right was interesting. Like an elk ivory!

The stripes are quite intriguing on this one. I wonder what causes that?

A Dalmatian rock.

Almost looks like marble

A giant dinosaur egg?

I see a lot like this, with a stripe or two. I guess I need to google some geology info.

And of course, the heart shaped rock. 😍 I almost took this one home, but it's best left there for someone else to find.