Teaser: I have booked my next trip. I'll reveal my destination pretty soon. For now, I will tell you that it's going to involve some hiking. In anticipation, I have amped up my regular morning walks to get me in top form (well, top form for 50+, anyway). Lately it has been approximately a billion degrees in Texas, which has added nicely to the degree of difficulty.
It's been so hot that I haven't even felt like going to one of the nearby parks or greenways; I just put on my sneakers and head out the door before I get a chance to think about whether or not this might be the day that I actually liquefy. Luckily, it's not very far past my front door that I come across some views like these.
Even with the tiny bit of rain we've had, the Texas wildflowers are hanging in there, allowing me to pretend that I'm in the Hill Country or Big Bend, and not just beyond my parking lot. I was musing about that the other day (I have taken up musing during my walks instead of listening to music) and wondered how else I could trick myself into thinking I was on an adventure when I most clearly was not.
As I was walking past a limestone "cliff," and noticing its striations, it occurred to me that there were probably tons of fossils embedded there. (One danger of musing while walking is that it encourages foolish behavior.) So, I veered off the path and sideswiped some cacti while capturing an impressive number of burrs on my socks. I walked perhaps 15 yards, crouched down and started randomly picking up hunks of rock, turning them over, brushing off some dirt and inspecting them. Even at the time, I realized that it would probably take a long time to find anything, but -- not being all that goal-oriented -- I decided to just mess around until I wasn't having fun anymore.
Something less than ten minutes later, I found these great spiral shell fossils, as well as a couple of bivalves and something I didn't recognize at all, but am calling a "leaf."
How crazy, I thought; I just decided to go looking for something and 1-2-3, there it was! What a great way to start the day. Do you suppose that will work for my keys?
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1 comment:
Well. the minute I look the other way, here you go getting all active and ambitious on your blog again. Whatever happened to my feedburner subscription? I'm kind of jealous of your random discovery. Mine usually involve lots of time and maybe some blood. Why can't I just stumble over something amazing? I'll even settle for a quarter.
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