I’ve been taking a course called “Understanding the new Cosmology - and one of the recent lessons suggested in advance, “Bring a Rock”. It’s a little harder for someone in a large city to find one - until one starts looking and find them decorating borders of flowerbeds everywhere.

Rocks for some appear to be pets - less walking and feeding perhaps. Kids love painting them. They are actually good to have around a reminder of how old the universe really is. Cosmologist Brian Swimme reminded us that once upon a time they were probably aflame before settling down to becoming mountains that gradually wore down to the size we can pick up. They are a solid mass of minerals that can be categorized and also have chemical components. We’ve been using them for about two and a half million years for building and mining.

They make good indoor company by being just there - and how young we are in comparison. We know more about planet earth from the study of geology than many cultures that preceded us.