Kathy, over at her blog Lake Superior Spirit connected me to Suzi at her blog Laundry Line Divine, who was putting together a day of photographing rocks.  Yes.  rocks.  I immediately thought about all the wonderful rocks I photographed while I was in northern Michigan along the shores of a Great Lake.  You can see some of those photographs here. (Scroll down to the March 23rd entry to see an example.)

But I suppose that using photos from weeks or months ago would be cheating.  I think the whole point of this exercise is to head out and find something interesting that I might not have noticed before.  Or maybe noticed before but not in the same light.  Which brings me to the beginning of my search for rocks.

I was re digging the vegetable garden this morning and noticed the rocks I had used to mark beds last year.  But they weren’t very pretty, or even particularly interesting.

So after the garden was dug I wandered around the yard, considering how I wanted to approach this “rock assignment.”  We have rocks in our landscape out front.  Most were brought in, so I don’t consider them part of the natural way of things.  But one of them was from our own back yard, so it’s special.  I used to sit on it when it was in the backyard, I called it my “contemplative rock” and was sad when it got moved to be incorporated into the garden wall.  Though sometimes I still sit on it.

I felt like there must be other uses for rocks – other ways that people have incorporated rocks into their lives, so I set off on my bike to see what I could see; looking for the elusive rock that spoke to me.  Lots of people use rocks around here, often to mark their lot lines, to line the road or to present the entrance of their driveways.

Sometimes light on stone was interesting.

But still I was in suburbia, and what I really wanted was something more rural.  Say…a stone hedgerow in a farmer’s field.  I headed out on more rural roads, peddling away, up and down hills, through mud…and then I caught a glimpse of something way back off the road.

Venturing up the little used track…

… I found this…

…which I recognize is not a rock…but wait!  As I was wandering around taking pictures of this amazing structure I realized I was staring at the answer to my quest.  How the original farmer used rocks…and in a beautiful and functional way.  The foundation of this old barn was built from rocks, probably from the farmer’s own fields.

I never did find a fence row of rocks…but I’ll leave you with one photo of rocks that I love.  I’m cheating in that I took this last fall.  I can’t take credit for creating the rock sculpture, just for appreciating it.

Thanks for inviting me to play. It was interesting to think about the way people and rocks interrelate.  And I’ve learned to appreciate the rocks right here at home, while remembering my favorite rocks from far away.

PS:  This one is a cheater photo too..it’s from the Lighthouse at the tip of Leelanau Peninsula in northern Michigan.  Another bit of  evidence about man’s use of rocks throughout history.