HiddenTyndall

Province, I’m in love with this stone which houses fossils and is infinitely varied. It is fascinating to think that these chunks of rock are the remains of an ocean and its inhabitants, long gone but still present.

Natural chemical alterations give it its unique lacy look. It comes in two colors, a light buff mixed with brown, and (my favorite) a pale gray with darker gray mottles. Some folks call it tapestry stone, and they prize, especially, its random fossils: gastropods, brachiopods, trilobites, corals and snails. As the flesh of these once-living creatures decayed, a limey mud filled the casings and hardened to rock. My father has had only limited schooling, but he’s blessed with a naturalists’s curiosity and not long ago he hacked out a few of the more interesting fossil pieces and carried them home to show to his wife, Mercy. (The stone with which she weighted her Malvern pudding on the day of my birth contained three fused fossils of an extremely rare type, so rare that they have never to this day been properly classified.)

– excerpt from The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

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Province, I do adore your old falling-down buildings.

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Province, as I prepare to set out on another journey, I thought I’d share a few images from the last.

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I have many to thank for their help on this project, and John Thauberger is certainly someone worthy of my undying gratitude. His favourite number is 9, so I thought this 1930’s jersey from a member of the Tyndall Manitoba hockey team seemed right. Also, today is his birthday, hooray!

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Province, you are full of lovely creatures, two-legged and otherwise. I had the opportunity to make friends with some of them on this last trip. And I was lucky to have my oldest best-friend, Angie Fidelak, for wonderful company. Thanks, sister!

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You know, Province, it can be difficult to gauge how obvious a stone will be to passersby. I have placed one in the most conspicuous spot and watched as numerous people passed within inches of it, yet it remained completely unseen. I wish I could know how many people are blind to each stone before that one person pays attention. Sometimes, I think Tyndall has the power of invisibility. Sometimes, I play a little game, and make the cube very apparent so that I may see how long discovery takes. All of this to say, a fourth stone has been found in Findlater!

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Province, a third stone has been found! This one was hidden at the John G. Diefenbaker homestead in Borden, SK.

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Well, Province, I did find a few vintage postcards during my travels. Isn’t the second one strange? I will be looking for more as the project continues.

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Keep close to nature’s heart…. Wash your spirit clean. – John Muir

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I am endlessly grateful to Bob and his staff at Barker’s Trophies for their willingness to work with me on this project. Thank you, Barker’s Trophies, for the fine engraving!

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