Islands
Dad likes to talk
about islands–
how they sink
how they rise
How some are bred
by volcanoes
and others built from coral bones
-by Marilyn Singer
from her book *Footprints on the Roof: Poems About the Earth*
I started my rock collection years ago as a child growing up in the
Eastern Upper Peninsula. It is not your everyday "rocks from the side of
the road" collection, but an honest-to-goodness collection of rocks,
minerals and fossils that I have scoured the woods and shorelines for,
scavenged from rock piles formed by the building of this road or that,
or had presented to me by family and friends from faraway places. My
fascination for all things geological eventually led to a Major in
Geology during the acquisition of my first BA.
Geologically part of the Niagara Escarpment - Drummond is an island *built from coral bones*.
The Island offers a rock nut like me more to explore - and
discover! Among my favorite hunting sites are the Fossil Ledges.
These days I don't collect every fossil specimen I uncover. To preserve
this wonderful natural scene for my grandchildren and others to enjoy
long after I am gone, I take mostly pictures, not souvenirs. For while
there are hundreds and thousands of fabulous fossils to be found - these
wonders of nature took millions of years to form and it will take
another million years for the next batch to go through the same metamorphosis from plant or animal to rock.
Amazingly enough, I have discovered that *shooting, not looting* has not
in the least dampened my enthusiasm or passion for rock hounding.
So next time you are out-and-about on Drummond look down - you never know the treasures you’ll find!
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