Photo and Commentary (c)2023 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, June 27, 2023
I still remember the excitement I felt as a child, discovering a fossil fern in my own yard. I knew there were fossils from the long ago and far away, but to find one myself, and right in my own yard, was special. There were plants aplenty in that yard, including several varieties of fern, so the identification was easy to make. Undoubtedly, I was more confident of my discovery after it was confirmed by those older and wiser in the household.
And I still like ferns. I like their lushness, their greenness that speaks of misty mornings and shady nooks where in my youth I could explore for as yet undiscovered living things. Imagination took me to tropical jungles tangled with vines which harbored possible snakes and other dangers. But such possibilities heightened the adventure as I pushed through a maze of fern and orchid wilds.
Time has pushed imagination down a notch or two but I still have fern in my yard. I haven’t recently discovered any fossilized that probably dated back to the Carboniferous Period, but I can catch a glimpse of an antediluvian world that abounded with beauty and pattern, with leafiness and wonder. And the world to come? Something tells me I won’t be interested in that little stone I found so long ago, because everything there will be bursting with life.