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Friday, December 31, 2010

"The Aged"; "Yesterday"

Well once again I am reflecting on the passage of time and as we seep into another year I am diminished on the grander time scale of geological time but able to look back on those critters, they had no concern nor concept of time or New Years.


Trilobites first appeared 526 million years ago. They became extinct 250 million years ago but not before some 17,000 species of them flourished through that time period. The fossilised remains of one I found on the shores of Lake Huron when I was there this fall is obvious in the lower left of the section of rock above. There are other bio forms fossilised as well but the section of the Trilobite with the visible pygidium (tail shield) in the central end section of the fossil is clearly visible. The remains in this section is about 1/3 of the total size and the range in size of these organisms was extensive from 1mm to 72 cm.

Some were filter feeders, others predators and scavengers that trolled over the sea bed feeding on plankton.  Living varied lifestyles like many of us today. I was saddened after watching a movie entitled "Yesterday" about a couple in a poor farming area not too far from Johannesburg who developed AIDS. The name of the young woman who contracted the virus from her husband was called Yesterday. It went on to show the dramatic death death of her husband while her little girl was growing up and readying for her first school day. The scenery was amazing. I had a brother die of aids in the early 80's (they slid food under the door of your hospital room back then, no one new much about it) so I could relate to their situation and very accurate depiction of the disease.

So I saw my fossil of the Trilobite on my desk and thought of "Yesterday" figuratively and literally and thought hard on the passage of time, of bugs and viruses big and small and how we all fit in our world, then and now.

So Happy New Year Tim you are missed. Happy belated New Year "Trilobite" no one probably felt the inclination to ever do that and to all those more fortunate to be around and hopefully less fossilised, today, tonight and tomorrow, Happy New Year to you too.

Herein lies my last post of 2010.


3 comments:

Tony said...

Ah fossils ... a subject dear to my heart. Some days I feel like a fossil *lol*

Happy New Year to you Stan and Carla.

Tony :-)

Douglas Wilcox said...

Hello Stan I wish you and your family a very Happy 2001. I am so sorry that your brother is not there to share it with you. As you say, our time is a transient twinkle, I hope we all make the most out of each day and share our good fortune with others.

Stan Mac Kenzie said...

Happy New Year to you and yours Tony. I love the stuff of fossils!

Thanks for the kind wishes Douglas and I wish you and your family A Happy New Year as well. I, like Tony and others we paddle with, consider ourselves very lucky. I thoroughly enjoy reading the blogs of others and living vicariously through their adventures and positive life experiences around the world. Harmless, soothing energy that's good for any soul!