Ancient Life

 I recently left a comment on a blog post about how it is good to learn new things. I'm sure you all agree with me.

So today I want to show you a very ancient form of life called a thrombolite.

Don't get too excited that you are going to see some large dinosaur like creature. Thrombolites were some of the first forms of life on Earth and were single celled bacteria type of creatures which used photosynthesis to get food. They grew in round mounds, and some of them even fossilized.

I thought the only remaining fossils of them could be found in Western Australia.  But then, when preparing for a trip, I did my research and found out there is one other place on Earth (that we know of) where thrombolite fossils can be found.

Those who stop by regularly probably guessed it was Newfoundland.  For me, with a biology degree and teaching a class of microbiology, it was really exciting to see these. 

I created this page in my travel journal using material from a brochure write up, some tape, some paper scraps and also stamping this windy face image. Once I stamped him directly onto the page and the other time I stamped him on tissue paper and then used matte medium to attach the tissue paper to the page. But here's the biggest thing I find confusing. On my actual page, they both look the same color. I wonder why one of then (the tissue paper one) didn't photograph the same. (And it's the angle of my photo that makes the bottom piece of tape look so crooked. You'll just have to bear with the photo on that one.)

I used the wind image because it was incredibly windy the day we stopped here. Cold too.

Learning new things and then actually seeing these fossils was a blessing to me. (What a geek I am!) So I am linking up this journal page to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's super challenge over at Art Journal Journey.

And although they might not excite you, here's a few more thrombolite photos.

Thanks for visiting. And enjoy your weekend.