Cairn O' The Cosmos

I have a cairn on my office desk.  It is of my own making.

I scavenged the trio of rocks from Goleta Beach Park just north of Santa Barbara several years ago when a good buddy and I were dispatched to the west coast under a delightfully narrow scope of responsibility.  The late-game need for us meant the only available hotel room was on the beach.  We were merely hired guns, so to speak, who had the particular credentials to help edit a series of documents whose delivery date rapidly approached.

We had more free time than usual on that trip.  So, I took him to some of the places that I'd previously visited -- Goleta Beach Park among them.  I picked up three surf-smoothed rocks that were partially submerged in the beach sand.  And now they are stacked on my desk with such perfect appearance that a viewer might consider the result to be a fabrication, a novelty store sculpture.

Each stone's slight variation of hue divided by interstitial shadows.  A tiny tower.  An ellipsoidal, stone snowman.  A mysterious monument.

I'm certain it has a grander meaning.  I'm certain.