Evidence of Their Passing

[digitS']

This footprint was only about 7" or 8" and I came across several of them on my walk today. I'd left the library after a short visit thinking about the books and the different people interested to read them. It is difficult to read much here - mostly a matter for the imagination.

After I'd crossed 3 prints and about twice that many of a somewhat larger footprint from a shoe, I found some printing on the concrete at the corner. The company that put the sidewalk down had identified themselves with the year: 1909. I'd guess the little girl or boy who made this print was about 4 or 5 years old.

On @frontiergirl53 's thread today, @Ridgerunner wrote about using straw in brick. It made me think about the carbon dating of masonry. Straw would be easier to date but a new technique has been found to date air trapped within masonry (brick, mortar or concrete) - no straw needed. I don't suppose it could precisely date a century old footprint in concrete with too much accuracy but we can leave that to future generations and their interests and imaginations .

Steve

 

[ninnymary]

That is so neat Steve. Thanks for sharing. I love to see things like that and wonder who they were and what became of them.

Mary

 

[digitS']

I'm not a very stable person, Mary. (Everybody knows that ... .) My gait isn't smooth and I use a cane if I'm going more than a couple hundred feet. I'm always looking down.

These sorts of things delight me! I'll cover nearly 2 miles on my walks, sometimes more. It's exercise time rather than distance that's most important to me.

There was an odd building that I walked past, an old neighbor grocery store. It hasn't had that purpose, for decades. You can easily see where a dog had run across the sidewalk at the corner. The same 100 year old concrete, by the looks of it. Always the dog tracks.

The prints of people are nearly always small. Sometimes, bicycle tires. I mentioned a horseshoe print on here once . It really just looked like a child sat the horseshoe on the wet concrete .. rather than that a horse was wearing the shoe at that moment .

I really try to walk in old neighborhoods (for around here) just so that I can expect the concrete to be older than I am. With the old houses, I feel a connection with history, to these people and their neighborhoods .

Steve