I love playing with river rocks. In fact, I believe we all do. Put people in a river with tumbles of stone on the shore or under their feet, and someone will start making a pile of rocks, each smaller than the one before.

My husband and I also collect rocks from the river burbling behind our house. My preference is for flat stones or odd-shaped sedimentary specimens. It is very rare for us to come up from walking around our island or around our swimming area without stones in our pockets.

Then after we’ve enjoyed them for a while, we decide it’s time to whittle down the collection of the smaller ones and we set them free.

Jay’s preference is round stones and over the years, my gardens have become the home of his favorites.

But those piles of rocks we make in the river seem to be a universal human manipulation of the environment. We’ve found them on the leg of the Appalachian trail near our house. We see them in rivers all over New England. They have lots of names, troll towers being my personal favorite.

Which brings me to someone fun I want to share with you. Meet Michael Grab, a man who takes troll towers to a whole new level. Here’s a link to one of the videos on his website, Gravity Glue.

Amazing.

Enjoy.