Just came back from a weekend in New York, celebrating a handful of family milestones with my truly delightful in-laws and getting to see some great friends. While walking through Soho with husband, we came across The Evolution Store, which I hadn't heard of but was drawn to by the sign outside advertising the meeting of science and art within. It's a tiny space bursting at the seams with ancient fossils, human (and other) skulls, rare minerals, and taxodermied animals. In a puzzling juxtaposition, a taxodermied raccoon sits atop the glass counter holding a basket full of male raccoon genitalia bones. Anyway, we found this ammonite, a now extinct marine animal, particularly beautiful. I also chose it because I was facing a birthday, and it is hard to feel old in the presence of a 120 million year old fossil.