Sara: The World Traveling Ceratopsian

[snolly50]

When Sara the Traveling Dinosaur vanished, a tremor of disappointment, worry and even anger ran through a segment of the Forum's members. Why? Below is an essay exploring that "why;" but more importantly, an invitation.

 

                                                  A Brief Elucidation on the Traveling Dinosaur, Sara

                                                  Who is she, indeed, who are we? What's magic got to do with it?

 

Sara, our subject, is not an actual dinosaur. Rather the object that is “Sara” is a small, anatomically inaccurate, crude approximation of a Ceratopsian dinosaur's appearance. A Styracosaurus, it would seem. The figure is molded of plastic. This is deemed apt, as plastic is a petroleum derived product and the oil pumped from the earth is formed from ancient plants. Perhaps, the very kind of veggies a “real” Sara would munch. So, the object known as Sara is a diminutive, toy, plastic, dinosaur figure? Why, yes; but that's not all....

 

In March of 2020 forum member CalDigger inaugurated an activity for Forum members. The small plastic dinosaur, named Sara was to become a sort of traveling representative of the Forum. It was envisioned that she would move from one Forum member to the next via postal mailings. Accompanying Sara on her journey, was a journal to receive written accounts/greetings from host members. In addition, a cache of small fossil specimens was included. In turn, each recipient would remove one fossil to keep, replacing it with another to send along.

 

The Sara experience has been a wonderful success. Twenty-seven Forum members have received Sara, as the small, toy dinosaur and her accompanying baggage, zig-zagged about the globe. Sixteen hosts remain in queue waiting Sara's arrive at their home.

 

CalDigger, the Svengali behind the Sara adventure was known in “real life” as Doran Strane. Doren in his CalDigger guise was a Forum fixture. His posts were often in a humorous vein and he established amiable correspondence with many folks on the Forum. Doren's generosity and kindness were also hallmarks of his presence. Tragically, Doren lost his life in April of 2020. While fossil hunting, he was victim of a rock slide. The reader is invited to view the myriad of positive comments under the “RIP CalDigger” topic listed in the Forum's “In Memory of Lost Forum Friends” heading.

 

Naturally, the toy Sara was strongly linked with Doren. Following his untimely death, the remembrance association with Sara became even stronger. This was only natural, not merely from the association; but in Doren's traits that are reflected in many individual's experience with the traveling dinosaur. Kindness and sharing are prominent. Following are some of the features I have observed that are wrapped up in this Forum activity.

 

Forum members post an account of the dinosaur's visit to their home. Ostensibly, as accommodation of Sara, a variety of experiences unfold. The shared chronicles yield warm and fascinating insights into the lives of persons who may be half a world away. The narratives range widely in content. Often the host will feature highlights of their fossil collection. Also popular, are illustrated trips to actual collection sites. The viewer is frequently treated to images of scenery from parts of the world that they have not previously experienced. Museums are toured. Vistas from cities, mountains and beaches are displayed. Sometimes a more intimate view is achieved; food, pets, family are revealed. These glimpses of distant places, cultures and customs are instructive and entertaining. At the foundation, however, is the sense of sharing; not only fossils, but a bit of the participant's lives. All rooted in a reverence for the natural world and an unspoken camaraderie in that appreciation and wonder.

 

So, there you have it. The titled promised “brief” and we are almost done. Just a little more – Now who is Sara and what's the magic mentioned?

 

Sara is an inert hunk of plastic molded in the approximate shape of a dinosaur. There can be no dispute about that. But isn't Sara part of something greater, something of value and worth? Of course, Sara, the traveling Dinosaur, is engaged in a world tour that reminds diverse people of their common bonds. The endeavor surrounding Sara fosters kindness and cooperation. To those who knew Doren, Sara reflects (and elicits) those traits that were so familiar in him.

 

Is Sara magic then? I think not. However, if one squints just right, her extensive travels and the good will of the people involved seem magical.

 

What of us then? Are we magic? I think not. However, good will, a cheerful greeting, cooperation and kindness; all components of the Sara experience, have an almost magical goodness about them. So, this small, sometimes silly, activity reflects a lot that is right in the world. It's almost magic and it was made by “us.” A small thing, but one to be proud of as we move forward in all facets of life: one more warm greeting, one more kindness, one more gasp at the wonder of it all.

 

Here's a poem from a book my daughter and I read over and over, when she was small.

 

Magic

Sandra's seen a leprechaun,

Eddie touched a troll,

Laurie danced with witches once,

Charlie found some goblin's gold.

Donald heard a mermaid sing,

Suzy spied an elf,

But all the magic I have known

I've had to make myself.

 

• Shel Silverstein

   

 

                                      If you feel remotely magical, read the Forum entries detailing Sara's travels!

 

                                                                   Sign up to have her visit you!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Wonderful, Sir Snolly. 

 

But I would also like to mention that there was a forerunner to Sara. 

Gorgeous George the Globe-Trotting Gorgosaurus. 

It all started when the jovial @JohnBrewer sent me a small plastic dinosaur which I then sent on to dynamite @DevonianDigger and so the story began. Sadly, Gorgeous George didn't last long as we made the rookie mistake of sending him out as a surprise and it arrived with someone who just didn't continue the fun. So the idea germinated in Doren's mind of having a dinosaur sent only to those who signed up for it. And it was the boisterous @Bobby Rico who suggested a ceratopsian.  

See this link for details of the genesis of the whole idea : 

Gorgeous George The Globetrotting Gorgosaurus' Travel Blog - General Fossil Discussion - The Fossil Forum.

 

And Tidgy is magical and infused Sara with magic. 

So Sara IS magical. 

[snolly50]

1 minute ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

forerunner to Sara. 

Thanks for the expanded chronology of the phenomenon.

[Ludwigia]

Thanks to Snolly for his very apt description of the Sara phenomenon and to Tidgy's Dad for the historical sojourn.

We've been back for a while now from the birthday party where Sara got a piece of birthday royal donut. First she went for the one with the raspberries on it, but then she heard someone shouting at her and lo and behold, some of her relatives were perched on the one right next to it, so of course she just jumped at the chance of catching up on the latest news from the home front.

 

 

 

My grandson was gifted a ghettoblaster with a built in microphone, so Sara and her new friends got a turn at doing some Karaoke. They decided to sing "The Green Green Grass of Home" for posterity's sake. Unfortunately I was so enthralled that I didn't think to take a photo.

 

Sara wanted to view my collection right after we got home. She sure does have a lot of energy for someone who had just spent a good month in a box. Of course she headed straight for the Ginkgo plants and was just about to dig in before I explained to her that they had been turned into stone. The huge fern had her mouth watering too, so I gave her a bit of salad to quell her disappointment.

 

 

The riker mount with the shark teeth fascinated her, as well as the Jurassic ammonites, so I had to promise to take her along for a couple of hunts within the next few days.

 

 

 

My grandchildren have planned an outing for tomorrow, so Sara shall have to be patient. But I'm sure that she'll enjoy the excursion. We'll be visiting an extinct volcano with a fortress ruin at the top called the Hohentwiel, so she'll have a good view of the scenery from up there. And besides, we'll be picnicking.

 

 

[digit]

3 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

She sure does have a lot of energy for someone who had just spent a good month in a box.

A sugary treat as pictured will do that!

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Ludwigia]

1 minute ago, digit said:

A sugary treat as pictured will do that!

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

You bet! I just managed to get one of them down.

[Bobby Rico]

Thanks you both @snolly50@Tidgy's Dad for the history and right up. I hope it inspires some other members to sign up for a visit from Sara.
 
@Ludwigia hi Roger great to see Sara among your cool collection,  I like to see more of them donuts, I never seen anything like them, they look straight out of Charlie and the chocolate factory. I need to get myself to Germany ASAP. Love the that fossil leaf . Cheers Bobby 

 

[Ludwigia]

1 hour ago, Bobby Rico said:

I need to get myself to Germany ASAP.

You know you're welcome any time Barring covid of course

[Coco]

Good news ! Sara was very hungry, she must be very curious too, because it’s been a long time since she saw fossils and compatriots.

 

Coco

[Randyw]

Great news! Sara is safe and exploring again! Can’t wait to see what she experiences next!

@snolly50 you were once again eloquent and on point. Well done sir!

[Ludwigia]

16 hours ago, Randyw said:

Great news! Sara is safe and exploring again! Can’t wait to see what she experiences next!

 

Ok then. Here we go. As mentioned above, we went to the Hohentwiel today. This was a birthday wish of my grandchildren and they were happy to take Sara along with us. The Hohentwiel is one of a chain of extinct volcanos which arose 45 million years ago in conjunction with the sinking of the Rhine Rift Valley. At the very top is one of the largest fortresses ever built in Germany. Starting in the 10th century it was expanded to its present extent up to the Napoleonic wars. Then it was surrendered to Bonaparte, who promptly razed it and left it in the ruins which have been preserved to this day. It's a wonderful playground for children and also a great place for a picknick.

Here's a view of it from below.

 

 

There's a parking lot at the bottom and then you walk up the hill to the ruins.

 

 

Sara was impressed with the imposing gateway.

 

 

And the ruins.

 

 

 

 

And she had great views in all directions of the landscape with the lake and the other old volcanos jutting up.

 

 

 

 

 

There were spooky dark chambers and tunnels to explore.

 

 

And she was also happy to see that a lot of her distant relatives had taken up residence within the walls.

 

 

 

And to top it all off we stopped off on the way home for an American culinary treat.

 

 

Although Sara is vegetarian, she found that the batter was very tasty.

 

 

I'm not sure if we'll be doing anything much exciting tomorrow since I have to take my car to the garage to get the brakes fixed, but I'll take her along anyway in case she would like to have a chat with the mechanics.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Wow! 

What a marvelous location. Super pictures, Roger, it certainly looks like Sara had a lot of fun. 

I love dark tunnels.

[Ludwigia]

41 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I love dark tunnels.

Me too, although one of the kids lost his water bottle in one of them, but we managed to find it again.

[Kasia]

Yahoo, Sara's back and she's again visiting beautiful places

Awesome site, fantastic landscapes - and a weather to envy ....

[Bobby Rico]

On 5/31/2021 at 10:52 PM, Ludwigia said:

You know you're welcome any time Barring covid of course

I just seen Sara’s new holiday pics they look lovely. I will at some point In the next year all so visit your beautiful country. My brother in law is from Bremen and  always enjoys touring the countrysides  when his back home, I seen many a holiday picture and thought beautiful . Thanks for sharing some more of Sara’s pictures and it great to see her out and about after her rest. All the best Bobby 

Edited June 2, 2021 by Bobby Rico

[Ludwigia]

3 hours ago, Kasia said:

Yahoo, Sara's back and she's again visiting beautiful places

Awesome site, fantastic landscapes - and a weather to envy ....

Yes. It's nice to have her here. Her presence is inspiring.

[Randyw]

Wow! Great pictures and a wonderful location! I’m envious!

great shots and great views!

[Ludwigia]

Well, today wasn't particularly eventful, other than the visit to the garage. Sara came along out of pure curiosity. She had a glance at the workshop, but since it was kinda smelly and loud in there, she decided she'd rather come with me to the waiting room. I had brought along something to read in order to pass the time and also something to drink. Sara had heard of Ephraim Kishon, so she found that a nice idea, but she passed on the drink, since she didn't like the idea of consuming something from a bull.

 

 

 

After about an hour or so the car still wasn't ready, so we decided to go for a stroll around the village.

 

 

Lippersreute is typical for this area with fruit orchards on the outskirts. Sara had to climb up one of them for a good view. The nets protect the dwarf trees from hail.

 

 

We found a bench along the path and settled down on it so that I could show her the castle in Heiligenberg where I used to live in the former servants quarters. It's the building complex at the top of the hill in the middle. It belongs to the Furstenbergs, a noble family which owns a large portion of the forests in southern Germany, but they still earn some money from their rental properties.

 

 

[Ludwigia]

Right now we're watching the German national football team in a test match against the Danes. It's halftime and still 0:0. Although the Germans are all over the Danes, they just don't seem to be able to get the ball into the net. Sara can't quite understand why so many grown men are chasing a ball around a field, but she does at least find it entertaining.

 

 

[Ludwigia]

Today we went for a bike ride to the shark tooth site. Sara was pretty excited and jumped right onto the saddle.

 

 

I gave her an overview of the site once we had arrived and she chose a place to dig where it looked promising.

 

 

 

Sure enough, it didn't take all that long before she found her first tooth.

 

 

Here's our haul from that spot after about an hour.

 

 

The pickings were starting to get meager there, but then Sara noticed another place for us to try our luck.

 

 

And sure enough, these all came out within a half an hour.

 

 

By then, Sara was itching to get back onto the bike, so off we went and then rinsed off the teeth as soon as we got back home.

 

 

We had a short discussion and Sara agreed to take these teeth along with her on her travels. If the weather holds up tomorrow, we are planning to visit the Danube Valley.

 

 

[Top Trilo]

As soon as you got there, you could already see a fossil hammerhead .

Looks like Sara's having a blast in Germany

[Ludwigia]

48 minutes ago, Top Trilo said:

As soon as you got there, you could already see a fossil hammerhead .

 

Right you are. Shark tooth site

[digit]

6 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

We had a short discussion and Sara agreed to take these teeth along with her on her travels.

Very nice!

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Bobby Rico]

13 hours ago, Top Trilo said:

As soon as you got there, you could already see a fossil hammerhead

I think that’s a modem hammerhead and not a fossil, sorry.  

[Ludwigia]

We arrived back home a while ago after our trip to the Danube Valley and the first thing we did was to get under the shower. It was a very successful hunt, but we had to deal with a lot of mud in order to get at the fossils. Although we hadn't had any rain to speak of over the last week or so, I knew that we were nevertheless going to have to drain a rather large pool of water which tends to collect and remain in the hole I've been digging to get down to the divisum zone. And according to the weather forecast, rain was on the way to us again, so we were hoping for the best. Here's what we had to deal with for starters.

 

 

Sara couldn't help much here, but she does love playing in the water and wallowing in the mud, so she was happy to watch me bailing out. I was actually surprised how quickly it went. Only took about 15 minutes.

 

 

Then the mudslinging really began. I had to repeatedly polish my glasses in order to be able to see properly, which Sara of course found extremely amusing. It was well worth it though, as we immediately began to make some good finds, as the following pictures show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After about an hour we suddenly heard a few thunderclaps and looked up to the heavens. Sure enough, something appeared to be brewing in our neighborhood.

 

 

But lucky for us, it passed on by within a few minutes without even spilling a drop on us. Then the sky cleared up a bit and we could continue with no great worries about getting drenched from above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

By now we were however drenched from below. You can probably see in the last photos that Sara is coated with mud, and I didn't look much better.

 

 

We then decided that it was time to call it a day, so we made a photo of Sara with our booty, washed ourselves as best we could and headed back to the car to get back into our street clothes.