rose stones

2012-03-18T21:39:00.001-06:00

2011-12-29T10:49:00.009-07:00

Brought the stone to Alberobello, Italy but I did not leave it. Alberobello - famous for Trulli. 600 years ago the lord wanted to tax the people for their buildings. He said it was considered a building if it had mortar. The people of Alberobello figured out a way to make structures (trulli) by cleverly laying and stacking rock. Thus never having to pay these taxes. And the genius patterns of these structures have allowed them to withstand the elements for 600 years.

Jayson Lawfer
December 29, 2011
Alberobello, Italy

2011-10-06T12:29:00.001-06:00

I placed it at the base of a plum tree that sits in front of my home in Annadale part of Staten Island.

Jay Malone
October 6, 2011
Staten Island, New York

2011-06-25T16:52:00.006-06:00

Ray Kreisel
June 25, 2011
Palo Alto, California

2011-06-10T16:47:00.001-06:00

On board the beautiful, Nisah.

Marcus Fuller
June 10, 2011
Valdez, Alaska

2011-04-26T18:01:00.001-06:00

..I released the first stone in the shimmering waters off of Roatan Island, Honduras on a warm, clear late April afternoon.
A day later, after saying a brief prayer for the soul of the man who inspired this project, I tossed the second stone into the crystal waters just off the coast of Belize (fittingly returning the stone on Earth Day!).

Rick Samuel
April 26, 2011
Roatan Island, Honduras
Belize

2011-04-20T14:21:00.004-06:00

Mike O'Mailey
April 20, 2011
Portland, Oregon

2011-03-30T11:24:00.004-06:00

...overlooking Turnagain Arm... site of spectacular sunsets and volcanic eruptions...

Bill Morris
March 30, 2011
Turnagain Arm, Alaska

2011-03-26T13:48:00.000-06:00

I gave stones to my students after discussing your work.... I had stones left over. They've spent the last year in my studio...

I see father as being about love, movement, and celebrating relationships--it is a work that we all can relate to given that we all experience loss. ...A dear friend was killed in a car accident last week. I decided to send the remaining stones to his brother and his wife. It is my hope that they will accept this as a gesture of kindness and friendship, a celebration of life, perhaps pass some stones along to others who are now celebrating Scott's life.

Renee Couture
March 26, 2011

2011-03-25T10:42:00.001-06:00

Alissa Rosenstein
March 25, 2011
Millsboro, Delaware

2011-03-20T20:12:00.000-06:00

... I left a rose stone right next to Mt. Aconcagua base camp (the tallest mountain in the Western and Southern Hemispheres). It is buried in a rock cairn in view of the mountain. I carried the stone around for about two weeks in Chile and Argentina.... This spot just called out to me as the place to leave it. It was a really beautiful and serene site.

Pat Perfetta
March 20, 2011
Mt. Aconcagua, Argentina

2011-03-17T18:32:00.002-06:00

... I took one of your stones and placed it on my mother’s tombstone. My mother’s maiden name was Rosenstein. She was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. She and my father lived most of their lives in Danville in Southwest Virginia....

Irv Blank
March 17, 2011
Danville, Virginia

2011-03-08T07:45:00.008-07:00

Water always seeks

like grace

to find and fill

the lowest

empty space.

Amy Leary
March 8, 2011
Wing Haven, Charlotte, North Carolina

2011-02-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

...just short of 18,300 feet.

Petra de Groot
February 9, 2011
Dolpo, Nepal

2011-01-17T09:27:00.003-07:00

...I just saw that you released the remaining stones in Ocean City, Maryland--the place where my family released my grandparents' ashes 4 years ago....

After coming back to DC from my visit to Missoula, I held onto your stone for nearly a year. It traveled with me across India, waiting for its moment. On the last day I took a dawn boat ride down the Ganges through Varanasi, a city revered by Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains as a site of cleansing, and the holiest place to pass from this world. I took this photo the moment before I released the stone into the river.

Julia Allman

January 17, 2011

Ganges River, Varanasi, India

2011-01-15T11:42:00.001-07:00

in the trees
at the house
where our family grew...

January 15, 2011
Ellicott City, Maryland

2011-01-08T20:09:00.000-07:00

I left a stone in the backyard when I was there. This is the stones' view.

Heather Perfetta
January 8, 2011
Ellicott City, Maryland

2011-01-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

...On a hike up Mt. Jumbo I found a beautiful rock, so beautiful I had to pick it up and carry it home. I rubbed it in my pocket or swinging hand the entire hike down the mountain. Near the car, I looked at it again and gasped, "This is Kerri's rock!!!" I had no idea. I laughed and laughed and the next day hiked back up to the top of Jumbo to put the lovely thing back where it belonged. ...a fun chain of actions.

Melissa Bangs
January 1, 2011
Missoula, Montana

2010-12-18T19:39:00.002-07:00

...I left a piece of my heart there along with the rosenstein stone. It was a beautiful Cuban sunset and I had my new Cuban aunt throw it into the ocean off the Malecon in Habana Vieja. She held it and said, "En la nobre de Kerri y su padre," and then threw it into the ocean. You would have been proud. I am happy to have shared that with her as well. I took a picture of the street corners....

Justin Oswald
December 18, 2010
Habana Vieja, Cuba

2010-12-06T13:35:00.002-07:00

We left the stone in Korcula, Croatia. Although Howard problably never traveled to this location, he would have loved the beauty and serenity. The water is so crystal clear, you can still see the stone feet below the surface.

Diane and Steve Ehudin
December 6, 2010
Korcula, Croatia

2010-11-26T17:11:00.006-07:00

...It was emotional for me to stand there at the ocean and feel a sense of farewell. I like to think your father continues to be proud of you, Heather and Pat; that he appreciates the love you all have for him and the fond memories. I am grateful to have shared in this salute to the stones and have a feeling they will travel--something he enjoyed so much.

Jeanne Rosenstein
November 26, 2010
Atlantic Ocean, Lantana, Florida

2010-11-11T11:32:00.010-07:00

Travis David Smith
November 11, 2010
Volcano Pacayo, Antigua, Guatemala

2010-10-10T08:25:00.007-06:00

Wondering in Baltimore with Lisa, Chris in Bay Inner Harbor on Sep 12, I have a great time. Charm City is just awesome in the rain. Accidentally found people gathering, we felt curious and walked by. After making things clear, I decide to take it back to China. It would be meaningful, isn’t it? And this stone has flied with me across Canada, the North Pole, Russia, Mongolia and finally landed in China.
This is Yongtian Liang. I study in Wuhan University, Hubei Province, China. On Oct 8th, I put this stone Rosenstein on campus, a quiet place with old, tall trees, where people practice TaiChi, as can seen from the first photo. TaiChi plays a significant role in old China and even now, which means the pursuit of meditation of mind, harmony with nature. At last, I put it back to earth in the grass. A celebration of life-breathing in, breathing out. I hope he’ll feel peace there.

Yongtian Liang
October 10, 2010
Wuhan, China

2010-10-08T09:05:00.000-06:00

Thank you for the rocks. I have placed them in my garden....

Marcia Sanchez
October 8, 2010
Burke, Virginia

2010-10-05T09:20:00.002-06:00

...I was in Ocean City the weekend of the 18th. I found the rosestones on Assateague Island...where the wild horses are. When I got home I searched online until I found you and the story about your father. It's a wonderful story and I have already told it to my family and friends. I have given them stones and asked them to put them in a special place. I'm going to mail a couple to friends in other parts of the country and tell them the same. When I first saw them on the beach I thought they had to mean something. So I gathered them. Little did I know just how much they did mean. I'm happy to be part of the celebration.
...Finding the stones made my trip to the ocean a special one.

Debbie Peterson Desiderio
October 5, 2010
Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland

2010-09-16T07:35:00.003-06:00

In the Jewish religion it is traditional to go to the cemetery during the High Holidays. I visited Dad today and took one of the stones from your father exhibit. It is also tradition to leave a stone when one visits a loved one to show that you were there. Unfortunately, this cemetery does not allow stones to remain on the headstone so I buried it. You will always be a part of him and he will always be a part of you.

Mom
September 16, 2010
Lake Worth, Florida

2010-09-13T18:42:00.003-06:00

Today, Steve and I went to visit cemeteries. I took along a couple of stones and put them on Memaw and Pops. Timing is everything....

Aunt Diane Ehudin
September 13, 2010
Baltimore, Maryland

(These are my father's parents.)

2010-09-13T13:44:00.002-06:00

...I met my boyfriend [at your museum show in Missoula] for the first time and we each picked up a stone that we keep meaning to take out to the wilderness. ...so right now we still have our two Rosensteins as a reminder of the first time we met. Awwww!

Karin Riley
September 13, 2010
Missoula, Montana

2010-09-12T15:05:00.000-06:00

I put mine in Zortman, a little town with 100 people in Montana. My dad grew up there. It's beautiful. It's up on the mountains in a little hole in a rock....

Tess Clausen
September 12, 2010
Zortman, Montana

2010-09-01T10:40:00.020-06:00

Linda's dad died several years ago. He was a super dad and super friend to both Linda and me. He was an agronomist with the US Dept of Ag. and with the UN in Switzerland. He was a leader in the "green revolution" in the '60's and '70's in Asia. He always loved to grow a garden. Linda early this year had our front yard landscaped with plants that reminded her of her dad. She chose the statue because it reminded her of his love of hiking. She tells me that her dad and yours are in a discussion....

Chuck and Linda Shearer
September 1, 2010
Houston, Texas

2010-08-26T10:10:00.001-06:00

...the wonderful rock you gave me at the Greg Mortenson talk in Houston made its way to Pikes Peak Colorado where we went with our family. My husband decided to pass the rock onto an Australian couple (Brad and Carrie) he met while photographing the rock. Brad and Carrie took it to Australia and they will leave it to rest there....

Martha and Rich
August 26, 2010
Pikes Peak, Colorado

2010-07-27T16:56:00.003-06:00

I am packing up the little farmhouse I've been living in for the past 2 months out in Tyler Hill, PA and I stumbled upon the stone I took from you when I was in Montana visiting. I took it out of my backpack, looked at my dog Levi and we instantly agreed on where to put this little red rock. Seeing as how lovely this place is, and how I am myself departing from it I thought I better leave it behind to inhabit a corner of this place. Whenever Levi gets out of the house he takes off for the nearby creek bed and comes home sopping wet and wagging his tail. We have spent many afternoons swimming and playing fetch there, and it seemed to be the best place for this little pebble to live. I put Levi on the leash and he happily led the way, we picked a good place, set it down, and played some fetch over it. It now sits in the creek we have spent so many happy playtimes in.

Carolyn Hopkins & Levi

July 12, 2010

Tyler Hill, PA

2010-07-08T16:22:00.035-06:00

...I must confess that I took two [stones]....
Both rocks traveled east with me - Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario and New York - to my grandmother's house on Cape Cod. There, I left one behind on a beach on the Atlantic Ocean - as far east as I have traveled on this continent. The second rock made the return trip with me - New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Once home, I went out to the beach I grew up enjoying - Westhaven Beach in Westport, Washington - and left the second rock there for Pacific Ocean beachcombers to find....

Brittany Ferry
July 8, 2010
(April 15, 2010)
Atlantic Ocean, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Pacific Ocean, Westport, Washington

2010-07-05T10:06:00.016-06:00

In February I travelled to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as part of my grad school program. I was scheduled to take a tour to the desert with classmates where I wanted to place the stone, but due to a conflict I was unable to make the trip out of the city. After hearing the story of Uncle Howard and the Rosen-stones a few of my classmates took the stone with them; following an afternoon of dune buggy riding, exploring and other desert activities, a most excellent spot was located amongst the branches of a tree in a desert oasis. Thanks to friends Wade Alt, Nina Falco, Georgeann Faulkner, Cindy McCauley and Corey Maender for taking the stone on their adventure and finding a fitting resting place.

Eric Rosenstein

July 5, 2010

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

2010-06-15T11:31:00.003-06:00

In April one of your father's stones was awaiting us at Oliver Lee State Park Campground in New Mexico near White Sands National Monument. I placed the rose stone in Hampton Park in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday, May 12th. Hampton Park is a beautiful, tranquil Frederick Law Olmsted garden on the Charleston Peninsula not far from the Citadel.

Mimi Woodbridge
June 15, 2010
Charleston, South Carolina

2010-05-31T17:03:00.007-06:00

This is Lake Billy Chinook, north of Sisters.
In 1968 I bought a lot on a lark. My father thought I was crazy, buying property in the desert. Finally by the early seventies he told my mom that he decided to go up and look at it and maybe help me build a summer home up there. He died shortly after and never had a chance to see it.
My best memories of my father as a child were working in his woodshop building my first pencil box and a bookshelf. He taught me how to use the table saw, how to do electrical wiring without getting shocked, and how to rub stain into wood.
Through the seventies I built the cabin, and always felt my father over my shoulder as the years went by. When I had a particular problem to work out, I would reflect back on those early lessons. I mixed the cement in the same wheelbarrow that he used to teach me how to mix cement. Some of his tools are in the shop up there, the leveling jacks, and tape measure, chisel, etc.
Both of my daughters spent their summers up there, and now my grandchildren are spending their summers up there. My daughter met her first boyfriend up there during a summer, and my granddaughter has done the same....
My daughter, Heidi owns the cabin now and I go up there a lot during the summer. Last trip I showed my grandson how to mix cement in that same wheelbarrow....
The wall overlooking the lake where I placed the stone is a memorial wall. Property owners who pass away can have a brass plaque attached to that wall. That's where my ashes will go someday....

Guy Swanson
May 31, 2010
Lake Billy Chinook, Oregon

2010-05-13T10:17:00.002-06:00

...placed in front of the house where I grew up. There's a "rock garden" in front of the house that's been there since I was a kid. The stone is in the snow, resting in the place where I've placed all of the rocks that I've collected on geology trips throughout the years.... A special place that has lots of memories for me of fieldtrips, friends, and happy times.... I think he'll be happy hanging out there.

Pat Perfetta
May 13, 2010
Export, Pennsylvania

2010-05-08T17:34:00.004-06:00

Two stones discovered at Ewam Buddhist Retreat Center in Arlee, Montana.
The first one was sent with the words: on the shrine shelf under photos of HH the 14th Dalai Lama, Rinpoche, Anam Thubten, and other teachers.
The second one was sent with the words: Tucked in under a snowlion on Yum Chenmo's throne.

May 8, 2010
Ewam, Arlee, Montana

2010-05-06T10:25:00.003-06:00

I have been taking this rock with me everywhere since I picked it up last summer in Missoula. It has made the journey from Missoula to San Diego by car. Trips to Death Valley. Travels to Austin, Houston, and Galveston. After a hike to the top of Angels Landing at Zion a few weeks ago, I felt this was a worthy spot for my Rosenstein rock. Here is the view and it is tucked safely in the ground next to a bush at the top of the landing.

Serena Lissy
May 6, 2010
Zion National Park, Utah

2010-05-03T18:13:00.002-06:00

After visiting the exhibit while on a road trip this summer, we decided to wait to place our stones until we played our final home college softball game. This morning before the game we took a moment to celebrate and remember all the memories we've shared by placing our stones in a location that will always be dear to our hearts. Two rose stones are now at home behind the dugout of the Luther College softball field in Decorah, Iowa.

Kelsey Hake
May 3, 2010
Decorah, Iowa

2010-05-03T17:48:00.005-06:00

...I thought that Furnace Creek in Death Valley, about 210 ft. below sea level, was an appropriate spot for the rose stone. It is an area that has seen much suffering, yet as a result of the heavy rains that the Southwest had this winter, the valley floor is full of wildflowers. They bring beauty and new life to the middle of a place made famous by desolation and hardship.

John Kounis
May 3, 2010
Death Valley, California

2010-05-02T10:44:00.002-06:00

...thinking and seeing all of the places Daddy has gotten to travel. It is amazing to think how big this world is and how much is continually out there to see and do and explore. Very few can do it all in one lifetime and even fewer get to do it in death. To think of what Daddy got to see and what he is continuing to see is beautiful to me.

As you know, it is not time for my rose stone to find a final resting place and maybe it never will. ...Here are a few of the places it has been, places that mean something to me: amongst other stones that helped us through tough days and kept us connected; at home in Maryland; back with his friends for a bit in Houston; and surrounded by love on his birthday.

Heather Perfetta

May 2, 2010

Houston, Texas

2010-04-29T10:42:00.000-06:00

In a nook in a big maple tree on top of Mt. Tabor, Portland's old volcano.

Phoebe Wayne
April 29, 2010
Portland, Oregon

2010-04-18T15:13:00.000-06:00

...The stone now rests in waters of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

James Frankowski
April 18, 2010
Lake Charles, Louisiana

2010-04-15T15:08:00.001-06:00

Heather Sundheim (and family)
April 15, 2010
Central Park, New York, New York

2010-04-08T12:20:00.001-06:00

The stone came to photography class with me. Nicole picked the spot and Tiara was the photographer. When I moved to New Orleans I didn't know what to expect. The New Orleans Kid Camera Project has changed my life. I brought the stone to class because I wanted to share your story and share the experience. That you were able to share a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon with us makes it even better.

Ariya Martin
April 8, 2010
Adams St., New Orleans, Louisiana

2010-04-01T19:46:00.012-06:00

Michael Canada
April 1, 2010
Glacier National Park, Montana

2010-03-25T11:51:00.000-06:00

Lin Lin
March 25, 2010
Midland, Texas

2010-03-24T12:02:00.018-06:00

The Zen garden in the Sofitel Hotel acts as a quiet place of rest for people who travel around the world. I stayed there on my last trip to Nigeria. I think your father fits in well in this place of quietness surrounded by a busy world. So as a person walks around the garden, notices the indoor pond, and looks at the well rounded stones that line the pond, they will see a red one against the grey/green background. As they get closer they will see it has something painted on it: "Rosenstein".
The Sofitel at London's Heathrow Terminal 5 is a great place to stay overnight. It is adjacent to the busy terminal but is separated by a long corridor and is very quiet and peaceful. In the hotel area off the main lobby is a Zen Garden with statues. It is in an atrium between buildings containing floors of meeting and hotel rooms. The garden has a serene feel with well groomed trees and comfortable furniture. The Zen garden area has an indoor pond surrounded by natural rocks of various sizes and floor tile which gives the appearance of being in a stream bed. The well rounded "Rosenstein" stone nestled in comfortably with the other stream eroded stones around the indoor pond.

Bill Osten
March 24, 2010
Sofitel Hotel in the London Area Heathrow Airport Terminal 5
London, England

2010-03-18T08:47:00.007-06:00

Last month I visited the Russian Academy of Sciences in Novosibrisk, Western Siberia. I placed the stone on the snow in some woods on the outskirts of the university. Come the spring, the snow will melt and return the stone to the earth...

Nick Fryer
March 18, 2010
Western Siberia, Russia

2010-03-16T09:10:00.003-06:00

I took the stone to a fence that surrounds an old, decaying wharf on the Mississippi River levee. I let it hang out for a while, enjoying the view, while a freight train groaned and squealed behind me. Then, with it in my hand, I crawled under a spool of barbed wire and walked over and under the foundation beams of a razed naval base, through grabbing brush and brambles, out onto the river's shore. The water was roiling and wild, and the riverside was choked with deadfall and garbage. There was a pair of brown cordovan loafers placed neatly on the rock next to where I stood, as if someone had removed them and left them on his doorstep. It began to rain. I threw the stone into the river with all my strength. Maybe it will find its way to the Gulf, or maybe it will embed itself in the silt under two hundred dark feet of America's water...I guess it's up to the river.

Michael Winter
March 16, 2010
New Orleans, Louisiana

2010-03-08T08:15:00.004-07:00

...I grew up around this area, west of Denver. Drove past the hill with the Mother Cabrini Shrine at its peak many times, though had never hiked up for some reason. Most people see the ascent as a pilgrimage... and delivering the stone felt like a pilgrimage of sorts to me as well... my intention was to deliver the stone to a place where people went to feel sacred energy. It was a beautiful early summer day, Solstice time, and bright orange poppies covered the whole hillside, a good day for a hike. When I made the last turn to climb the final steps to the summit I was surprised, there was the huge white statue, but not of Mother Cabrini, as I had always thought it would be throughout my childhood, but of Jesus! The best surprise was at the base of the statue - a big white heart made out of rocks made by Mother Cabrini. She had put them there when she came to the top of this hill so long ago. I had no idea she had done this, but it made the area seem all the more appropriate a place to leave the rose stone. Nowadays they have the white heart rocks covered with plexiglass so no one will mess with them. This was ironic to me because I had wanted someone to find the rose stone after I left it, to move it, throw it out into the poppies or to take it somewhere else. So I climbed over the fence and put the rose stone at the feet of a little Mother Mary statue that's outside the gated area. It's overlooking the valley, overlooking Denver, overlooking the poppies, with the possibility that someone else might find it... the stone's final(?) destination open ended....

Loryn Zerr
March 8, 2010
near Denver, Colorado

2010-02-21T12:48:00.001-07:00

Planted at Victory Park in Moscow. Russia's monument to the fallen in WWII.

Bret Fossum
February 21, 2010
Moscow, Russia

2010-02-09T10:09:00.020-07:00

Our family just visited Maui, and found what we thought was a fitting spot to leave one of your rocks. There is an outlook on the North shore where people build small rock monuments and the view is incredible....

Heather Sundheim (and family)
February 9, 2010
North Shore, Maui, Hawaii

2010-01-22T21:13:00.008-07:00

If I could tack a p.s. onto the 11 year old's letter, it would be this line from WB Yeats:

We can make our minds
so like still water
that beings gather about us
that they may see,
it may be,
their own images,
and so live for a moment
with a clearer,
perhaps even with
a fiercer life
because of our quiet.

You've done this.

Amy Leary
January 22, 2010

2010-01-19T09:33:00.003-07:00

I put my rose stone in the rock garden....

Joel Ahr Carlson
January 19, 2010
Moiese, Montana

2009-12-31T08:42:00.002-07:00

Sue LaRose
December 31, 2009
Worthington State Forest, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

2009-12-19T10:29:00.009-07:00

...in South Pointe Park (southernmost tip of South Beach) the stone's last breaths of air before I tossed it into Governor’s Cut (the man-made opening that connects the Atlantic with the Biscayne Bay and the Port of Miami). Hopefully it gets washed out into the ocean and ends up who knows where with the currents and hurricanes…. If it gets swept into the bay, not a bad resting place either!

Rob Sena
December 19, 2009
confluence of Atlantic Ocean, Biscayne Bay and Port of Miami

2009-12-17T10:04:00.005-07:00

My husband, Braden, and I just finished a three-month adventure that the Rosenstein Rock came along with. We had a lot of fun making him pose in famous places. Photos from top left: Egypt - Rosenstein is tired for waking up at 1:45am to watch sunrise; Jordan - the monastery at Petra; Nepal - Rosenstein hiking the Annapurna trek; Egypt - watching the sunrise at Mt. Sinai; Greece - Rosenstein rock climbing at Kalymnos; Jordan - Rosenstein riding a camel; Nepal - Rosenstein's final resting place at 17,769 feet.

Meaghan Castor Peters
December 17, 2009
Egypt, Jordan, Greece, Nepal, ...

2009-12-09T17:38:00.002-07:00

...My niece, Lucy, is throwing the stone in the Aegean Sea. The mountain in the background across the water (maybe 1 mile) is Turkey, and the island we were on is Samos....

Rankin Holmes
December 9, 2009
Samos Island, Greece

2009-12-07T16:11:00.008-07:00

My name is SeaGull #5435, G for short. I live on Miami Beach and spend most of my days flying around looking for food. Last Sunday, I saw your rose stones on the beach. When you were setting up I couldn't wait to fly down and pick out a stone. I placed mine in the Atlantic Ocean, just north of your installation. I thought that was most appropriate, for two reasons. One, since I don't have hands and with webbed feet it can be hard to carry a heavy stone.... I can only carry it in my mouth for so long. And two, well, I must admit when I swooped down to pick it up, I thought it was food. Once I figured out that it wasn't the heaviest piece of food I'd ever picked up (I thought I had hit the mother lode), I dropped it in the water. I'm not sure the stone even stayed where I dropped it. When it hit the water I think a fish thought it was food and came up and got it. Anyway, I enjoyed seeing your stones all day on the beach.

December 7, 2009

Atlantic Ocean (off the Florida coast)

2009-12-03T10:37:00.007-07:00

I left a redded stone overlooking the Pacific on a lovely walk with my daughters in a spot of wild, high above Los Angeles.... A special family outing during which I placed your special father memorial.

Ann Harding
December 3, 2009
near Los Angeles, California

2009-11-27T16:45:00.012-07:00

Porch Productions has been traveling to Haiti since May to produce short promotional documentaries for Hospital Albert Schweitzer, which is a hospital in central Haiti that serves about 300,000 people....

Our last trip to Haiti was at the beginning of this month and it was on this trip that I returned my Rosenstein stone to the land. Early one morning I took the stone up the mountain behind the hospital. I planned to leave it where many Haitians go to pray and commune with others and their surroundings. When I arrived I found that the place was marked by a large old tree that was surrounded by a pile of stones. This was clearly the place. After I left my stone among the others, I was told that each of the stones represented somebody’s burden and were brought to this place as part of a common ritual to find acknowledgement and relief from whatever is weighing on someone. There were hundreds of stones at the base of this tree that represented the countless hardships of life in Haiti. This experience helped clarify for me the purpose and power of grief and empathy and ritual and community and faith. Thank you.

Matt Anderson
November 27, 2009
Haiti

2009-11-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving Day.

Rinchen La
November 26, 2009
hill house, Arlee, Montana

2009-11-19T11:01:00.002-07:00

JD Bacon

November 19, 2009

Highlands Ranch, Colorado

2009-11-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

The fate of one red rock--- deposited near the pictographs at Trin Alcove on the Green River, first week of October 2009. Photos: rosenstein with envelope in which it had been living since show and the river map showing the Trin Alcove bend, view up Trin Alcove side canyon from added rock location, small depression in rock with addition of rosenstein.

Laura Jackson

November 14, 2009

Green River, Utah

2009-11-13T12:16:00.001-07:00

...the place Cindy decided to place the rock from your exhibit honoring your father.

Jimmy White

November 13, 2009

Redwoods National Park, California

2009-11-06T11:46:00.030-07:00

My husband and I took a small heart-shaped stone from your exhibit with us to Seville this September. Eventually, we decided to make a second trek into the Alcazar - a beautiful royal residence in the heart of old Seville with unbelievable gorgeous, extensive grounds. It was very hot, but they have created shade and walks and lush green space for every moment of the day, on both sides of this grotto where we placed the rock. There are peacocks and green parrots everywhere, and it was truly one of the loveliest places we've ever been....

Stefanie Flynn
November 6, 2009
Seville, Spain

2009-10-27T09:25:00.001-06:00

This is really strange but I was having supper with a friend at Isa Saturday night and I was showing her pictures of my trip [to Nepal] and telling her the story of the "red stones". When I had finished I picked up my napkin and they have small stones placed on all their napkins and the stone I picked up was one of yours. What an odd coincidence! None of the other stones on the various table settings were yours but the one I picked up...

Paul Lynn
October 27, 2009
Missoula, Montana

2009-10-21T11:36:00.001-06:00

This is where my daughter and I left your stone. It is in the Forest Umbra, the dark forest in the Gargono, in Pulia Italy. The forest is a remnant of the original forest that covered this part of Italy at one time. It is quite beautiful and peaceful. Thank you for letting us be part of the process of his life and your life.

Harriet Eichenholz
October 21, 2009
Pulia, Italy

2009-10-16T08:20:00.014-06:00

Dear Miss Kerri Rosenstein,
After you told me again where your star field was, and the Rosenstein stone I picked out in my pocket, along with the puka shell we found from close to the star field, the white stone you gave me from in your car, the lavender from the farmer's market, and the wild sage from Yellowstone Park that I had hanging with your dreamcatcher for a week, I felt confident I would find your star field. And I sure did, no problem. The light was right and as I drove by it I saw it right away, like it was calling to me. I pulled over and asked the stones what they thought. It felt good, an easy drive, no traffic on the way, and when I turned my music on the first song that came on was Free Bird. Ya, it felt right. So, I looked for a good spot and started making a star with white coral rocks from my home beach and a white shell in the middle as an alter to place the Rosenstein stone in as well as the puka shell with the lavender sticking out of the puka resting right above the Rosenstein stone, the white stone below also in the shell, and the sage just a little underneath the top of the shell. I figure the three (Rosenstein stone, puka shell and white stone are all friends). The Rosenstein stone can feel at home here looking up at the stars at night in a star field you created in the lava, hanging out with the puka shell (that we found on a nearby beach), the stone you found that I really liked (it felt like pureness), the lavender from your hometown (for calmness), the wild sage from Yellowstone that was hanging with your old dreamcatcher (to keep the area clear and positive vibe), and the white coral rocks and shell from my home beach (for some local mana). I think I did well, so the stone can now relax and exhale in happy and joyful peace. Looking back now, the only thing I can think of to add is some ti leaf.
As you know, the Rosenstein was with me on some fun times through Montana, Yellowstone, Idaho and Seattle before ending up where it is now. I feel good about its resting place.
A full rainbow filled aloha,
Barry Levenbaum

October 16, 2009
near Kona, Hawaii

2009-09-28T12:33:00.002-06:00

...So I left the "red stone" on the top of Thorang Pass in a Buddhist cairn. We had trekked for about 10 days when we got to the pass and that morning we started hiking at 4am. I have some pictures and it was a beautiful morning. I thought about your dad and the beauty of your gift to him. I thought about my dad as well who died young. It was a pretty moving moment. I'm still in the Annapurna Mountains...

Paul Lynn
September 28, 2009
Thorang Pass, Nepal

2009-09-27T09:32:00.003-06:00

Luke Hanley
September 27, 2009
Ewam, Arlee, Montana

(3 others have been found on the statue of Yum Chenmo and 1 other has been found at Ewam.)

2009-09-23T11:56:00.000-06:00

...I was on my way out to Garnet Ghost Town a couple days ago and stopped at a little miner's cemetery a few miles down the road. I'd never seen it before! Anyway, one of your rose-stones was perched on top of one of the headstones.

Linden How
September 23, 2009
Garnet Ghost Town, Montana

2009-09-13T19:12:00.001-06:00

...I was walking down the back of Mt. Sentinel the other day and lost my footing for a split second but it was long enough to find a Rosenstein rock nuzzled into the side of the mountain!

Thea Delamater
September 13, 2009
Missoula, Montana

2009-09-12T12:04:00.002-06:00

...If you were to hike into the hot springs you would find the stone at the source of the springs above the main pool. As for the second of the two rocks, the area where we are going to place this one just hasn't quite shown itself to us, but be assured we will update you with this information and a photo. Thanks for the opportunity to be a part of the bigger picture.

Tracy Davis and Andrew Hubing
September 12, 2009
Weir Hot Springs, Idaho

2009-09-12T10:17:00.000-06:00

...each stone and clusters of stones that were removed created a beautiful pattern. Our friends from Holland took 2 to place there in their gardens. Our grandchildren were fascinated and probably enjoyed it more than most adults would, as they liked the hands on privilege of being involved.

Ann and Cal Ashby
September 12, 2009
Missoula, Montana

2009-09-07T09:48:00.001-06:00

As I was thinking about where I would place my rose stone, I also thought back to a lecture given by Art Historian Marie Shurkus during my artist residency in Vermont. She spoke of appropriation, re-enactment and affect. I decided to re-enact part of your work to house my rose stone. Originally, I was only going to collect 230 red stones (1% of the 23,000 [23,024] that you collected). As I began to collect the 230 stones, I thought of my grandfather. After I collected the 230 rose-colored stones, I did the math and figured out that 282 stones would be 1% of the number of days of his life. I then collected that many stones, but blue in hue, to honor my grandfather. I placed the 282 blue-colored stones next to the 230 rose-colored stones. I place my rose stone from your exhibit amidst the rose stones. I found a blue rock and wrote “couture” on it and placed it with the blue stones.

Renee Couture
September 7, 2009
Glide, Oregon

2009-09-03T17:47:00.001-06:00

Went to labyrinth today. Your stone ended up in the center. So beautiful there with all the other stones, shells, etc...

Janet Weertman
September 3, 2009
Victor, Montana

2009-09-01T09:35:00.000-06:00

Stella Shannon
September 1, 2009
British Columbia, Canada

2009-09-01T09:16:00.003-06:00

...I left my rose stone on the north fork of the Flathead River near the confluence with Kintla Creek. I was doing a 2 day float with a group of friends for the 4th of July and I left the stone at our campsite...

Lorri Eberle
September 1, 2009
Flathead River, Montana

2009-08-29T09:07:00.000-06:00

Dave Claman
August 29, 2009
Peace Park Seating Wall, Waterworks Hill
Missoula, Montana

2009-08-27T08:51:00.000-06:00

...I told my husband that Liam, age 8, would want to take his stone home and "save" it. (He is a little packrat and takes home rocks, sticks, feathers, etc. from his visits). Sure enough he said right away he would take his home and put it on a shelf in his room. Someday in the future it will be planted! The other two said they also wanted to take theirs home and plant them in Spokane. Sean, age 10, has planted his in a city park near their home, and Ciara, age 6, has planted hers in their garden.
On two different hikes with Grandpa they did decide where to plant our two stones. One was planted on a rock bar in Rattlesnake Creek and the other on Blue Mountain near the lookout tower among the Lupine and wild strawberry.
And that’s the story of the five stones taken by the Hagan family...

Judy and Tom Hagan
August 27, 2009
Missoula, Montana
Spokane, Washington

2009-08-23T14:37:00.000-06:00

...A few minutes later a table opened up outside and we gathered our stuff and relocated. As we were getting settled again outside at our new table, I laid out my chopsticks on the little stone which served as a chopstick rest. The stone must have had the other side facing up at our table inside, but now the side facing me read "Rosenstein" - how about that!?

Emi Kodama
August 23, 2009
Missoula, Montana

2009-08-22T12:39:00.001-06:00

...It was an alternately rainy and sunny day on Sunday, August 16 at the base of Spencer Mountain outside Whitefish, MT. We chose this place because James was an avid mountain biker and had spent countless hours up on the mountain, building trails and then riding them. These were probably some of the happiest hours of his life. I took his high school senior pictures up there. ...There were sparrows flitting all around and as my mother gave the eulogy a hummingbird flew to the flowers we had placed behind her and hovered there for a while. A few people told me they saw a horse in a nearby pasture stop what he was doing and watch the entire service without moving.
...After the rain stopped, and people started leaving, I walked back to my car and got the rose-stone...

Linden How
August 22, 2009
Spencer Mountain, Montana

2009-08-21T16:54:00.000-06:00

...I put "my" rock in the garden here at the Montana Arts Council.

Beck McLaughlin
August 21, 2009
Helena, Montana

2009-08-20T17:03:00.002-06:00

on july 4th i left my house at 4:45 AM to hike to the top of Mt. Jumbo to place the rose stone i had chosen. i wanted to do it as the sun was coming up, which is insanely early that time of year. i hiked to the top of the mountain and scouted a spot, 33 paces to the east of the trail. just after the sun had fully risen i set the stone and took a photograph. given my love of documentation, i looked forward to coming up at sunrise for the next few weeks to photograph the stone as it, and the surroundings, changed throughout the summer. the next week i woke insanely early again and headed up for sunrise. i got to the spot where i had left the stone and it was gone...i was crushed. i felt like i had let you and your father down and that i should have found a better place. i spent an hour looking all around for the stone and didn't find it. on my way back down the mountain i was so torn. i wanted another stone to place and to document. but you said that you only took one yourself, so there was no way that i could take another.
when i got back home i remembered how you talked about the breath, breathing in and breathing out. i related my whole experience to that. the process of hiking, placing and photographing was the breathing in. i surmised that the breathing out part was so strong, that the force of the breath blew the stone into the air where it vaporized into particles of dust. So I got on my bike, and a friend and i climbed for over 2 hours to the next mountain top to photograph the haze that was floating over mt. jumbo and the rest of the valley. i was sure that was the evaporated stone. and it seemed so appropriate.

Tom Robertson
August 20, 2009
Missoula, Montana

2009-08-20T13:08:00.001-06:00

Jim and Patty Borchordt
August 20, 2009
Kihei, Maui, Hawaii

2009-08-15T20:29:00.001-06:00

To Kerri Rosenstein,
In June my wife and I visited the living exhibit for your dad in Missoula.
We accepted your invitation to carry his spirit from there to mend it into the wilderness somewhere along an unpredictable summer path. I carried one little reddish stone along Rock Creek, up to the Blackfeet, to Glacier, and down along the Clark Fork. I fished the Thompson and St. Regis. I carried it in my short's pocket to the Coeur d'Alene in Idaho.
I don't know for sure where this special stone is, and now feeling sheepish, but wonder if I should. Born in 1945, I am never certain where all my important possessions may be found. I'm not too young to forget. I'd like to believe that Howard would understand and would convey this to you, his daughter. I knew all along that the stone needed to find its place and apologize to him and you and your family. Yet I am confident that it lies somewhere in Montana, and feels at peace and knows the wonder.
"Come on. You must know where it is. I don't need the philosophy. I need to know." I can hear one of my daughter's insistence and the other more accepting. I'm not sure what you would say.
I'd become careless since this stone and I spent some time together and I'd become too comfortable with my feelings that it would end up in a beautiful place. I'd debate the merits of each brook, berry patch, or the rivulets that drown in momentary consideration.
I thought of this stone as soul, due to Kerri's apparent intention and " was glad that you'd be in so many places yet I wanted you in a special place despite being part of a large collection, the intention not to minimize. I felt the seasons and changing landscapes would give you new life each year, beginning with so many people like me making up their minds where to put each of you; but you were really one.
I only knew that I wanted you in some vital place where I would want to be, and since so many of us did not know Howard, but still sensed from Kerri's expression that he didn't want to be set in stone. I imagined that to be her wish, one that he would wish, too. Would he infuse the world or would he be infused for eternity?" I have no intention of answering, for it's her life, and my family has its own. Where shall we go when we go away?
By the end of any summer Montana day, I may have some wildflower seeds in my pocket, a piece of paper with a phone number of some fascinating person I've met, a rose stone, or maybe a blue one I've found along Fish Creek. I sometimes have a couple of stones in my ephemeral possession, new friends who could reminisce for eons if not separated in the next few days, or this evening. Being casual or forgetful, I've lost songs and poems, and many fish I should have caught.
Has the stone fallen into a crevice on the edge of a forest stream such as the Two Medicine where mink and I fished together? Has it flipped out and rolled down an embankment and into an otter's hole?
I have to rationalize for I could spend a lifetime or two or three trying to find it amongst the rocks of one of many streams or even along the shore of a Blackfeet lake like Mitten, Four Horns, or Hidden. If I'd left it at Hidden, wouldn't that be appropriate, staring up into the east side of Glacier and all that wildness that we hope will last forever? But maybe I left it along the Yellowstone one recent evening when the caddis blanketed the river eddy. Wouldn't a small red stone be happy there?
I'll tell you what I can. I may have lost it in one of the beautiful places where I changed my shorts and put on waders. I also admit to bathing in various Montana waters and it could be in the bottom of a lake or washed out of my pocket at Kootenai Falls where I spent an hour picking cherries and serviceberries. A pool in the lower Thompson River is a strong possibility. I had cleaned a whitefish, then took a bath in my shorts. If it's there, it will be a lucky stone. What stone wouldn't love to be where dippers come to explore the bottoms and turn stones like this a thousand times. A red stone would feel special with all the greens and blues.
Back in New Mexico, now I think I left it near the hot springs at Potosi, the high lonesome wet meadow above Pony where we saw the moose and calf amongst the yellow monkey flowers that blend with Forget-Me-Not's and mountain bluebells. I imagine or recall a shady slot amongst the flowers and the grasses where I think it would want to be. I tossed it gently into its new home, where it will freeze and thaw, and perhaps cause seeds to do the same. It will see the owl this winter and feel the voles pushing it aside.
I'd taken it from pocket so many times, wondering, "Is this the place where Howard would like to spend some time? Would he enjoy a spot under a streamside fern or looking up at yellow warblers from the banks of the Kootenai? And what was Kerri's idea in the first place, to disperse her love for her Dad through the countryside, his randomness of spirit that congealed at birth and dissipated at death? I wasn't clear nor did I need to be. No doubt each of us who chose to help has a reason to make something of what may have been intended. The stones could not be left behind.
While it took its own path and leaves me with an empty feeling, a challenge that I am trying to overcome, I think that certainty of place can never replace the spirit of a son or father. His spirit is not confining. It bleeds from the earth. Being pedantic, I feel the red stone joins the randomness that separates beauty from the unimagined.
In the Pueblo way, we bury the body but plant the seed. I am not Pueblo, but I believe it's true.

John Egbert
August 15, 2009
Albuquerque, New Mexico

I read from this letter at my talk at the Missoula Art Museum Artini event on August 20, 2009.

2009-08-15T13:37:00.003-06:00

...We took a hike up the Rattlesnake wilderness trail in Missoula later that day. Kathy thought she would like to commemorate the day by placing one of the rose stones at the entrance to the hiking trail...

The next stone went to Cour d’Alene, Idaho at the cemetery where my father is buried. We were driving back to Seattle from Missoula, and I usually stop at the cemetery whenever driving through Cour d’Alene. The last coherent thing my father said to me in the hospital was, “It’s hard to collect all your marbles in a place like this, but I’ve managed to gather a few on the fringes.” Whenever I visit his grave, I usually take a marble from a sack that I have and shove a marble as deep as I can in the ground around his grave marker...

The third stone has a permanent place of rest in our back yard in Seattle. There are numerous literary references to Don Quixote as a “father figure,” and I felt this was the perfect place for the rose stone that we should always have, baring unforeseen circumstances...

Hoyt DeMeres, Sharon, and Kathy
August 15, 2009
Rattlesnake Wilderness, Montana
Cour d'Alene, Idaho
Seattle, Washington

2009-08-14T13:21:00.000-06:00

...One stone came back with us to our place in Stevensville. The stone is now living in our pond. We planted trees here for the decades of my Dad's life which he enjoyed on his summer visits. Now we love those trees as living growing remembrances of him.

Audrey Seale
August 14, 2009
Stevensville, Montana

2009-08-13T14:45:00.000-06:00

...Henry brought me one of the stones from your exhibit, and I left it on the statue at Ewam.

Deanna Curtis
August 13, 2009
Arlee, Montana

2009-08-12T12:56:00.000-06:00

I had all my Irish actors here to do the Butte trilogy and they took stones back to Ireland...

Geoff Sutton
August 12, 2009
Montana/Ireland

2009-08-11T13:01:00.004-06:00

...where I threw your stone for your papa. Rainier. Best jump I will probably ever have...

Brandon Sheehan
August 11, 2009
Mt. Rainier, Washington

2009-08-08T12:40:00.002-06:00

A rose stone journeys in the flow of the Hobart Rivulet, Tasmania, AU because I met Adrain as we waited for beers at a reception thrown by a British scientific publishing company at a Conference in Melbourne. He lives in Tasmania and told me flights there were pretty reasonable. A couple days had opened the following week before my return to the States. Why not go the Taz? Packing an overnight bag I noticed the rose stone sitting on the bedside table in the hotel room. I put it in my pocket on the way out the door to catch the overnight ferry to Devonport . . .

Kevin Hyde
August 8, 2009
Hobart Rivulet, Tasmania, Australia

2009-08-06T12:24:00.001-06:00

...A rose stone at the top of Thompson Peak in the Tobacco Roots.

Barbara Weissberger
August 6, 2009
Thompson Peak, Montana

2009-08-05T14:33:00.000-06:00

...Each year, my three sisters and I go camping for 4 days together, something we have done for many years – no kids, no spouses/mates, the only pet invited is the one dog in the group that is female – you get the picture. This past weekend was our trip and we spent some time in the Bob Marshall, so I left the rock there in a really beautiful place with a fantastic view.

Teresa Geremia-Chart
August 5, 2009
Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana

2009-08-05T12:14:00.000-06:00

...Recently my friend Reinhold and I hiked from the crest of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County to the edge of the Pacific Ocean in Stinson Beach. As we made the descent from the mountain to the sea I waited until a site to leave the Rosenstein stone called to me. I spied a rock outcropping slightly off the trail and we climbed beside the edge of a small boulder. There we left a small piece of "father." It/he has a magnificent view of the shoreline in the distance. With the Rosenstein stone at our backs, we headed toward the ocean and encountered a coyote nearby. I felt as if the animal kingdom was welcoming your work and the memory of Howard Rosenstein.

Bonnie Solow
August 5, 2009
Mount Tamalpais, California

2009-07-31T11:52:00.002-06:00

This stone is in the roots of the heirloom tomatoes at Bitterroot Organics.
I think every philosophical idea known to human race rests in this piece. ...It makes you let go.

Luke Seefeldt
July 31, 2009
Victor, Montana

2009-07-29T11:44:00.001-06:00

...wanted to let you know I took one of your stones and will place it on a
walking path in Novosibirsk, Russia (Siberia). I'm headed there in October...
As you may be aware, walking or "strolling" is a Russian way of life. They walk everywhere and during the entire year, even in the dead of winter.
I've been on many strolls myself in Siberia during past trips, and look forward to my next.

Bret Fossum
July 29, 2009
Houston, Texas