Stacking stones

There's something irresistible about stacking stones one atop the other, isn't there? I spotted the above cairn in a front garden recently, shortly after noticing this series of cairns just a block away:

This mini cairn sits on my patio table, and must be reassembled frequently. I've added one more small stone since taking this photo, which sits below the topmost stone now.

And this one, with a spiral shell on top, I assembled a few years ago when staying at the family lake home up north. I turned this photo into a note card.

Part of the appeal for me is the sturdy permanence of the stones in contrast with the fragile balancing act involved in the stacking of them.

And I just like how they look.