Although I try not to anthropomorphize animal behavior, I do have a tendency to anthropomorphize inanimate objects like rocks. I see faces and other man-made and artificial features in stone and since I’m currently visiting Monument Valley and environs, that tendency is now front and center. I have just discovered that this tendency of mine stems from something called pareidolia which is the human brain’s instinct to spot familiar shapes in random patterns. Yesterday, we visited the Valley of the Gods near Mexican Hat, Utah, a rugged but scenic sandstone valley with towering red mesas, buttes, and pinnacles that is considered by some to be a miniature Monument Valley. One of the rock formations that jumped out at me looked like the corner of an ancient Greek or Roman building constructed using the Corinthian architectural order, which columns are ornate and decorated with acanthus leaves. This mesa in the Valley of the Gods has a square corner that looked to me like a column with a capital decorated with carved acanthus leaves and small corner scrolls. When I blurted that out to my photographer friends, no one could see it but me. I stand by my illusion.