sometimes we rise by displacement
Stones must be cleared each year before planting the spring garden. The big rocks rise to the top, at least with my crop of stones.
Rocks conduct better than soil, so water that seeps down pushes up the rock over winter; ice expands space pebbles fill later.
I’ve tested this theory with nuts by the bowl and a box of muesli. Objects of odd sizes, if shaken, surface the bigger, even heavier.
People are shifting objects, filling in by opportunity while securing the big and heavy, hoist on gravity of those less so.
