It Was A Cold But Fun Day With Rocks

DH and I had a lovely time at the rock show. It was cold, and we spent the majority of our time looking at rough stone in the parking lot from the vendors outside, so I was very happy that I'm already dressing in full winter gear. The parka was taken out of the closet two weeks ago or so, and I was relatively warm. Several of the vendors commented that I had dressed appropriately. Yeah me! DH, of course, was playing "macho man" and wearing a lightweight leather jacket that's on its' last legs. He was cold, but he was looking at stone, so he pushed cold to the back of his mind. He's a native of the Frozen Northlands - I guess they can do that. I'm an import from the High Peaks. I don't have that talent with cold, but I'm great with heights. 

DH may come from the Frozen Northlands, but my origin is
from the High Peaks. You know the ones - where the snow
never fully melts because the winds blow and they are
high above timberline. 

I ended up with three small slices that I have plans to cut up into interesting shapes with my stone saw, and one fossilized fish that I'll work into a larger enamel piece I've been working on for a few years featuring a variety of fossils which will be fitted into an enameled frame. My total expenditure? ... Five dollars. DH ended up with a bag of stones, a total bill of approx $60, and a desire to purchase a third trim saw. Not Going To Happen! He accuses me of being a pack rat - which isn't totally out of the realm of reason - but he's a tool rat and it's a bad addiction to have when tools require a lot of space. He'd better use the two stone saws he already owns quite a bit more before I'll let him bring one more into our home. 

Chrome Chalcedony can polish up into a mid-range green
gemstone, it can be faceted, or it can just be polished
as this example here. It's a pretty stone. 

He did pick some pretty stones, though. The last few he purchased were Chrome Chalcedony, Amazonite with inclusions of Smoky Quartz, and Chrysocolla & Malachite in Quartz. Me, I fell in love with a book - didn't buy it but I may down the road. The book: "Amateur Gemstone Faceting: Volume I, The Essentials" by Tom Herbst. It's so amazingly comprehensive and would be so much fun to play with. But, I'm not running out and buying that. I don't own a faceting machine, I don't own the rough for gemstones, and I have enough projects and areas of interest to keep me quite busy for the last 25 years of my life, thank you so much. Still, it was a fun book to look at. 

Chrysocolla and Malachite in quartz can be quite
interesting. I don't think the piece he chose was this
nice, but it'll be fun to see what can be done with it. 

After a quick but disappointing drop by HyVee (a new grocer in our area that looked rather like a more food-directed WalMart - rather blah and industrial) we rushed home. The manufacturer of a particular salsa we like had said HyVee carried their brand, but they were mistaken. So it was a wasted 15 minutes. Still, we got home in good time, watched football, and relaxed for the rest of the day. A successful Sunday. 

Apparently Amazonite is often found with
inclusions of Smoky Quartz. The stone DH
purchased isn't of this caliber, but it should
be interesting to see what it's hiding under
the cleaved surface. 

Here's hoping all of you have a wonderful Monday. We're starting the day out with dental checkups. I'm doing the usual crossing of my fingers that all will go well and I'll escape dental work for another six months. Living the dream! LOL. I'll be back tomorrow.