Rots of Rock

The cliffs surrounding Bonassola, Italy were made of this friable green marble

One of the pieces I brought back. In the water, there were polished stones of this. I took back some for my rock garden. (collecting rocks for souvenirs is sort of crazy)I need to recover these before I sell the house

Aside from the piles and piles of landscaping rocks, inside the Rock Shoppe we visited the other day, were fancy rocks and stones which I guess are called 'minerals'. I spent many an hour as a child inside of Rock and Mineral stores as my father was a collector. He had a marble table in the living room covered with his favorite specimens. I learned their names at an early age. My first college boyfriend was a geology major. My father quizzed him on the rocks. He hardly knew any of them so my father was quite disdainful. Over the years, my father would occasionally try to engage the grandkids by giving them some of his smaller specimens which I uncovered during the move.

Where are his rocks? I assume the best pieces were stolen by the squatter living in his house at his death. Or maybe he sold them earlier. Looking at the prices at the Rock Shoppe, his would have been worth quite a bit. He of course didn't pay anything for them. He had stuff to trade.. There was a glass tank at work to make windshields. Over time, artificial rubies would form on the sides and the tank would have to be sledgehammered open. He used these very crude rubies for trade. He also had a supply of pyrite fossilized sea shells uncovered in the building of the Ohio Turnpike. I am not sure how he got them.

My favorite rock was a huge chunk of rose quartz. In the Black Hills, there were chunks of this all over the place. I remember the parking lots were covered with mica. He also had a huge geode full of amethyst crystals. That would have been nice to have. Amethyst comes from the Greek for 'not drunk' as the stones presumably protected one from drunkenness.

This was to be my biking day but the weatherman lied. Maybe if the temp climbs another ten degrees, I will go out. Instead I finished hanging stuff in the den and entertained Maya.