PainterWoman

Rocks in my Head? Sometimes I wonder.

Wednesday, 3. June 2009, 23:25:47

These are just a few of the rocks I've collected from various places I've visited. I used to know where each one came from, but not so much anymore.

The three larger rocks with holes in them were found in the sand on Lake Michigan when visiting someone in Michigan City, Indiana. Their house is right on the shore and was the biggest house I've ever been in. I don't remember how many bedrooms and bathrooms it had but it actually had a room they called the dungeon complete with wine storage. There was never anyone in the bottom third of the house, considered the basement. But that whole floor was three times the size of my house. It was really a little creepy going down there to check it out.

The big white conglomerate rock on the top I found in the sand at Mission Beach in San Diego, California. I just thought it was really interesting to look at and, as I examined it closely, turning it every which way, the kids said it looked like a petrified turd from some big fish. Oh well.

This was the last photo I took on a roll of film I wanted to get in for developing and just moved the rocks around a bit to get them all in. Little did I know that I'd made a face. What a fun surprise when I got the photos back.

Somewhere, I've also got a basket of marbles. Maybe I should put them back in my head.

Opera in Phoenix? I found you!Cuba - 1949 - My Aunt Ruby and Uncle Herb

Comments

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scott cumming # 3. June 2009, 23:32

lost your marbles... no, i don't think so. i see the face too.... and all my marbles are counted and accounted for.

i pick up things too... i have a whole drawer full of strange tidbits... mostly balls... small balls. i don't know why. i just can't resist them when they are so abandoned i just have to adopt them.

PainterWoman # 3. June 2009, 23:38

I don't really think I've lost my marbles either but sometimes family members give me such quizzical looks at the things I've collected. It used to bother me but not anymore.

There's another collection of rocks right near my front door. These are from all the people who have visited my house. Anytime someone new comes over, I tell them to bring a smooth pebble from where they live and it goes into the collection.

L2D2 # 3. June 2009, 23:41

I even see the chin (lantern-jaw is how we phrase that type)and he's sticking out his tongue lapping up popcorn or something.

Something we have in common Pam.....My son and I used to collect rocks and minerals. I have a number of them, and like you, I have forgotten the names of some of them. At one time I had a huge chunk of natural turquoise. I displayed these rocks in a big bowl. Sometime or other, my turquoise disappeared. Guess someone else liked it as much as I did. Darn turkey!

PainterWoman # 3. June 2009, 23:48

Yeah, I saw the chin and tongue too. I was shocked when I looked at the picture and had to go home to see the rocks. A happy accident that was.

There are a few rocks that I have names for. Not human names but what they look like.

Many years ago, we had a rock polisher and what fun we had seeing how the small rocks came out. They are expensive to run though because they have to run 24/7 for three weeks.

scott cumming # 3. June 2009, 23:58

pam, that's a great custom. i will hitherto insist that my visitors bring a rock. i love it.

@l2d2 that's a shame about the turquoise. you are very kind to put it that way. some turkey... i am often tempted to lift a pretty pebble from someone's display. but i swear, i never do. i want to because i'm a 'kid' but i have this pesky conscience which slaps my hands.

L2D2 # 4. June 2009, 00:21

And a good thing, too ArtMan. Because if I had caught the thief, I definitely would have a few words to say to him/her.

Apparently, this person was tempted and didn't get the slap on the hand.

I have some river pebbles, Pam, that I used to display in water. Dry, they were just attractive rocks, but when I wet them, I found dabs and streaks of every color in the rainbow in those pebbles, some of them looking as though they had rubies, garnet, gold, etc. running through them. And might have for all I know.

Andy Wilson # 4. June 2009, 00:58

Why you're a Rock-ologist!

PainterWoman # 4. June 2009, 01:01

Andy, I used to know the names of them. The only one I can remember is conglomerate.

glenno # 4. June 2009, 01:04

"petrified turd "? What was it so afraid of??

PainterWoman # 4. June 2009, 01:16

Maybe I should word that differently?

glenno # 4. June 2009, 01:22

Sorry, just being daft, whenever i see the word petrified in this context I always think of the other meaning, petrified forest makes me chuckle too, loads of scared trees

PainterWoman # 4. June 2009, 01:29

Daft is one of my favorite words.

In doing some research to refresh my memory of the geology I once knew, I came across this:

http://geology.com/articles/racetrack-playa-sliding-rocks.shtml

Kind of fascinating.

glenno # 4. June 2009, 01:33

That is worthy of a blog in itself... I know why they move though... they are petrified too

PainterWoman # 4. June 2009, 01:38

Bizarre isn't it? I'm surprised no one has said space aliens did it.

L2D2 # 4. June 2009, 01:38

I got an email about those moving rocks Pam. Even the scientists do not know what makes them move. No explanation has satisfied all scientific methodology.

PainterWoman # 4. June 2009, 01:41

I envision a helicopter with someone hanging out of it and lassoing the rocks. Then the helicopter pulls them. Sounds like something you'd see in a movie.

glenno # 4. June 2009, 01:42

Very strong ants

L2D2 # 4. June 2009, 02:10

Or Horned Toads

glenno # 4. June 2009, 02:19

sentient mud

Angeliki # 4. June 2009, 02:59

I love when you share with us your little treasures Pam,
starting with your dad's photos, to photos of birdhouses outside you home, to stones... I love it and it feels like I visit your home for a cup of

how cool that is!

I am a collector too!
and I pick up things not for their value but because when I saw them ,
they made me happy

thanks for sharing!

PainterWoman # 4. June 2009, 03:52

Linda: but there are no animal tracks.

Glen: Now you've just given me a word to look up.

Angeliki: Thank you. I would love to have a cup of coffee with you. I see that in the future.

PainterWoman # 4. June 2009, 03:54

'Sentient' from Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary:

1 : responsive to or conscious of sense impressions <sentient beings>
2 : aware
3 : finely sensitive in perception or feeling

I'd heard the word before, just never in reference to rocks or mud.

They're alive!

glenno # 4. June 2009, 04:21

I have heard of a theory that life on earth started as sentient mud... cant remember where though

Dacotah # 4. June 2009, 04:37

I use to collect rocks too.

PainterWoman # 4. June 2009, 04:41

We must have a bunch of rockheads on Opera.

Dacotah # 4. June 2009, 04:45

PainterWoman # 4. June 2009, 04:46

There's even a definition for 'rockheads':

"The boundary between superficial deposits (drift) and the underlying solid rock."

Not exactly what I was looking for but also found out there was a Canadian hair metal band called Rockheads formed in 1991 by Bob Rock.

Now I wonder what 'hair metal' means.

Darko # 4. June 2009, 04:48

I have somewhere a small piece of ash from Etna and few rocks from a beach in Leptokaria in Greece. I like stones and would like to have them more but there is not enough room for them in my room

Well, one day....

PainterWoman # 4. June 2009, 04:53

Well Darko....how big are the rocks? I have two small baskets of rocks then a small collection on the ground by my front door. This is not counting all the rocks in my backyard. I have a collection back there too.

Darko # 4. June 2009, 05:26

They are the size of the smaller ones up in your photo, just 2 or 3 of them.

L2D2 # 4. June 2009, 07:00

Pam, if you keep looking up words and phrases like that, you are going to be smarter than anyone on Opera. we'll be coming to you for definitions instead of going to the trouble of looking up Wiki or Merriam-Webster.

I have a lot of minerals and gemstones Pam. You might enjoy looking at my collection of cut and faceted gemstones. If I could do metal work, I could make my own precious jewelry (that is, supposing I could buy the gold!)

I have ruby, sapphire,emerald, Kunzite, diamonds, blue topaz, all kinds of stones besides the stuff I have in their natural state. Wish I could get them set in mountings.

L2D2 # 4. June 2009, 07:01

I also have some arrowheads and ancient pottery shards my son dug up in White Oak

Allan # 4. June 2009, 07:20

The people I know who have stones collected on beaches don't live anywhere near beaches.

I live by the beach, and I never collect stones. I would fill up the house in a week if I did.

I collect decisive moments detached from reality - also called photographs. My harddrive is almost filled with those now.

scott cumming # 4. June 2009, 07:31

i knew a rockhound who engineered the new york subway tunnels, he even worked with the 'sandhogs' though he was the engineer. he did that out of a pure interest in what he might find. his grandchild gave him a rock i saw; inscribed on it in child calligraphy was "grandpa, you've got rocks in your head."
he taught me the art of lapidary. when i made a cabochon with petrified wood that was so perfect, he couldn't believe it. he suddenly said, "oh, i forgot you are an artist."

L2D2 # 4. June 2009, 07:38

So, ArtMan, you could design mountings for my gemstones?

scott cumming # 4. June 2009, 07:47

of course. form is my forte'
i have some experience in jewelry. lost wax casting etc.
i made my own wedding rings.
anyway, there is no form a real artist cannot dedicate his attention to and achieve an aesthetically pleasing result. look at cellini for example... he was a great sculptor and yet the world knows him mostly as a jeweler.

studio41 # 4. June 2009, 08:41

if this were my stash, what with some of my nutty days here, I'd look at this and have to call it a self-portrait.

Somewhere, I've also got a basket of marbles. Maybe I should put them back in my head.

perhaps I should look through our place for marbles, I'm gleaning suggestions from others' posts

L2D2 # 4. June 2009, 09:01

Honey, if you glean suggestions from posts all over Opera, you will no longer be human.

studio41 # 4. June 2009, 09:14

glenno # 4. June 2009, 11:35

If you have lost your marbles, dont look to me, i lost all mine at school

PainterWoman # 4. June 2009, 13:12

Linda, I'm always looking up words. It's so easy on the computer cuz if I use my trusty dictionary, the print is too small. Surely, I need an adjustment in my reading glasses.

Allan, I have found that to be true too. I am nowhere near water so when I visit a stream, the sea or the ocean, I always find a small and smooth pebble as a remembrance. Your 'decisive moments' collection is a great one.

Scott, one of my required classes for an art degree was in jewelry making. I loved the results but hated lighting the gas torch. I should polish up the silver and copper stuff I made and do a post on that.

Jill, I may very well name the above photo 'self portrait in rocks'. Especially since it must have been a Freaudian slip when I arranged the rocks not realizing I was making a face.

Glen, I think I lost mine in school too....some of them.

Angeliki # 4. June 2009, 15:22

meli

,
my brother in law is a gemologists/diamond setter, in his free time (other that studying music), he is sculpting and engraves too (wax and all included ...)
I think you have a job in Greece waiting for you! pack your things!

Edward Piercy # 4. June 2009, 17:09

A nice collection, Pam.

What always gets me is when I'm walking down a particular sidewalk and the sun is shining on it at a certain angle and it looks like there are bright, shiny diamonds embedded in the concrete. I've always loved that effect.

PainterWoman # 4. June 2009, 17:21

Thanks Ed.

That's how I spot my rocks when the sun shines on them a certain way. Of course, when they're wet, the colors show better too.

studio41 # 5. June 2009, 08:15

Léazz # 7. June 2009, 09:27

collections

Weatherlawyer # 7. June 2009, 10:27

They look like they were hollowed out at their centres of gravity.

Put a nail through them and spin them to see if they always land with one place up or down.

Of course they could have just as easily worn away to the centre of gravity as have been designed that way.

Oh, and it makes you wonder...
...will come to you at last.
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll.

PainterWoman # 7. June 2009, 14:56

Leazz, thank you. Sometimes I think I have too many collections.

WL, cute poem. Now if I started spinning rocks on nails, my kids would think more seriously of finding a home for me.

I did a bit of research on the holes in the rocks. Since these are sandstone, the holes are from smaller pebbles or air bubbles trapped inside. Then when the sandstone starts wearing away, the holes remain where the air bubbles or small pebbles were.

Weatherlawyer # 7. June 2009, 21:01

Lyrics from a Led Zepplin song