I can't stop picking up the yellow stones

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http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/yellowrocks2.jpg

with my green sweater

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/yellowrocks.jpg

with my yellow sweater

I start grabbing yellow quartz stones (and milky quartz ones and wave-washed brick) as soon as I get on the beach with my dog. It's not until I've been walking for almost an hour and my jacket weighs a thousand pounds that I get enough endorphin-serenity to pass them by.
I don't know what I'm going to do with them. Make a patio, or a pebble garden with stripes and polka-dots of contrasting colors? Lay down a yellow-stone edging to the clamshell driveway? That would actually be cool.
Post your compulsively collected objects here!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

Those are beautiful stones - they look almost polished!

I'm also a compulsive stone picker-upper. Especially at the beach. I try to limit myself to just a couple per trip, or I'd pick the whole beach clean. I put them in a little teacup on my windowsill as momentoes of various walks.

― The Long Grey And Overcast Tea Time Of The Soul (kate), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

It's like you're in a jewelry store, and everything is FREE. I have little collections all over the house. It's my own museum.
The stones above are just wet.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:17 (nineteen years ago)

oh that's nice.

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:18 (nineteen years ago)

my mom does this too although I think she got in trouble when taking some from pike's peak. I took a heart-shaped rock from big bend once. felt very naughty.

― Ms Misery (MissMiseryTX), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:20 (nineteen years ago)

I compulsively hunt for fossils around river beds. I have a nice little collection! I think it's due to the fact that my dad was a science teacher, and we would take expeditions to local creeks and rivers, hunting for fossils. I can't shake it. It's what I do.

― molly mummenschanz (mollyd), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

I wish I could teleport about three truckloads of the smooth river rock along the Sacramento River to my backyard. When we lived in Redding, every time we went walking along the river I'd start thinking landscapey thoughts.

― do i have to draw you a diaphragm (Rock Hardy), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:27 (nineteen years ago)

I got these from Bodega Bay, CA. We were at a wedding on the beach, sitting in a big circle as the bride and groom said their vows, and I started totally zoning the ceremony out and fixating on these pebbles, stuffing them in my pockets. Someone told me that the greenish ones are actually jade.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/bodegabaystones.jpg

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:33 (nineteen years ago)

I wet them before scanning, but they actually are quite polished.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:34 (nineteen years ago)

Shit, Beth, when my parents moved into our house, we discovered that the former old lady resident was a crazy ROCK POLISHER and had CARPETED the flower beds in polished lake stones; my mother dug them all up as she turned the beds over, and washed 'em in batches. All my life we had two gallon food service containers of shiny rocks in my basement, used them for counting games, pretend money, just for looking at and categorizing...things that could be done ALL DAY in the rain. I have a few of my favorites or oddities, but I don't know what happened to the bulk of them.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:35 (nineteen years ago)

Ow your poor scanner glass! (xpost)

― do i have to draw you a diaphragm (Rock Hardy), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:36 (nineteen years ago)

Finding pebbles of jade! Just washed up on a beach! This is like my pebblecollecting dream.

I think it goes back to when I was a kid, spending long amounts of time with relatives in South Africa. There's tons of semi-precious stones that come from that part of the world, and we used to collect them - mostly ones we got in pebble shops, but some just found, while rock collecting.

― The Long Grey And Overcast Tea Time Of The Soul (kate), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:37 (nineteen years ago)

Also, in Michigan we are very fond of Petoskey stones and will collect them almost compulsively along beaches...and they only give up their secret fossil nature when wet or polished!

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:40 (nineteen years ago)

This thread title sounds like a line from The Curious Incident with the Dog in the Night-Time or whatever that books is called.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:40 (nineteen years ago)

Ooo! I want to go to South Africa. There's supposed to be one of the three best shelling beaches in the world there! (the others are Sanibel and some place in Indonesia that is dangerous to visit)

My scanner has a lot to forgive.

I had a rock tumbler when I was a kid. I want one now! It made a HUGE amount of noise, and took a whole month to do the job, one week with each successively finer grit.
I could put it in the basement—improvise an insulated chamber. Hell, I'm half-deaf at this point anyway. Probably wouldn't hear it.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:41 (nineteen years ago)

I love finding beach glass! My sister knows someone who makes necklaces from it. All the ladies in the family got some for xmas EXCEPT me. Thanks, sis.

― molly mummenschanz (mollyd), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:41 (nineteen years ago)

I'm a compulsive rock picker-upper. When we were on our long May road trips, I found a nice big chunk of turquoise. I've also got several piles of small quartz and amethyst points from a camping trip in Utah, from hours spent sitting on the sandy ground obsessively picking them out.

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:44 (nineteen years ago)

I am really appreciative of that second group, the gold/red/green ones. Amazing that some day they will make up a whole beach of sand in those colors -- I wonder what it will look like!??!

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:44 (nineteen years ago)

I also had a rock tumbler when a kid! (But it had to stay in South Africa.) I loved putting bits of Tiger Eye in it to make them polish up and turn into gold. (Also it was fun to change the colour of Tiger Eye with a blow torch.)

Yes, got some good finds on South African beaches - but I was more interested in the sponges and the mermaids purses and things. I seem to remember getting some beautiful shells, though. We had loads around the house. I liked the spotted ones best.

― The Long Grey And Overcast Tea Time Of The Soul (kate), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:44 (nineteen years ago)

There's hardly any beach glass any more since the advent of plastic bottles and 5¢ bottle deposits. I know a woman who smashes blue bottles and throws the pieces in the ocean (in winter) then comes back later for the seaglass. My brother-in-law makes it in a tumbler.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:46 (nineteen years ago)

My huge desire is to travel the world collecting rocks and shells! I prefer road trips to flying because of the way you can load up your car. Actually, the last time we went to Sanibel I shipped a bunch of boxes back.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:48 (nineteen years ago)

There's hardly any beach glass any more since the advent of plastic bottles and 5¢ bottle deposits.

Not on Lake Erie! You can find it along with lots of dead fish and industrial waste. Most of the beach glass is green, presumably from Molson Canadian bottles.

― molly mummenschanz (mollyd), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:48 (nineteen years ago)

I found beautiful flat slatey beach stones on Lake Erie.
SCAN COMING!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:49 (nineteen years ago)

I was wondered why there was less seaglass than when I was a kid! That would explain it.

The only thing better than picking up pebbles is picking up weird shit that gets washed up on the Thames banks at low tide. My favourites are pipestems and teeth.

― The Long Grey And Overcast Tea Time Of The Soul (kate), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:50 (nineteen years ago)

TEETH???!!!
I read an article about all the artifacts that continue to wash up. How cool!
Here's part of my Lake Erie haul, with two pieces of seaglass, and little snails:

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/lakeerierocks.jpg

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 16:59 (nineteen years ago)

Someday I will plumb the mysteries of my digital camera. I never even know where it is.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:00 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, teeth! Animal teeth. Some of them still on the bone. I've no idea if they're recent, or if they're archeological, but they look pretty cool. I mean, obviously the pipestems are v. v. old.

― The Long Grey And Overcast Tea Time Of The Soul (kate), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:00 (nineteen years ago)

when we were putting the slate down on our floor I loved finding bits of fossil in them. and I would try to center the very unusual colored ones in prominent spots of the room.

― Ms Misery (MissMiseryTX), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:04 (nineteen years ago)

Someday I will plumb the mysteries of my digital camera.

Your scanner can hardly wait.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:04 (nineteen years ago)

Soon you'll be ones of those crazy metal-detector people!

I have a soft spot for the middle-aged guys who collect shells with their wives, only they use a tool! A special clam rake. My husband refuses to join their ranks.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:04 (nineteen years ago)

He is very supportive of my jones, though. He'll sit on the beach reading for hours.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:05 (nineteen years ago)

HOW TO POLISH PETOSKEY STONES BY HAND

And now for the real fun! Petoskey stones are made up of calcite, and therefore are a good candidate for hand polishing. Calcite is soft enough so that it can be easily worked, but dense enough to take a nice polish.

WHAT YOU NEED TO POLISH THE STONES:

Petoskey stone
Sandpaper (220, 400, or 600 grit)
A thick towel or newspaper
A piece of corduroy or velvet
Polishing powder
Water

Once you have found the stone you want to polish, sand it down with the 220 the sandpaper mentioned above. After rubbing, rinse the stone down and dry it off. Examine the stone for scratch marks, and if there are any, keep on sanding! All scratch marks should be gone! Next, sand again with 400 grit sandpaper. This should remove any coarse spots. Once again, rinse, dry and check. Now sand the paper with the 600 grit to make sure that the stone is smooth and scratch free. When you think it looks perfect, continue sanding for another 10 minutes, just to make sure. At this point, it is time to polish. Sprinkle the damp corduroy or velvet with polishing powder. A short, rotating rubbing will polish the stone. However, if scratches appear, start from the beginning with the 220 grit paper to remove them! When you’re finished with the polishing, simply rinse the stone off in clean water, and dry. Now you have your own, hand polished Petoskey stone!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:12 (nineteen years ago)

I did not know what a Petosky stone was. They're gorgeous!

http://www.petoskeystonefestival.com/PETOSKE1.JPG

― The Long Grey And Overcast Tea Time Of The Soul (kate), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:14 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.geo.msu.edu/geo333/images/petosky.gif

I used to have a boyfriend from Traverse City. If he had wooed me with Petoskey stones I wouldn't have left him.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:15 (nineteen years ago)

That's a blurry image! Shame on you, Petoskey Stone website!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:16 (nineteen years ago)

Are they fossilised sponge?

― The Long Grey And Overcast Tea Time Of The Soul (kate), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:17 (nineteen years ago)

Coral.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:17 (nineteen years ago)

I used to collect stones and shells and things until one night in a hostel in New Zealand the lady who owned the hostel saw one of the girls who was staying there had brought a whole load of shells back up with her, and she chastised her, saying that if everyone did that there'd be no beach and also pointed out that it was against the law to take things from the beach there. I don't do it any more because I feel like it is stealing the beach, and my dogs do enough of that by accident.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:21 (nineteen years ago)

Oh god, what a prig that lady was! You should come visit—we can spare a little smudgen of the beach here!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:26 (nineteen years ago)

Smidgen.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:26 (nineteen years ago)

This thread makes me so happy. My mom is the same way, and I've inherited a lot of the same compulsions.

Great story: at three in the morning, eighteen hours into a move to a third-story apartment (stairs only), my roommate looks down and sees writ upon the box he is carrying, "Jeff's rock collection."

Some people don't understand.

I like how your arrangements on the yellow and green sweaters match nearly perfectly. I find that satisfying.

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:28 (nineteen years ago)

They're very strict about their environment in New Zealand. Plus, to the woman's credit, I think she gets about 200 backpackers a year dumping shells on the floor of her hostel, so I can appreciate her annoyance.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:30 (nineteen years ago)

Sometimes you have to be stealthy. Between Bodega Bay and Jenner on the Russian River there are a bunch of small oceanfront parks, with parking areas and paths down to the (unswimmable dangerous) beach. Alongside one of the paths was a narrow stream, and all along it were chunks of what looked to me like green soapstone. I took some chunks of it and
1. felt sneaky and guilty
2. planned to come back and get more

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:50 (nineteen years ago)

California's all gonna tumble into the ocean anyway, y'know.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:51 (nineteen years ago)

And maybe it won't happen so soon if the state isn't so heavy with rocks.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 17:56 (nineteen years ago)

Relocate The State, One Rock At a Time!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 18:01 (nineteen years ago)

Seems fair. If you are going to relocate California to, er, your house, it will get crowded though. And you will have to live with Arnold some of the time. Don't forget that.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Friday, 12 January 2007 18:42 (nineteen years ago)

Those stones are just beautiful, Beth.

I wish I lived near a beach, I'd be out collecting stuff like that all the time. My husband bought be (a really powerful and, I suspect therefore expensive) electric pebble polisher machine for my birthday last year because I said I'd always fancied having one, but I am ashamed to say I haven't used it yet :( That ought to be my new year's resolution, to get it out of the garage and find some nice stones to tumble in it.

― C J (C J), Friday, 12 January 2007 20:04 (nineteen years ago)

I can send you some! I'm going to the beach RIGHT NOW.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 20:55 (nineteen years ago)

We have lots of fossils at my parents house, including a real dinosaur vertebrae that we found.

I have a compulsion for smooth flat stones, mainly for skimming with.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Friday, 12 January 2007 21:51 (nineteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/yellowstonesandshells10.jpg

I'm back.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 22:36 (nineteen years ago)

Some of them, when they're wet from the waves, look like a butterscotch candy that someone spit out.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 12 January 2007 22:38 (nineteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/tinyvineyardshells.jpg

Teeny-weeny Vineyard shells

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/tinysanibelshells.jpg

Teeny-weeny Sanibel shells.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 13 January 2007 17:46 (nineteen years ago)

After I scanned the local shells I scooped them off the scanner bed with an index card and dumped them right into the dish full of tiny Sanibel shells! NO PROBLEM. Took me about three minutes to separate them out. That's how bad I am.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 13 January 2007 17:49 (nineteen years ago)

I think part of the reason why I have been so hesitant to get rock polishing is that I am unsure whether I will have selected stones which will be gloriously beautiful when I've finished the lengthy process of tumbling them. That sounds daft, I know. And it's doubly daft as I am married to a man with a degree in geology, so I am sure he could point out which stones would be purty. I need to get to a beach, pronto.

What's the name for a stone which naturally has a hole through the centre of it? They are supposed to be incredibly lucky, and they have a special name but I can't remember what!

― C J (C J), Sunday, 14 January 2007 12:18 (nineteen years ago)

Through the center, like a life-saver, or hollow? Of course you know geodes if your husband is a geologist!
I remember finding a lot of gray stones with swiss-cheese holes in them on a beach in California—I can't remember where.
The stones I always knew as "lucky stones" are the ones with rings around them, usually gray stones with a white ring.
Almost any stone is beautiful when polished!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Sunday, 14 January 2007 15:21 (nineteen years ago)

I like how your arrangements on the yellow and green sweaters match nearly perfectly. I find that satisfying.

I think it's terrifying. Even the little grains of sand and hairs are the same (lower left quadrant). Did you photoshop that, or did you just spend hours?

― chrisco (chrisco), Sunday, 14 January 2007 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

We have the same golden yellow translucent ones photographed above on the beach here (west coast of New Zealand) which I find bizzare.

I think it is illegal to take things from the beach but you could probably get away with a few stones. I get very angry with the people who take ventifacts though because they are not very common anymore and they take a long time to form. The local geology club rooms are full of them, but no one else gets a chance to see them and they are out of context. Shame on you amateur geologists!

― Issadora (Issadora), Sunday, 14 January 2007 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

They're scans, Chrisco, with two different sweaters over the rocks. Took mere minutes.

Issadora, this island is made up of terminal moraine, stuff left when the glaciers retreated. It's nothing but rocks and sand and clay. You could NEVER make a dent in the gazillioned of rocks at the beach. I'll get hold of my elusive camera so you can see what I mean.
What's a ventifact?

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Sunday, 14 January 2007 21:15 (nineteen years ago)

Mmm stones. I've always preferred collecting pebbles to shells. Probably because I remember my Dad telling me the yellow snail shells I found on the beach in Anglesey were radioative. It was the beach next to the nuclear power station.
I have some pebbles from Anglesey in the pockets of my car door. Playing with them keeps me calm when I'm stuck in traffic jams.

― celeste (Celeste), Sunday, 14 January 2007 23:05 (nineteen years ago)

I used to always keep pebbles in the pocket of my tweed jacket to fiddle with cause it kept me calm. But they got too heavy and were distorting the fabric and making a big bulge in my pocket so I had to empty them out. Maybe I should get a new pocketstone.

― The Long Grey And Overcast Tea Time Of The Soul (kate), Monday, 15 January 2007 10:58 (nineteen years ago)

Or get yourself a nice heavy-duty canvas jumpsuit.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Monday, 15 January 2007 20:12 (nineteen years ago)

beth, you are picking your beaches clean

― Ms Misery (MissMiseryTX), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:15 (nineteen years ago)

I'm doing my best.
Check these out, my fellow rockists! Today I concentrated on gathering these gray-flecked caucasian flesh-colored stones. CJ, can your husband ID them?

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/fleshyrocks.jpg

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 00:56 (nineteen years ago)

I rubbed them with amber body butter. A very pleasant cocktail-hour activity.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 00:58 (nineteen years ago)

Threads like this give me hope for the internet.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 01:02 (nineteen years ago)

Most of them look like granite. (Imagine them expanded to counter-top size.)

― nickn (nickn), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 01:14 (nineteen years ago)

I thought granite, too, but met with resistance on the homefront. What are the components of granite? Quartz, mica...feldspar? I know it's igneous, so the huge-grainedness of these pieces maybe has something to do with variables involved with that. Speed of cooling? I know nothing.
But in some of them the gray flecks are streaky. What's up with that? And some are all cauco-flesh with just a few flecks of what looks like smokey quartz. Two colors of quartz together?

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 01:22 (nineteen years ago)

It's just that they look like most granite counters I've seen, and granite is a common rock. The largeish ones in the upper right and lower left especially look like common counter top materials.

I took one geology course about 30 years ago, so I'm no expecrt, but I thought there was a very wide range of appearances for igneous rock, because the molten stuff could be a mix of anything.

― nickn (nickn), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 01:47 (nineteen years ago)

You're right—it must be a very coarse-grained granite, because the big one on the lower left has a definite chip of mica—a couple of them—see!?

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/rockwithmicachip.jpg

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 02:15 (nineteen years ago)

http://geology.about.com/library/bl/images/blgranite.htm

Here's a pretty brief explanation of pink granite.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 02:19 (nineteen years ago)

I love mica. I was always finding big chunks of it in the gravel at my parents house in Connecticut. It always reminded me of fingernails, the way it flaked off.

Canvas jumpsuit? When you prise my tweeds from my COLD DEAD BODY.

― The Long Grey And Overcast Tea Time Of The Soul (kate), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 11:38 (nineteen years ago)

Beth, have you ever seen the Mike Leigh film Nuts In May?

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 12:08 (nineteen years ago)

I have not, and I love Mike Leigh. Are there demented rockhounds in it?

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 15:43 (nineteen years ago)

The most fanatical rockhound I ever met was a little Scottish cakemaker in Hampstead who literally had thousands of rocks on every surface of her home.

Speaking of homes, I worry that picking up shells robs creatures of future real estate. Not sure if this is reallly an issue. I stick to larger, rock-type stuff.

― boyant (Boyant), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

I lied: I brought home sand dollars once and a possum came in the night, broke them all and licked the goo from their insides. Maybe it was the gods telling me I should stick to stones.

― boyant (Boyant), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, sand dollars! I have found such beauties, and never do they make it home in one piece! I pass them by now.
When I was in South Carolina I was thrilled to find auger shells for the first time in my life. They were lying in a tidal pool. Then I realized they were all inhabited by hermit crabs! Totally comical—like they were all wearing party hats.
I think the hermit crabs probably find their homes deeper in the water. If the shell has washed up on the beach the crab's not going to come get it, is he? I've only seen them in water. It would probably be hard for them to drag their shell-home around on dry land.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

I think you should see Nuts In May. It invloves a woman called Candice-Marie, who picks up a pretty pebble at the beach to take home. Her boyfriend Keith tells her off.

CANDICE-MARIE: "Oh Keith, why can't I take a pebble?
KEITH: "If everyone took a pebble off the beach there'd be none left, Candice-Marie"

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, you are probably right, Beth. xpost

― boyant (Boyant), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:25 (nineteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/graniteplusyellowrocks.jpg

Vineyard granite w/ groupies.

Many worthy stones did not make in onto the scan. One has to be a ruthless editor. Freezing today, and I perversely took more stones than ever, crazy, when you consider that I had to take off my gloves to pick up most of them. There was a beautiful (American) football-sized granite stone with swirled layers of gray and pink that I wanted SO BADLY, but it was a mile back to the car. If my stupid rotator cuff wasn't acting up and if it hadn't been 22 degrees and windy, I would have gone for it.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 18 January 2007 00:03 (nineteen years ago)

The original scan is fucking gorgeous when you blow it up. I think photobucket sizes them, but I will gladly email anyone who wants one a gigantic attached file of any of these. It will justify my collecting.
My husband just said "I never realized the rocks were so beautiful."
Welcome to my delirium.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 18 January 2007 00:08 (nineteen years ago)

Let's see someone else's crazy rock collections!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 18 January 2007 00:16 (nineteen years ago)

YouTube has the start of Nuts In May but not the pebble bit. Sorry, I'll stop going on about Nuts In May now. I like your rock collection very much.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 18 January 2007 00:23 (nineteen years ago)

Thank you! I was just in the movie store and FORGOT to look for Nuts in May. I will do so. I already checked out the Wiki entry for it.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 18 January 2007 00:28 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.soton.ac.uk/~imw/chespeb.htm

A very informative page about beach stones. Though English, lots of the rocks are the same. PLUS the text contained this gem:

"The well-known beach of Budleigh Salterton is well-known."

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 18 January 2007 18:54 (nineteen years ago)

http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/vwlessons/lessons/Slideshow/Show1/k-spar11.jpg

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 18 January 2007 18:54 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.geocities.com/ijkuk/felds1.jpg

So my mystery flesh-pink stones are identified.
The pink in the granite is orthoclase feldspar, as well.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 18 January 2007 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

That first pink feldspar looks like a slab o' beef.

― nickn (nickn), Thursday, 18 January 2007 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

Brisket!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 18 January 2007 19:04 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/images/0001Jt-987.jpg

http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0001Jt&topic_id=1&topic=Ask+E%2eT%2e

caek posted a link to this site in the "art in yer home" thread. It ate me up for quite a while. "Ask E.T" is a message board of data-presentation topics. Strange new world! But in addition to this field, Edward Tufte is also a sculptor, dog-lover and glacial erratic freak!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Monday, 22 January 2007 17:15 (eighteen years ago)

how come in the original two pictures the stones are in exactly the same positions?

D'oh I just worked it out, you scanned them!

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Monday, 22 January 2007 17:44 (eighteen years ago)

Yup!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Monday, 22 January 2007 17:48 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/quartzspiral.jpg

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:00 (eighteen years ago)

That's beautiful, Beth.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:14 (eighteen years ago)

Thank you! A little big for my screen, oops.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:19 (eighteen years ago)

What a cool thread, Beth.

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:27 (eighteen years ago)

I'm just grateful for everyone's patience with my obsessions. I'm going out for more rocks presently. I want to do another scan with more minute gradations (of impurity levels in the quartz, to be technical). I need a bigger scanner—I'd much rather snake the rocks along in a gentle S-curve. If I could paste in continuous graphics I could do it that way, but I am not a mistress of code.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:47 (eighteen years ago)

I'm so glad I clicked on this thread. Gorgeous photos!

Also I'm now reconsidering refusing to get my kids a rock polisher.

― Sara R-C (Sara R-C), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 19:18 (eighteen years ago)

The only downside to a rock tumbler is the noise, and they may make them much quieter now.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 19:21 (eighteen years ago)

I was thinking I could put it in the garage... and hopefully they are quieter, too; I still have to persuade my husband!

― Sara R-C (Sara R-C), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 19:22 (eighteen years ago)

KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR AMBERGRISE!!!!!

― Latham Green (mike), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 19:47 (eighteen years ago)

Poeple seem to love these tumblers:
http://www.lortone.com/tumblers.html

and the following negative review of a cheapo Discovery tumbler is all over the place:

suggest pay more for a semi-pro unit (Date Submitted: 2006-08-07 Rating: )
I bought this unit for my 9-year old daughter. It was easy to use but extremely loud. We live in an apartment and I was worried I was disturbing the neighbors - it really was that loud. It also burned out during the third tumbling step- we probably overloaded it, which is easy to do. I then bought a Lortone tumbler, which was about twice the price of this tumbler (sold on many web sites). However, what a pleasure to use. It has a rubber liner and tumbles so quietly it sound like a day at the ocean. We have tumbled several batches of rocks with the Lortone tumbler with no problems. I suggest ponying up the extra money if noise and durability are important to you.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 19:57 (eighteen years ago)

Poeple?

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 19:58 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/bigliverrock2.jpg

The big liver rock!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 25 January 2007 00:55 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/pinkfeldsparserpentine.jpg

pink feldspar, serpentine

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 25 January 2007 01:25 (eighteen years ago)

Gorgeous!

And thanks for the rock tumbler purchasing tips. I'm sure lots of other poeple will be thankful as well. :)

― Sara R-C (Sara R-C), Thursday, 25 January 2007 01:32 (eighteen years ago)

I know this is bad, but I really want to *lick* the rocks.

― The Whistling Bus (kate), Thursday, 25 January 2007 10:52 (eighteen years ago)

Ooooooh, that big chocolate one in the middle two pics back... Me too... :-/

― StanM (StanM), Thursday, 25 January 2007 10:58 (eighteen years ago)

I'm very tempted to print these out and just hang the pics on the wall. So so pretty.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Thursday, 25 January 2007 13:18 (eighteen years ago)

I would love to get them printed onto tiles and put them in my bathroom.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Thursday, 25 January 2007 13:25 (eighteen years ago)

I keep thinking of projects like that, too—like—what if I made coffee mugs? I could quit my job! It wouldn't be quite the same as this—looking at them on the monitor with light coming through them amplifies the color. I remember the first time I saw a photograph on a computer screen—my mind was so blown. It turns every image into stained-glass.
But printing onto a glossy surface would be almost as good. Printing on regular paper's not half-bad, but I don't do it much, on account of the ink, y'know.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 25 January 2007 15:51 (eighteen years ago)

Laminated placemats!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 25 January 2007 15:53 (eighteen years ago)

Coasters!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 25 January 2007 15:53 (eighteen years ago)

T-shirts?

― Sara R-C (Sara R-C), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:32 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/toothyrock.jpg

I found this today. The scan doesn't show how glittery the crystals in the middle are.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 25 January 2007 23:56 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/toothy2.jpg

That one shows a little more glitter.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 26 January 2007 00:00 (eighteen years ago)

It's a shark rock!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 26 January 2007 00:00 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/square.jpg

Squarish one.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 26 January 2007 00:42 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/square2.jpg

Improved squarish one. Okay, this is crazy. I'm gonna wreck my marriage.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 26 January 2007 00:52 (eighteen years ago)

shark rock looks like george washington's dentures.

so many ladies on this thread!

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 26 January 2007 01:03 (eighteen years ago)

that's why i'm here

― tony conrad schnitzler (sanskrit), Friday, 26 January 2007 01:14 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/gneissquartz.jpg

gneiss, quartz

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 2 February 2007 02:15 (eighteen years ago)

loverly

― Maria :D (Maria D.), Friday, 2 February 2007 02:20 (eighteen years ago)

or should I say "Verrrry gneiss!"

― Maria :D (Maria D.), Friday, 2 February 2007 02:21 (eighteen years ago)

This thread has inspired me to start collecting beach glass. I now have two pieces.

― Hard like armour (Hard like armour), Friday, 2 February 2007 05:04 (eighteen years ago)

this thread is so pretty!
i'm seriously going to visit yr island one day, esp if there is camping there and i don't have to stay in a stupid b&b

i miss the beach. a lot.
i should scan a bunch of the small black rocks they scatter on the sidewalks here to keep the ice at bay. they are FUN STUFF.

― rrrobyn, breeze blown meadow of cheeriness (rrrobyn), Friday, 2 February 2007 05:11 (eighteen years ago)

They GRAVEL the sidewalks? That's hard-core!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 2 February 2007 16:03 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/squarish2.jpg

another squarish one.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 2 February 2007 16:47 (eighteen years ago)

This is how bad it's getting—Last night I had a dream about that one at five o'clock on the scan that looks like it's got little pineapple chunks in it.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 2 February 2007 16:49 (eighteen years ago)

pretty.

xpost:
mtl reprasent in making city less easy to live in - but that's part of the charm, rite, love it

it is also awesome when you're walking and somehow a rock gets into your shoe/boot and somewhere in mid-step it falls all the way down and you step on it with nothing but a wool sock to protect your soft winter feet. but then you get to see people waiting for the metro and sitting in bars shaking their boots out.

― rrrobyn, breeze blown meadow of cheeriness (rrrobyn), Friday, 2 February 2007 16:49 (eighteen years ago)

I brought all these rocks back from the beach in my boots.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 2 February 2007 16:56 (eighteen years ago)

My bit of Lake Michigan in NYC:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/135/378588081_7dbc8f5095.jpg

― Laurel (Laurel), Saturday, 3 February 2007 19:46 (eighteen years ago)

Can't get camera to focus at any shorter distance, so i r lacking the detail of Beth's incomparable scans. There's a petoskey stone, though, and lots of what look like granite chips, and all of them came from my home beach.

― Laurel (Laurel), Saturday, 3 February 2007 19:47 (eighteen years ago)

They're beautiful! It looks like a little striped agate at one o'clock. And those reddish ones!
Not everyone is willing to wreck their scanner.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 3 February 2007 21:38 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/serpentinebrick-stones.jpg

serpentine and brick-stones

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 3 February 2007 22:18 (eighteen years ago)

Your coast must be so red and green! Our sand is, well, sand-colored, and our rocks are pretty blah taken as a group (tho still interesting individually).

― Laurel (Laurel), Saturday, 3 February 2007 22:24 (eighteen years ago)

At first glance it's actually pretty gray, as most of the stones are gray granite. But the brighter colors are in there. The more you look, the more you see.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 3 February 2007 22:35 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/stripey.jpg

stripey guys!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 3 February 2007 22:37 (eighteen years ago)

Beth, your pictures are so pretty! I find them incredibly comforting, for some reason.

― molly mummenschanz (mollyd), Saturday, 3 February 2007 22:39 (eighteen years ago)

Good! I'm performing a public service!
I should have cleaned that last one up.
I find the whole process incredibly pleasing and addictive. I'll have to stop once I go back to work full-time in the spring, so I don't mind indulging myself now.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 3 February 2007 22:46 (eighteen years ago)

I think it's the pretty and nicely arranged colors with the black background. Some of them might become my computer wallpaper.

― molly mummenschanz (mollyd), Saturday, 3 February 2007 22:54 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/candyrocksrectangle.jpg

candy rocks w/ yellow periwinkles & sea-glass

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Monday, 5 February 2007 03:26 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/jasper.jpg

the Anna Nicole Smith Memorial Jasper Scan

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 9 February 2007 02:01 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/rockybeach2.jpg

my able assistant, going through the slush-pile

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 22 February 2007 19:07 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/berrybeachfromdaggettpoint2.jpg

the other direction

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 22 February 2007 19:08 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/stonesonbeach.jpg

this is for the benefit of the people who worry that I'm stripping the beach clean of rocks.

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 22 February 2007 19:10 (eighteen years ago)

boy, those are cropped weird. So sorry.

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 22 February 2007 19:11 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/2-22rockscan.jpg

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 22 February 2007 19:11 (eighteen years ago)

Look at those rocky beaches!!! Someday they will all be sand, and we'll look back and think "all those were the days...when the Northeast was rocky and people vacationed in the tropics, instead.

― Laurel, Thursday, 22 February 2007 19:13 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/costaricarocks.jpg

A friend of mine brought me these from Costa Rica. Now I have to go there, for the thrush-egg beach stones. They're very small, the blue ones about 3/4" long.

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 22 February 2007 19:21 (eighteen years ago)

Off to get more rocks.
When I start working full-time in a couple of weeks someone else will have to pick up the slack! Or I can start scanning weird things I find in people's gardens, like super-long earthworms or unidentified larvae.

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 22 February 2007 20:40 (eighteen years ago)

I would like that.

― Ms Misery, Thursday, 22 February 2007 20:51 (eighteen years ago)

Your scanner's really going to take a beating if you start closing slugs in it.

― Laurel, Thursday, 22 February 2007 21:02 (eighteen years ago)

OMG Beth you put an entire beach in your scanner! Beaches! Beth is the wind beneath my wings.

― Abbott, Friday, 23 February 2007 03:37 (eighteen years ago)

Just take your scanner to the beach, leave out the middleman. (or give him a nice sausage for his troubles.)

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 February 2007 11:00 (eighteen years ago)

Most awesomist thread ever!

That pic 3rd up from here reminds me of The Boyle Family.

http://www.boylefamily.co.uk/boyle/earth_pieces/lge_earthpics/4.jpg

But yours is nicer!

― Ned Trifle II, Friday, 23 February 2007 11:08 (eighteen years ago)

Beth, you have me looking for rocks now whenever we take the dogs to the park. None as nice as yours although I often find nice pink granite.

does anyone else get prompted for a (non-ILX) name and password when clicking on this thread?

― Ms Misery, Friday, 23 February 2007 13:51 (eighteen years ago)

No! I only get the ilx reminder to log-in. Have creepy identity-thieves invaded this thread? STONE THEM!!!!

Ned, that pic looks like somebody's house after they Drop The Big One. What is it? Okay, I just checked out The Boyle Family site. Cool! Thanks for that!

― Beth Parker, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:33 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/stripeyrockinsitu.jpg

striped rock in situ. I left it there. I DID!!!

― Beth Parker, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:34 (eighteen years ago)

"does anyone else get prompted for a (non-ILX) name and password when clicking on this thread?"

yes. it's weird. maybe it has to do with one of the image locations?

― scott seward, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:35 (eighteen years ago)

And I left that pink granite one for you, Sam.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:35 (eighteen years ago)

I get a pop up that says "enter user name and password for "" at http://geo.msu.edu"

or something. . .

I just click cancel and it's fine. I assume it has something to do with a linked image on this thread maybe?

― Ms Misery, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:35 (eighteen years ago)

does anyone else get prompted for a (non-ILX) name and password when clicking on this thread?

yeah, some geo edu website.

― Maria :D, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:36 (eighteen years ago)

Ned Trifle reveals unreleased Stone Roses cover art!!

― Mark C, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:36 (eighteen years ago)

geo.msu.edu

― Maria :D, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:36 (eighteen years ago)

geo.msu.edu is the address for the log-in thing. must be a picture of a rock.

hey beth at the thrift store there is a cool russian stone book. beautiful pictures of rocks. text is all in russian. coffee table book size. five bucks. if you are interested. vineyard haven thrift store.

― scott seward, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:36 (eighteen years ago)

I'm going to get it, right now! That's cheap for the VH Thrift Shop. They've got some cuckoo volunteer who looks all the books up on eBay and puts a printout of the eBay page in the book. Then they jack the price up. They've had the same "collectable" coffee-table books for years. I tried to donate some books and they didn't want them—said they had no room. DUH, thrift shop people! Keep the inventory moving!
Maybe the geo.msu.edu image was that blurry petoskey stone image that I posted, because it's gone now. I never got that log-in.

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 24 February 2007 15:26 (eighteen years ago)

I Love Everything, on the other hand, wants me to log in for almost every post.

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 24 February 2007 15:27 (eighteen years ago)

"Keep the inventory moving!"

(so true. ebay is a wonder and a curse. as is the antiques roadshow. i should tell you my horror story about the salvation army store in philly sometime. anyway, i am proud to say that i took the bull by the horns cuz i couldn't take a certain situation any longer: i am now officially in charge of the record section in the thrift store. i personally discarded all montovani and andy williams records yesterday.)

― scott seward, Saturday, 24 February 2007 15:32 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/russianrockbook.jpg

Got it!
I was hoping for some Montovani too, to pump up the lushness of the reading experience, but alas, it was not to be...

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 24 February 2007 22:44 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/brickscandy.jpg

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 25 February 2007 14:30 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/brickscandy2.jpg

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 25 February 2007 14:44 (eighteen years ago)

Beth, how long does it take to arrange the rocks on the scanner? The pictures are so beautifully composed, and I'm such a greedy consumer, that not until today did I stop to think about what you are doing!
There's an article in the NYT about a conceptual art guy - I can't find it just now, sorry! - but it reminded me of what you are doing.
Which is basically create, post, and then deconstruct.
I think he used to carve up abandoned buildings - and the show is a retrospective.
Anyway - beautiful, as always.
I still have my mudane "heart shaped rock" collection from the Vineyard years. They look beautiful scattered in surprising places, and are less mundane off the Vineyard, I suppose.

― aimurchie, Sunday, 25 February 2007 14:49 (eighteen years ago)

quick, spot the difference before ilx realizes that the first, unimproved version has been deleted from photobucket!

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 25 February 2007 14:50 (eighteen years ago)

[image]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/pinkfeldsparshelf2.jpg[/image

I have a lot of pink feldspar rocks now.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 26 February 2007 18:37 (eighteen years ago)

oops

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/pinkfeldsparshelf2.jpg

― Beth Parker, Monday, 26 February 2007 18:37 (eighteen years ago)

That is not a rock! That is a TORTOISE!!!

― Masonic Boom, Monday, 26 February 2007 18:38 (eighteen years ago)

wow beth, that's half your beach!

― Ms Misery, Monday, 26 February 2007 19:32 (eighteen years ago)

And now I have even more!
The big sea turtle and the big toad behind the globe are both rubber! I got them as gifts for children and then KEPT them. I have a lot of turtles.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 26 February 2007 23:27 (eighteen years ago)

Beth, the picture from the 25th is now my work desktop wallpaper.

― molly mummenschanz, Monday, 26 February 2007 23:35 (eighteen years ago)

Beth, you have me looking for rocks now whenever we take the dogs to the park.

I have a single smooth stone that I carry in the pocket of my dog walking jacket that I will present to Beth should I ever make it to Martha's Vineyard.

That one from the 25th is great.

Beth, your shelf there reminds me of the little stones on Sesame Street that used to count to and make a 12.

― accentmonkey, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 00:01 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/tablerocks3.jpg

I wish you guys were sitting here with us at the table, with glasses of wine, and the ROCKS that keep me sane.

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 06:10 (eighteen years ago)

The rocks and the strategic seaglass.

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 06:11 (eighteen years ago)

Beth, I can't sleep - should I come on up? (just kidding)

― Maria :D, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 06:11 (eighteen years ago)

Oh my goodness, it IS late! I should get to bed myself!

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 06:35 (eighteen years ago)

We here on Martha's Vineyard probably win the award between the three of us for posting for the most consecutive hours. Take that, London, DC, Chicago, NY!

― Maria :D, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 06:41 (eighteen years ago)

Nothing like seasonal unemployment for messageboard productivity! Speaking strictly for myself.

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 07:02 (eighteen years ago)

But there's no "users" page where you can gloat about what a high-volume poster you are. How sad. One must grasp at every spindly straw of fame.

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 07:03 (eighteen years ago)

I have added a second stone to my pocket. Beth is turning me into an environment killer.

― accentmonkey, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 10:49 (eighteen years ago)

Just don't fall into a river with all those stones in your pocket!

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 17:26 (eighteen years ago)

According to my russian speaking pal that book is called "The Treasure of the Stone Belt".

― Ned Trifle II, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 09:52 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/russianbook2.jpg

Bingo! Here's the bottom-half of the book.

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:43 (eighteen years ago)

The gold nugget continues onto the back cover, too. The Stone Belt is the Urals. "Mineralogical study of the Urals commenced in the second half of the 18th century...87 minerals have been discovered within the years of a profound study of the Urals. Six new elements separated out of them occupied their places in Mendeleyev periodic table..."

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:51 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/sharktooth.jpg

Yesterday I found this shark tooth! I know one inch may not seem very dramatic, but it's the biggest one I've ever found. Most of the ones you find at this particular spot are very small, needle-like teeth. It's raining today, so the erosion of the pebble-stone cliff will be stepped up—more people's houses falling into the sea and more shark's teeth for me!

― Beth Parker, Friday, 2 March 2007 14:33 (eighteen years ago)

where did you find it? my great-grandma used to walk along the beach slowly and always find lots of sharks' teeth. I haven't found one since I was kid. I don't look very hard though.

― Maria :D, Saturday, 3 March 2007 00:43 (eighteen years ago)

Do you remember when people used to collect sea glass? Now finding glass on the beach is all too common.

― Maria :D, Saturday, 3 March 2007 00:44 (eighteen years ago)

I found the tooth at the base of the pebblestone bluffs at Lucy Vincent, to the left of the path. I tried to go today at five but it was crazy high tide—waves smashing into the bluffs—nowhere to walk. Puck got knocked over and rolled on top of a bunch of rocks, and I got soaked to the knees. Had to admit defeat.

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 3 March 2007 02:21 (eighteen years ago)

Beth that shark tooth is SPECTAUCLAR! I have always wanted one, sharks just regenerate teeth anyway so no guilt if you find one.

Someone gave me a piece of a walrus tusk, walrus ivory, while I was shrooming once. They also read me a book and showed me photos from it, a book all about pinnipeds. I learned they have prehensile whiskers called "verbrissae." I thought it was all made up by yours truly, but the walrus chunk was still in my purse the next day. Mysterious!

― Abbott, Saturday, 3 March 2007 02:25 (eighteen years ago)

Wow! I wonder if that person was kicking themself the next day—"DAMN, I can't BELIEVE I gave away my TUSK!!!"

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 3 March 2007 02:32 (eighteen years ago)

themself? That's not even a word, is it? It disagrees with itself. With itselves.

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 3 March 2007 02:33 (eighteen years ago)

Oh I use 'themself' all the time. As in "They just dropped themself jaws." This is because I talk like an ESL hillbilly.

― Abbott, Saturday, 3 March 2007 02:40 (eighteen years ago)

"They just dropped themself jaws."

I'm going to start saying that. That is SO GOOD.

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 3 March 2007 02:46 (eighteen years ago)

does "jaws" = "drawers"?

― Ms Misery, Saturday, 3 March 2007 02:50 (eighteen years ago)

No, jaws, like "the shocking movie Jaws made them drop themself jaws out of terror."

― Abbott, Saturday, 3 March 2007 02:51 (eighteen years ago)

[Removed Illegal Image]

Speaking of which...I found this the other day. Is it a bluefish jaw?

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 11 March 2007 17:47 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/fishmandible.jpg

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 11 March 2007 17:48 (eighteen years ago)

Mom?

― forksclovetofu, Sunday, 11 March 2007 19:54 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/31sized.jpg

I can't figure out how to turn off the flash. I appreciate everything being bathed in a golden glow, but it wasn't what I was aiming for.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 12 March 2007 00:05 (eighteen years ago)

today i searched under the santa monica pier for interesting things. it smelled bad, and i stepped on a condom. but i found:

107 pieces of glass (105 pieces of actual glass; 2 interesting porcelain shards):

72 green pieces: about half 'heineken color' the other half in various citrus shades. mostly about the size of peas or beans

14 brown pieces: one beautiful guy identifiable from the neck of a 1927 liquor bottle

8 white pieces, nice but bleh, lima-bean sized.

4 seafoam green marbles (these are my favorite)

4(!!!) true cobalt shards, with age-marks. This brings my collection of this color to ... 4.

1 teal piece, teeny-tiny

1 special red red red guy, probably '50s Schlitz, the shape of diamond and approx. 5mm long. insane, wonderful, i'm gonna wrap it in silver wire and mount it on a chain ring i've got.

1 vaseline jar yellow, also pretty rare

-------
also:

9 interesting stones, 2 sand-dollars, 20 cents, a piece of brick, some pumice, a 22 foot long piece of kelp, a weird thing i think is a fossil, and a piece of fishbone.

― remy bean, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 01:49 (eighteen years ago)

Cool! Especially the seafoam-green marbles! I'm gonna have to come out there!
Pictures please!

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 01:55 (eighteen years ago)

There was a guy in my neighborhood who stacked up huge towers of interesting stones in his front yard. Everyone was pretty curious about it or sometimes thought it was some spooooky occult thing. I ran into him and asked him what it was all about. He went on a 10-minute screed about the president. I asked, "Do you just pile those rocks to give you an excuse to rail against the president?" He said yes.

― Abbott, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 02:16 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/woodonallsides69croppedgooduse.jpg

It grew, and I turned off the flash, don't ask me how. I'll probably never be able to turn it back on.

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 15 March 2007 18:21 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/close-up78gooduse.jpg

Close-up.
I need a tripod and also a remote shutter cord. The button is so not hair trigger—you have to preess hard, and then the camera moves. Grr.

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 15 March 2007 18:24 (eighteen years ago)

I shall now rail against the president!

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 15 March 2007 18:24 (eighteen years ago)

I have a tripod and a remote shutter cord! Mister Monkey bought them for me for my birthday. Our stones are boring though, unless you're into grey.

― accentmonkey, Thursday, 15 March 2007 19:45 (eighteen years ago)

Okay, here is the MAGIC STONE I found on Sunday. It looks like freezer-frost, with all these glassy bits. Light passes through it. It's like no quartz I've ever found. It makes little rainbows! Is it a GIANT DIAMOND? The scan gives you no idea! But I'm posting it anyway.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/magicrock3.jpg

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 00:50 (eighteen years ago)

Here's a close-up of the glassy bits.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/magicrockclose-up.jpg

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 00:51 (eighteen years ago)

SEE THE RAINBOWS!!!!?????

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 00:52 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/toffee-lemoncurdrock.jpg

this is the toffee and lemon curd rock.

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 01:44 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/agate.jpg

and this agate is also very good to eat.

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 01:45 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/agate2.jpg

flip side.

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 01:45 (eighteen years ago)

I need to take a small donkey to the beach with me.

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 01:47 (eighteen years ago)

Did you read that poem from the New Yorker?

― aimurchie, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 01:47 (eighteen years ago)

I did! You posted it, and then I saw it in situ. Pretty good—I haven't liked her before.

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 01:49 (eighteen years ago)

Beth, I love that arrangement from last week. Nice use of color.

― Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 13:36 (eighteen years ago)

Thank you! Various rock arrangements are taking over my side of the dining room table. I have to clear a little patch for my plate at mealtimes.

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:08 (eighteen years ago)

I like the rock stacks photo.

you always have me looking for rocks.

― Ms Misery, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:01 (eighteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

I saw this and immediately thought of Beth!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/saturday/story/0,,2051954,00.html
(third story down)
How many pebbles would every visitor need to take to make an impact I wonder? How fragile are these places really? I'm no expert but this seemed to be a bit of an over reaction.

― Ned Trifle II, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 16:15 (eighteen years ago)

I would get miffed if someone started removing pebbles with earth-moving equipment, too, but the pebble-in-the-pocket ban is ridiculous.

The Vineyard is rotten with strident protectors of dunes and cliffs—never mind that one good storm takes out way more than an army of walkers and shark-tooth seekers. There are so many scolding signs on the town beach that I'm tempted to add some of my own:

"DON'T LOOK AT THE CLIFFS, EVEN FROM A GREAT DISTANCE"
"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT THE CLIFFS"

I do hate finding tire-tracks on the beach, though. I'd like to set out mines for those bozos on their all-terrain vehicles. I suppose they think that their enjoyment is legitimate. They won't be enjoying it when they're pierced through with the shrapnel remains of their fun-buggy.

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 23:03 (eighteen years ago)

The bit that got me was in many cases a blind eye might be turned to a pebble or two - i mean that's just ridiculuous, and i can imagine the british police also being a bit p'd off if they had to go around chasing folks picking up pebbles. And what about skimming stones? Is that removal? Also I would say you learn stuff from picking up a few stones - just look at this thread for instance.

Also I don't like those kite's that pull people along but that's mostly due to my fear of decapitation.

― Ned Trifle II, Thursday, 26 April 2007 09:07 (eighteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/27.jpg

Please excuse blurriness.
After work today I walked the dog on a private beach belonging to an old gardening account. This rock was half-buried in the sand where the waves were breaking. I dug it out, got totally soaked. I had to carry it over the rocky beach back to the path, which climbs up the face of a bluff on stone stairsteps. Once the Alpine part of the climb was over I dropped it and went to get a wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow only had one handle, but it worked.

The rock weighs 57 pounds.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 18 May 2007 02:24 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/30.jpg

flip side—the rosy meaty hues that caught my eye.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 18 May 2007 02:25 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/45.jpg

close-up.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 18 May 2007 02:26 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/43.jpg

on elegant burgundy towel.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 18 May 2007 02:28 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/50.jpg

close-up with blade of grass.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 18 May 2007 02:32 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/47.jpg

Okay, I'll go to bed now.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 18 May 2007 02:34 (eighteen years ago)

You must admit it's a very fine rock.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 18 May 2007 02:34 (eighteen years ago)

And large.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 18 May 2007 02:35 (eighteen years ago)

It looks like a biscuit! And yes, very beautiful. Thanks for the pics!

― Tape Store, Friday, 18 May 2007 02:46 (eighteen years ago)

That is one spectacular rock! What are your display or use designs on this rock?

I found a heart that looks like a rock the other day. It is approx 1.3" tall. Unfortunately, it did not scan very well:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/igotabeefpastry/heartrock.jpg

― Abbott, Friday, 18 May 2007 05:35 (eighteen years ago)

Or maybe it's a rock that looks like a heart, who knows.

― Abbott, Friday, 18 May 2007 05:36 (eighteen years ago)

Beth I'd like to eat your rock.

― Mark C, Friday, 18 May 2007 10:27 (eighteen years ago)

Well, now it IS on the dining room table.

Abbott, that's a fine scan! I'm curious about the pinkish bits. You live in New Mexico, no? There must be lots of good rocks lying around! Turquoise?

― Beth Parker, Friday, 18 May 2007 12:49 (eighteen years ago)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/253/523725920_5c21cc6631_o.jpg

a selection from the playground.

― teeny, Thursday, 31 May 2007 20:49 (eighteen years ago)

I got to see some of these rocks "in person" tonight. Thanks, B & D, that was nice.

― Maria :D, Sunday, 3 June 2007 02:09 (eighteen years ago)

Look at that little fossil teeny got!

― Ms Misery, Sunday, 3 June 2007 02:17 (eighteen years ago)

i like whorls like that

― Maria :D, Sunday, 3 June 2007 04:25 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

Beach glass for Beth!

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1258/832495899_20e7f081f1_b.jpg

― Hard like armour, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 02:29 (eighteen years ago)

and some shells too.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1406/832495965_a99b15e837_b.jpg

― Hard like armour, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 02:32 (eighteen years ago)

Looking at this thread always makes me happy.

― Sara R-C, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 02:39 (eighteen years ago)

Oh my GOD!!!!! Teeny, where is this playground with toffee rocks and fossil shells lying around? Jeezy peezy!!!!
And HLA, those shells! Limpet craziness! Is that a collection you gathered, or does the beach just look like that? I'm there!!! And your seaglass looks just like our seaglass!
I AM BURSTING WITH EXCLAMATION POINTS, AS YOU CAN SEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 03:11 (eighteen years ago)

The aquamarine seaglass in the center is especially fine.

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 03:12 (eighteen years ago)

I love your passion for all things geological! That was the only piece of aquamarine I found, the rest were garden variety clear, brown or green. The beach is covered is masses of jumbled shells like that at the moment due to some big storms a couple of weeks ago.

― Hard like armour, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 03:15 (eighteen years ago)

Last summer I only found about half a dozen pieces of beach glass in total, but yesterday I came home with pockets full.

― Hard like armour, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 03:18 (eighteen years ago)

I love going to the beach after storms. So much stuff! So many plastic tampon appIicators—I've always left them there, but I may start collecting them. I could Crazy Glue them into an igloo. The ultimate Menstrual Hut. I could charge the big bucks. Women could stay there and bitch about their cramps.

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 03:27 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

I can't wait until all the people leave after Columbus Day so I can have the beach to myself again! My stone collection needs upgrading.

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 19:03 (eighteen years ago)

The Knee Sock thread actually made me nostalgic for the frozen nose of winter beach-walking.

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 19:05 (eighteen years ago)

This thread is an absolute wonder!

― kv_nol, Thursday, 13 September 2007 13:54 (eighteen years ago)

I can't believe I didn't ask Teeny where that playground is with the toffee fossils!

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 13 September 2007 14:45 (eighteen years ago)

We have to decide where to place some boulders that were unearthed from our septic pit.

― Maria :D, Thursday, 13 September 2007 14:54 (eighteen years ago)

I have always wanted to construct a multi-tiered mountain out of boulders in my yard. Fun for any visiting kids and goats.

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 13 September 2007 14:57 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/CharlesRiverpotsherds.jpg

Charles River potsherds. I put my hand right into a pile of wet Canada Goose shit, bracing myself as I leaned into the river. Oops. I got it all over the cuff of my jacket, too, before I realized what I'd done. I had to do a major cleanup in a public bathroom. Merely rinsing in the river wasn't enough, even for a non-germphobe like me.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 21 September 2007 18:57 (eighteen years ago)

three months pass...

http://www.viequestravelguide.com/images/sea-glass-vieques-puerto-rico-131.jpg

We're going to Puerto Rico in 2 weeks, and I'm looking forward to this beach, Playa Cofi, on Vieques. It's full of seaglass due to an old off-shore dump. Not a picturesque swimming beach, but there will be plenty of those, too.

I have recurring dreams of scrounging for treasures on despoiled industrial-wasteland beaches, so maybe this vacation was MEANT TO BE.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 4 January 2008 15:21 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

beautiful thread, thank you :-)

― CharlieNo4, Wednesday, 20 February 2008 12:09 (seventeen years ago)

these are awesome. get thee to a gallery beth.

― s1ocki, Wednesday, 20 February 2008 16:51 (seventeen years ago)

Looking at this thread always makes me happy.

-- Sara R-C, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 02:39 (7 months ago) Link

Yes!

― Ned Trifle II, Wednesday, 20 February 2008 17:51 (seventeen years ago)

I guess Beth might still be in Puerto Rico?

― Ned Trifle II, Wednesday, 20 February 2008 17:52 (seventeen years ago)

three weeks pass...

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/prshells.jpg

― Beth Parker, Friday, 14 March 2008 20:48 (seventeen years ago)

I'm back.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 14 March 2008 20:48 (seventeen years ago)

With another great picture, too!

― StanM, Friday, 14 March 2008 21:30 (seventeen years ago)

Lovely, it's great the way the scanner makes the insides of the shells so black!

― Ned Trifle II, Friday, 14 March 2008 22:25 (seventeen years ago)

Do you ever have these scans enlarged and printed, Beth?

― milo z, Friday, 14 March 2008 22:28 (seventeen years ago)

Beth! I missed you!

― remy bean, Friday, 14 March 2008 22:47 (seventeen years ago)

yay

― forksclovetofu, Friday, 14 March 2008 22:51 (seventeen years ago)

Do you ever have these scans enlarged and printed, Beth?

Because I would totally have one in my bathroom.

― Ned Trifle II, Friday, 14 March 2008 23:11 (seventeen years ago)

I missed you guys too!
I've printed the scans, with varying rates of success. Talk about plowing through the ink cartridges! Oy. They're so much more beautiful on screen, because of the light coming through. The stained-glass effect.
I just bought some smooth opaque paper—maybe the scans will print up sharper on that, without a spongy surface of the cheapo Staples paper. I'll report back. I want to do more scans of the shells, too. The one above was sort of a random dumping.

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 15 March 2008 01:43 (seventeen years ago)

Try saving them to a JPG at whatever size you want, and uploading them to mpix.com for prints.

― milo z, Saturday, 15 March 2008 02:05 (seventeen years ago)

six months pass...

This thread is like my moment of zen, so I am reviving it because I really need my moment right now.

― Ned Trifle II, Monday, 22 September 2008 20:54 (seventeen years ago)

I really really miss Beth Parker. I still have one of her paintings up on my wall.

― The Accountant Of Taste (Masonic Boom), Monday, 22 September 2008 21:13 (seventeen years ago)

two years pass...

great thread

― slight even by tweet standards (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 6 April 2011 22:33 (fourteen years ago)

Beth <3

― La descente infernale (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 6 April 2011 22:55 (fourteen years ago)

This is one of the best threads on ILX.

― Winter Crab (Abbbottt), Thursday, 7 April 2011 00:11 (fourteen years ago)

yeah, this truly is a gem of a thread.

― homosexual fecal matter sodomy will be the law (the table is the table), Thursday, 7 April 2011 00:56 (fourteen years ago)

i was just thinking of this thread the other day! i took home a stone from the beach where we held my grandma's memorial, and while it means a lot to me, i couldn't help thinking "this stone is not as pretty as the stones on that thread."

― burn me at the stake if you must (reddening), Thursday, 7 April 2011 00:58 (fourteen years ago)

photos in the OP are among the most beautiful I know

― ★ The Pistns ★ Miss You Sheed ★ (dayo), Thursday, 7 April 2011 00:58 (fourteen years ago)

i would buy prints of those photos, f'reals

― Sittin' Fran (donna rouge), Thursday, 7 April 2011 01:20 (fourteen years ago)

one year passes...

classic thread

― I dont even know that I think this sucks per se (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 9 August 2012 23:12 (thirteen years ago)

three years pass...

still a classic thread!

― thrusted pelvis-first back (ulysses), Thursday, 14 July 2016 18:31 (nine years ago)

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