Jessica

I have heard this story. Heartbreaking!

Iridescent blue bubble in a cavity in a gray basalt cobble, lined by white seafoam.

Nifty natural sheen on this bubble at the very edge of the Pacific ocean. Wonders exist at all scales, if you care to see.

Ok yes, that does help! Small hands here...a Sailor Pro Gear is almost too big. It's almost kind when the big money pens design themselves undesirable, haha

Dang. Goals.

I agree! Finding it nearly impossible to find a balance of information that doesn't spiral into doomscrolling and anxiety reactions.

I was halfway through the novel when I noticed the double covers. I gasped and texted photos to my favorite person immediately. How delightful! Fantastic beautiful design choices.

And she was VERY careful to instruct her housekeepers how to clean it. No water!

We have it in the PNW now, but it is in a cabinet and we also heard those cleaning lessons. We'll be good stewards.

Perhaps just as amazing is that it us still in great shape. Sylvite is highly soluble in water and moisture in the air can degrade it. It tends to be very moist in Venice of course, but was dry in Los Angeles where she lived almost 80 years--which helped a lot.

This sylvite became the founding cornerstone (heh) of her renowned mineral collection. She kept it the whole rest of her life, even in the memory care homes where she lived her last months.

Grandma left Europe in 1938 (yes, because of all the ...stuff... then) and moved to the USA. She brought this big heavy rock along with her. Priorities!

A stalactite of stacked crystals of snow-white sylvite on top of an antique wooden plate.

New photo of an old mineral. This is a 12" tall sylvite. Ok, cool enough, but what if I told you it was a gift to my Grandmother in 1928, when she was an 8 yo girl living in a palazzo in Venice, from a Viennese art dealer who called himself a Prince. I mean. 🤯

This place is too stressful. Thinking about bringing back blogging. 2011 was nice.

Infrastructure projects in my blue state are still full speed ahead. My loved ones have health challenges but are doing well, today. It was a beautiful day outside and the sun will rise again tomorrow.

Stunning

Welcome home!

I did all my geo education at various PNW schools with a natural bias toward volcanism and glaciers, so I am still a little gobsmacked when I travel somewhere else and there's just so much limestone!

Cluster of glassy fluorite crystals with purple and clear areas, held up between fingertips.

Washington state has lots of interesting minerals, but not much fluorite, and especially not pretty crystals of much size. But here's one! From Ferry County.

I don't have any purple fountain pens to match, tho. 😕

Happy Friday all, stay safe.

Touch grass. Now touch stone. Now touch water. Now spill blood inside the glyph. Now light the brazier

Quote handwritten in mildly sloppy penmanship. Polished slab of pet wood and complementary color pen.

Polished face of a cross-section slab of petrified wood

"We learn geology the morning after the earthquake" ~Emerson

Petrified wood (Bald Cyprus) from Grand Co., Washington

Birmingham ink "petrified wood"

Majohn T1 fountain pen

I love the glow. haven't been lucky enough to nab one yet. Someday!

The jellyfish aquarium is my grail pen 😍

Yes! It is extra cool when it is trapped as inclusions in quartz or other minerals. bsky.app/profile/spec...

Good question. I know she would write on whatever paper was at hand, so I wonder if she was the same with her writing implements? (Also how annoyed am I that I misspelled her name and can't edit)

The cap and nib are so satisfying! Not to penable you, but these turquoise ones are frequently on eBay at prices much less than the retail price of a new e95s.

Yes! It is a vintage Japanese Elite/e95 that I picked up at the PNW pen show. It's really lovely.

Quote in blue ink alongside a blue and turquoise fountain pen and a rust-colored rock with bright blue micro crystals.

Turquoise-colored chalcoalumite on rusty colored rock.

Close up view of bright green-blue rounded crystals of chalcoalumite.

"Forever is composed of nows."~Emily Dickenson

Chalcoalumite from the Grand Canyon.

Pilot Elite compact fountain pen

If my mental health today is helped by playing with lovely things in my favorite color, you bet I'll represent #turquoisetuesday

A cluster of white quartz crystals, the largest of which is a heart-shaped twin. Held by fingers in front of a red background.

Distinctive heart 🤍 of a Japan Law Twin quartz crystal from the mountains above Death Valley. Mined in the 1980s, prior to the expansion of the park. #mineralmonday

Quote written in brown ink, with brown speckled pen in foreground and brown rock with leaf fossil in background.

Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence. ~Ovid

A clear complete quartz crystal on top of white marble host rock.

Carrera marble is famed for its pure white color and fine grain, but the natural stone occasionally has little pockets that can't be used for sculpture or building. Those little unusable pockets can have perfect little crystals inside, like this quartz. There's a metaphor in there somewhere.

I love this one ❤️