A bag of rocks

I ordered from Miner Jake, the "Original Treasure Sack" They made sure I got it on Christmas Eve. It is a "shovel full" of original mine dirt and all the stuff that comes with it. The idea is that you can "pan' and sift the contents with a small mesh strainer and some water the contents of the bag and discover any number of pretty rocks and gems. I am sure they have loaded it. How lovely it is! Without sifting or straining and just looking, I can see many pretty crystals and stones. What fun to find these lovely things! I have a grandson who is into rocks. I have a daughter and a son who is into rock! I am into rocks! It is kind of like those eye relaxing things that people put into pretty bowls and whomever is sitting there can fiddle and sort and find beautiful things. I love that. Ahhh....I am looking forward to this adventure.

Love,

Betty

What fun! It sounds like a great thing to do--maybe you will find gold:)

It sounds wonderful, Betty. I also love rocks and the thrill of discovery. It really sounds like a great gift idea.

Incidentally, the title of your post gives me a great idea for a new book -- Dumber than a Bag of Rocks: Washington Politics the American Way. It will not be shiny, pretty or make anyone smile and is guaranteed to yield absolutely no gold nuggets under any circumstance no matter the amount of water poured over it or the fineness of the wire mesh.

I love that bag of sand with the pretty rocks. What a great idea. We have a park where they seed it with real and fake fossils and bones for the children to find by digging. They have so much fun! Better than a video game. I went on a cruise with my friend and her daughter. The cruise ship island had one of those same sand boxes with fossils that they said were real.....and her daughter didn't want to go back to the ship.

I remember my son panning for gold on a trip west in an old west town - he loved that little sack of gold chips that he found.

All the memories from your sack of rocks, Betty. Thanks.

Victor,

Your book sounds great. Get it done fast and it will be a best seller. I can't wait--what a hoot!

I have thought about the idea of the bag of rocks and consider that it could transfer to the beach in a bag idea. White sand with beach treasures, sharks teeth, small and pretty shells, tiny starfish, tiny sand dollars....What thinketh thou?

Love,

Betty

Here's another website similar to "Original Treasure Sack", Betty,

http://www.treasuresinabag.com/mixes.html

Dear Shelagh,

That is the very same site that I purchased this bag from. I was a little disappointed in it after I went through it because it was mostly little rocks that one would find in any desert rock pile in the southwest. I had expected more 'gem' than river rock.

I love pretty little things that can be found on the beach or in the desert and I love searching for and finding them. If I were to do this kind of thing, it would have some beautiful and unique shells and things a person in the middle of the USA or other places may not have the opportunity to find unless they went to the beach. I have these ideas, but putting them into production is not something that I, my own self, alone can do. I love the little coquina shells that abound on the beaches south of here where DK lives. They would be perfect for the little jewel tray that a person could sit and sort through, a comforting kind of thing to do, and the beauty of the shells connect the eye and the brain and sooth the soul. I have had many dreams finding such small treasures and the dreams are always pleasant....

Thank you for looking into this for me.

You, my dear, really are one of a kind. I mean that with sincere love.

Love,

Betty

When we stayed in NZ on the South Island, you could walk along the beaches looking for paua shells (pronounced powa). The outer casing is rough and dull but the inner core is flled with a kaleidoscope of turquoises and black lines melted into beatiful patterns that polish up like gems. You can buy bags of pieces to make your own jewellery, mosaics etc.:

http://www.pauaworld.com/polished-paua-shell-pieces/



You can read about the shell here:

http://www.reijewellery.co.nz/what_is_paua.htm

... and see lots of images here:

Google images

It's interesting how we put so much value in gold and diamonds and even silver when so many beautiful gem stones, shells and materials are everywhere.

The rarer things are of more value. If an item is everywhere, it is common and not worth much.

Like bluebonnets.

I grew bluebonnets one year in the hydroponic stacks. The plant really is beautiful wild silver grey-green leaves and many flowers. It takes about a month for the seeds to sprout, but they will come back every year. Like a lot of the grey-green plants, such as Texas Sage, the humidity of Florida is too much for them. There is a plant that grows south of me called the Buttonwood. It is lovely. The Buttonwood will freeze here, however.

Love,

Betty

God gives us limitless beauty everywhere. We simply prize the wrong things.

I agree Victor. A weed is simply an unwanted plant. Many so-called weeds are beautiful and proliferate with no effort on our part. We try to get rid of them and plant another flower that often is not suited to the climate or the soil.
There is beauty in nature and nature provides us with beauty in abundance.

A neighbor's lawn is covered with wild flowers. It is beautiful. He mows it when it gets too high, but other than that, there is no maintenance. Others insist on a lawn with a certain grass and anything else is unwanted requiring lots of work and costly to control with weed-killers.

If we can ignore what others think, we can enjoy the free beauty
of nature. It only requires acceptance.

Just shared this view of the Hill Country from their Facebook pages:
The view from Stone Mountain near Marble Falls!

Marble Falls, BTW, is a town on the Llano River, a river mentioned in RV and the stories. The actual falls have since been covered over by a dam, but they just might have been the falls that Two Horses saw on his vision quest - or not.

Beautiful scenery!

Very nice.