Playing with rocks

 A while ago I was trying to distract myself with a headache by making patterns and such with the rocks that I wear.

I wear a lot of different rocks. My two fans have seen many of them featured here already. I figure that it's a harmless pastime, though, and since it's the kind of jewellery that goes well with my work, better to have the fun, cheap stuff than to put actual money into things that aren't so fun.

I've deleted the majority of the photos, but I had to keep a couple. If nothing else, it's filler for what's been a very empty blog of late.

Do I know what all of these rocks are? You better believe I do. And you're gonna hear it.

Up top: Carnelian, Sodalite, Kambaba (or Alligator) Jasper, Dalmatian Jasper, Labradorite, Red Jasper (someone seems to have a thing for jasper...), Something that may or may not be a rock (I've had it since high school), Red Obsidian, and Picture Jasper.

Left: a necklace of Iolite, Carnelian, and Opalite (which isn't a rock. It's glass or plastic coated to mimic Opal) surrounding Blue Tiger's Eye, Lapis Lazuli, Snowflake Obsidian, Tree Agate, Zebra Jasper, Jade, Leopard Jasper, Crysotile Asbestos, and Ammolite.

The Ammolite wouldn't be considered a good piece because it mostly just shifts red and green. I don't care; I like it, and it was much cheaper that way.

Those unfamiliar with the program are now thinking "that's a lot of rocks". Oh, so wrong. That's maybe a third of them. Maybe. The rest are just pendants and made for more boring pictures that were, as I mentioned before, deleted.

Rock stores are my friends...

Honestly, though, the rocks make me feel good. Not in a spiritual way or anything like that. It's more about having something non-synthetic (well, except for the Opalite) dangling from my neck. Besides, most of them are nice to play with, and that's an important thing for a fidget like me.

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I got out and took a few photos with my actual camera today, so I'm going to do a couple of scheduled posts now in case my week goes the way most of my weeks go as far as the blog is concerned. Catch you reading later.

Yet again, rocks

Yes, my car veered towards the rock shop again on my way to Dad's place yesterday. It was on purpose this time: I wanted something to go a little better with my uncle's diamond stud earrings. I've been using them in my second lobe holes a lot, but to be honest, some of the earrings they get paired with are a little odd some days. Nothing wrong with that, of course -- it's practically my earring MO -- but I figured that it might be nice to have something that harmonised a bit more with them for those occasions that I don't want to look so much like a weirdo interpreter.

So to speak.

It wasn't like I was going to get anything expensive, naturally. Just something a little more faceted. So as you see above, there are green onyx studs (yeah, I usually avoid dyed rocks. They were nice, though), a rose quartz pendant (yeah, it's not earrings. Whatever. It'll go with some earrings I already have), and citrine and pearl drops.

Gah. Citrine. It's basically just yellow quartz, for those of you who are unfamiliar, and I've said before that I wouldn't ever have any since the jewellery industry switched the "modern" November birthstone from topaz, which I grew up with, to citrine. A matter of (misplaced, yes) principles, I suppose, but when you grow up with one thing and then it's arbitrarily changed to another thing by an industry that wants a cheaper alternative, isn't it a cheat?

Besides, I already had my grandmother's topazes...

Aaanyway. Here's a completely unattractive shot of the side of my head that I was too lazy to crop, in case anyone wanted to see what these things look like on. I think that either of them should go okay with the diamonds when I'm in the mood, really.



And just to get that last photo out of your brain a bit, let's end with today's pointless cat pictures:

Bob under the piano bench

Tom the Hamper Boy

That should do me for now, I think. Stay tuned for some actual camera photos tomorrow, since there are finally growing and flowering things to look at in the yard. And yes, that means that you get to look at them too.

Pointless rock photo of the day:

Well, I did warn you.

You're looking at lava rock, Cat's Eye quartz, and rough Lapis Lazuli.



Oh, and a new spinner ring. I always look for fidget rings, and I had luck this time. There were a few.

I grabbed the brass ring.



Literally.



Stop typing, Dee.

For those of you who think that I only wear rocks:

 This is my Aquitaine Ring. It's a sundial, really, disguised as jewellery. I'd be happy to give you the story behind it, but even happier to note that you can find it right here so I don't have to bother typing it out again.

There may be a new rock or two today, though, if I can't bypass temptation on my way home.

My favourite rock shop holds a gigantic sale twice a year (well, more, really, but twice a year from their home base). The one in the fall is Rocktober, naturally, but the one just before spring is Rocktopia.

It's on now.

I'll drive right past it on the way back to my place.

Gah.

You see, I'm supposed to go with a fellow rock-loving coworker, but through busyness and forgetfulness we've missed the last couple. Together, I mean. I'm not saying that I didn't go alone or anything. Still, should I give it a chance that we get our collective sh selves together this time, or do I stop for a "preview"?

I dunno.





But you probably do by now, don't you? Watch for pointless photos of new rocks soon...

Pointless photos of the day:

No, the Turkey Brothers aren't supposed to be on top of the stored mattress. My fault for leaving the door of the downstairs bedroom open as I was folding clothes.

It's been an interesting urinary morning here. And yes, I meant to use that word. The cat who's been fighting a urinary infection and just finished his course of antibiotics decided yesterday and today to pee on the floor instead of the box again. For anyone who has a litter-trained cat that suddenly decides the floor is a better place, by the way, it's often a sign of infection or urinary crystals (or in this case, both). Either means get to the vet. This particular cat will be going back this week.

In other news, Dad is pretty sure that he has a kidney stone. Told you that it was a urinary day. And my sympathy and empathy to him, because I get them too.

In other other news, it was a pretty windy day yesterday so I didn't get a chance to get too many new pictures. Ah well, you'll no doubt be seeing the poor lot that I did get.

In other other other sadder news, a group of teenage boys decided that it might be fun to go into Calgary's Canada Olympic Park two nights ago and try out the bobsled run with a toboggan. What they didn't know is that the starts of the bobsled run and the luge run are separated by a heavy gate, which they ran into at speed. Two dead, six injured. Sad, but to add to it, these weren't stupid kids. The two killed were honours-student twin brothers. It was just teenage boys being teenage boys and getting into what they probably thought would be minor trouble. I can't imagine that poor family right now. Not to make excuses because (as if we needed more proof) stupidity can kill you and that was pretty stupid, but it's an awfully harsh lesson for all of those involved.



I don't want to end on that note, so... um... how about rocks?

Let's see.

How about my favourite rocks, in absolutely no order:

• Amethyst
• Lapis Lazuli
• Any number of Jaspers
• A fair number of Agates
• Certain Garnets
• Amber
• A bit of Jade is nice, too

I should add in Topaz and Aquamarine too, I suppose, but to be honest those have more to do with a couple of pieces of jewellery that I own and the people that I inherited them from.

Notice that diamonds aren't this girl's best friend? I think that they're important for their hardness, but as gemstones the only reason they're so overly desired is that De Beers and company made up a market for them. You can look that one up for yourselves, by the way. I'm tired of linking. Oh, and my lack of enthusiasm for diamonds doesn't mean that I don't appreciate my uncle's gift of his, of course. I sincerely do. Again, though, it's more the person than the stone.

That's enough for today, and yes, it is lunch time. See you whenever I have time in the week.

What do I title yet another jewellery post that may or may not be about jewellery?

First, I should say in regards to the surgery (the end of March for anyone keeping a calendar. For my sister-in-law, my mother's birthday. See if my brother can remember that date...), at the moment I'm fine. When I got the call, the feeling was at last. I've been waiting for so long. Then the feeling became holy crap this is going to happen. That's where that incoherent deleted post came from. Now? I really am fine. I imagine that anxiety will set in in a big way once the date is closer and that I'll start thinking more about what recovery was like the last time, but for now I'm concentrating more on being prepared. Emotionally, physically.... and, let's face it, making sure that my bills are paid and my apartment is clean before the date. Last time was an emergency, for those new to the program, so I had the embarrassment of a mess on top of everything else.

Ok, now on to more frivolous things.

I was on Amazon a while ago because I had the remnants of some gift cards to use up. There was a book that I knew I wanted, but to use up the rest of the amount I was just going to browse. And that, boys and girls, is how Dee habitually ends up overspending with gift cards.

Usually.

This time I instead ended up going to the Deals Store page, which I hadn't ever thought to do before. I know, right? They're going to take away my Cheap and Proud of It card. Anyway, because I'd never been there before I hadn't realised that there was such a thing as Lightning Deals.

Silly, silly girl.

I had a look, and they had me at amber. Well, at silver too, because I'm very much a silver person. Better for my skin tone, and conveniently much better for my wallet. I got the pendant you see here (there's matching earrings as well, but I suck at ear-selfies) for a stupidly reduced price, which lets you know what the original mark-up was. The amber's heat treated (that's how they get the different colours) which isn't my ideal, but the thing seems well put together and, more importantly, looks nice.

Yet more jewellery for my jewellery resurgence, I guess.

I was big on all the stupid but fun eighties jewellery when I was a teenager, but scaled back a lot when I was in university (anyone wearing rings, for example, in a lab with formalin is a bit stupid. Yes, even though you wear gloves). When I started the naturalist thing I wore a bunch of themed earrings because the students liked them. Then that sort of fell by the wayside. And why? Laziness, I suppose.

So why the return?

A rock show. The one where I met the owner of the rock shop that you hear about so frequently. My coworker already knew him, and between the three of us we decided to make a swap of some of our unused specimens for some good pieces of pyrite for our rock programming. And, naturally, I also looked at his jewellery pieces. They were neat so I bought a couple.

I wore them occasionally until one year when we had a week with the same students (we call it nature school) I found out that the kids -- and not just the girls -- were checking to see which rock I was wearing each day. It sparked more learning, and yep, you guessed it. That's when the rock pendants became part of my everyday work wear. They don't get noticed everyday, of course, but they get noticed enough that I've increased my collection.

As you've noticed.





This is the part where I say that it's time for lunch, as my two fans know. It is, and I've typed enough now. I promise no more surgery weirdness until at least mid-March, ok?



There will be more rocks, though. I can guarantee it. Probably tomorrow...

Today

Today it looks like this outside the back door at work.

Today's jewellery is a snowflake obsidian marble in a rock cage and some weird vintage 70s earrings.

Today's tea is Cinnamon Rooibos Chai. It's pretty good, but I'm not sure that the apple does much for it. Could be wrong, but to find out I'd have to fish out all the apple bits before I make it next time and that seems kind of pointless. Last night's tea, incidentally, was Mother's Little Helper.  It has peppermint and lemongrass and tastes like peppermint and lemongrass, which is good because it covers up the chamomile. Not a huge fan of chamomile, to be honest. And does the valerian do anything? Oh, I don't know. I was tired enough to begin with, so who knows if it made any difference. Besides, it does make me a little leery. Valerian is a drug, after all. I'm sure that the tea doesn't contain much of it, but still.

Today's test for my father's phone: to see if he could answer a call. He couldn't. The whole swiping thing takes practise, as I know from experience. My own phone's set up very right-handedly, and this lefty took a couple of tries to be successful.

He has managed to send a photo by MMS, though, so things are going pretty well.

Today at work I've looked through over thirty web pages of percussion instruments to help decide what we're buying to help with programming our music park. Brain-draining, but it could be worse.

And speaking of that, I'd better get back at it. Later, then.

How many of those things do you have, she said

Ok, there are a few.

So then

This is probably the most expensive thing I own. Sad, I suppose I expect.

Not to me, though.

I haven't ever had the need to have stuff in my life. I have stuff. A lot of stuff. I just never aimed for it.

Shortly, thanks to Christmas gift cards, I'll have more stuff. Not sure how I feel about that this year. I don't need more stuff. I'll enjoy getting it, but I don't need it.

Gah. Hard when your philosophy hits your reality.

Ah well. I'll figure it out. Happy New Year, everyone.

Very short post

Bad pic, but new rocks. There was a sale. Tourmaline, malachite cat, & carved picture Jasper.

No, I'm not an addict.



Shut up.

Guess who's going back to surgery!

 yay.........

 Ok, so I had my colonoscopy follow-up appointment with the surgeon this morning, and the good news is that things look good. The bad news? That means that I'm a good surgical candidate.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't want to spend the rest of my life with a stoma if I don't have to. The problem is that it's one thing to need emergency surgery and not be able to do anything about it, and it's a totally different one to willingly go back to surgery knowing everything that's involved in recovery. As well, the surgeon gives you a run-down of the possible complications -- including ending up with another, different kind of stoma -- and that's frankly scary. I mean, I'd sooner know than not know, but still. I'd need a horse tranquiliser to be able to show up to the hospital, I think.

In the end it was my choice. Live with a pouch, or sign up for possibly no pouch and a mostly normal life OR some major complications. My choice, I'll repeat.



My surgery's in November.

And I'm done talking about it until at least October (I hope) so let's end with some more rocks. I, um, needed cheering up a little while ago. No big write-up this time, but I'll give you their names so you can look up the weirdness factor on you own if you want to.

Blue Tiger's Eye (yes, again) in copper

Chalcedony geode

Jade coin (just the name of the bead, not an actual coin)

Green Kyanite

Turquoise

Stay tuned for more rocks. Because I'll probably feel the need to buy more rocks...

Chapter 2061: Wherein... rocks!

Yeah, suck it up you whiners (for those of you who are whiners, that is. The rest of you? Just read on, I suppose).

The other day I lost a pendant in the woods. No, that's not a euphemism; don't forget that I work at a nature centre. I literally lost a pendant in the woods. Let's see if... yep, here it is. The one on the far right, which is dendritic jasper. Not to worry, though. It wasn't exactly one of my favourites anyway, and that plus deciding that I deserved a treat for what was then my upcoming colonoscopy (read the post for yourself if you missed that bit of excitement) gave me an excuse to head to the rock store.

Not that I need an excuse at the best of times, but it's always better to have one.

Here, then, are four new pendants to replace the one I lost. I'd say that math was never my strong point, but I was actually pretty good at math. I'm also apparently good at Look! Shiny!

Let's have a closer look.

This one is Ammolite, which is a fossil. There's some non-mystic (why do all rocks have to be mystic, anyway?) information about it here, which saves me some typing. And if you're interested in more commercial information, one of the companies that mines the stuff in Alberta has a website here. I haven't really looked at that one yet, to be honest.

In jewellery terms this probably wouldn't be seen as a great piece of ammolite, since the experts seem to like to have the colour shift in all parts of the shell's available spectrum (more or less blue, yellow, green, and orange) and this one's pretty much just red to green. I liked it that way, though. Less gaudy, and it certainly saves a person money to get a so-called lower quality piece.

 Here we have Dalmatian Jasper, which isn't a jasper at all. According to this blog, it's an igneous rock and should be called Dalmatian Stone instead of Dalmatian Jasper. Works for me, but just know that if you're interested in wearing it you're probably going to have to look for Dalmatian Jasper.

It's form Mexico rather than Dalmatia. People just named it after the spotted dog, that's all.

I bought it because. Yep, just because. The people who worry over each rock's meaning must really despair of people like me.

 This is Labradorite, and it's a fairly bad photograph. It's hard to get a good one of of labradorite, though, because labradorite's appeal comes more when you see it in person. As labradorite moves it has an iridescence that seems to be internal rather than on the surface like the ammolite above. I've heard people who sell it (yay bad jewellery shows on television shopping networks) describe the stone as having the Northern Lights inside it, and as badly poetic as that sounds it's not too bad a description. Get this thing out in the sunlight and it's pretty fascinating.

Oh, by the way, labradorite's form of iridescence is, it seems, called labradorescence. I suppose that's appropriate.

Finally, a bit of Landscape Jasper. I'm kind of a sucker for jaspers at the best of times, and I logicked myself into replacing a piece of lost (mediocre) jasper with a piece of (more interesting) jasper. Makes sense, right?

That's it for rocks at the moment. Yes, at the moment. Unfortunately, the summer switch of my days off to Mondays and Tuesdays have reminded me that the location of the rock store that's usually closed when I pass it going home from Dad's on a Sunday will be open as I probably don't quite pass it on a Tuesday. Ah well. As far as jewellery habits go the only way it would be cheaper is if I was making things myself. and at least rocks are interesting, right?



Oh, don't all disagree at once. Back to work tomorrow, and probably back to less words too. Type at you when I can. Maybe something on the other blog in the next couple of days if I can make myself feel more like drawing than I do just now, but don't hold your breath.

Even though it might be slightly amusing to watch you turn blue.

The wrong rock

With a new feature model, I guess. I've had it for a bit now, but I just realised that he doesn't have a name. Maybe let's make him Alfred.

Alfred is, of course, modelling some of my stash of rocks. And no, I'm not talking about them today (oh, shut up with your sighs of relief). What I did want to talk about is inappropriate rocks.

But can rocks be inappropriate, Dee? Of course they can, if they're being used for inappropriate things. Take hardness, for example. One of the things that makes me laugh when I watch the bad jewellery shows on the shopping channel is how often those companies use rocks that will be worn once or twice and then look like crap. Take apatite, for example. It's a lovely mineral and, when polished up, can be very attractive in a jewellery setting. Here comes the but. But apatite's hardness is 5 on the Mohs scale. That translates as not very hard, when it comes to jewellery. Lots of things can scratch it. It'd be fine as a pendant or maybe in earrings, but in a ring it would quickly become a destroyed mess. To be fair, some of the more educated hosts do mention the Mohs number of a given rock. But how many shoppers are familiar with the Mohs scale? They may have learned it in school (it's learned in Grade Three here), but other than remembering the name would most people know anything else about it?

That's just one example. There are tons others out there. Even pearls which, yes, not rocks, but are often found to be bedazzling fancy-looking shopping channel rings. Well, I have a ring of my mother's that's set with a pearl. It's a neat gold ring with a small pearl in the centre. I like it. I never wear it. And why? Pearls are soft, and all the lustre on that pearl wore off years ago. I'd have to get the ring reset. Probably not expensive since it is a small pearl, but when I look at the pearl monstrosities that people pay too much for on television I just shake my head. Don't wear your pearls on your hands, ladies.

Hardness is just one example of why you should research your rocks. You may have a reasonably hard rock -- I'll use pyrite as an example even though the small pieces used as marcasite wouldn't really apply to what I'm getting at -- that's also brittle. One good smack and you have two pieces of pyrite. There are plenty of other factors, but work &c &c...

I guess what I'm saying is before you make that impulse purchase, look up your favourite rocks and find out a little bit about them first. There are ways to wear fragile rocks (ever wonder why I do the pendant thing so much?), but don't waste your money on something that will turn out to be completely wasted too soon.



Thus endeth the public service message, I guess. I've been typing too long. See you the next time I actually have something to say.

For a change.

Things in the yard. And, of course, rocks.

This is pretty much a pictorial today, since it wouldn't make sense to hold onto these photos for too long. Consider it a look at early spring here. Also consider that we'll likely have at least one more winter storm and probably a few hard frosts coming up, so don't look for flowers anytime soon.

Oh, and I know the order of these is a bit wonkus. I wasn't in the mood to fix it. Having said that, let's take the tour.

To the left, daffodil shoots. These ones are by the dryer vent, so the soil thaws early. There were also European crocus shoots, but I noticed that the long shot I took also featured turds from one of the neighbourhood cats. Thought you'd appreciate it if I left them out.

That indistinct thing in the background is very important, really, even if it was massively disinclined to have its photo taken. That's my first spider of the season.

Pretty much as important as the first violet.

I'm serious. And for those who don't know about the spider thing, just hit the spider label at the bottom of this post or search spider at the top of the page. Then you'll understand.

For whatever reason (weirdness), I have a thing for melting ice. I have so many pointless photos of melting ice.

Here's... another one, I guess.

These are the first shoots of what most people around here call Prairie Crocus, but I find myself increasingly calling Pasque Flower (the alternate name) because it's not a crocus at all. It got called crocus because it's one of the first flowers of spring and the purple colour reminded settlers of the European Crocus. Similar colours, yes, but Pasque Flowers are what's called pubescent. Relax, it just means hairy in biology. Pasque Flowers are very fuzzy.

Here are some images for those who aren't familiar with the plant. It's a favourite of mine.

And now... rocks! Oh, come on. It's been a while since we've done rocks.

My local rock shop had its big semi-annual sale the other week and I... missed it. For a variety of reasons. I should explain that the sale isn't a sale as in fantastic prices (although some of them are ok); it's quantity. They bring in a whackload of stuff. Whackload, as always, being the correct scientific term.

Well, as I said, I missed it this time. To make myself feel better about that -- that's the excuse, anyway -- I stopped in on my way to Dad's place to pick up a few new things. Oh, and for anyone new to the program who wonders why most of my rocks are imprisoned? It's just the easiest way to wear rocks if you don't happen to own a rock drill. I generally wear my rocks as pendants; thus the rock cages.

Anyway.

What you're seeing this time (clockwise from the left) is Zebra Jasper, Tree Agate, a Snowflake Obsidian marble, and a Tiger Eye pendant. Yeah, more tiger eye. I just have such a hard time staying away from that stuff, and have had since I was a child. This one's cool (she excuses to herself) because although it has a brown base it has streaks of blue as well. Between tiger eye and amethyst, though, I could probably outfit an entire jewellery box if I didn't force myself to look at other things.

If anyone's noticing a mottled/stripey theme to Friday's buys, I agree. I couldn't tell you why. Mottled mood at the time, I suppose.

And if anyone's noticed as well that I only gave you image links for the rocks rather than information links, it's because I've got so sick of reading the healing crystal stuff out there that I'm leaving it for you to google if you're so inclined. Everything out there made of rock is apparently some sort of positive energy, if you believe that sort of thing. Funny how you never seem to find any malevolent rocks. Surely there are some minerals out there, at least, that hate humanity?

My apologies as usual to those of you who do believe in the power of positive rock wearing. I just can't. Rocks look nice. The end. Any other benefits you find? Well, good for you, I guess. It's not like it's going to hurt anything.





Anyway, enough words (and photos) for today. Next? Either tea buying or doodling. Maybe both, if I can get the Bob to stop sitting on my foot. He's a bit of a heavyweight these days, and my toes are tingling.

Um, yeah. You needed to know that.

Waving...

 Waving because I don't really have much for blather today. Or this week, apparently. So, more pictures.

First one, hoarfrost as seen from my balcony.

Second, same photo assaulted by the photoeditor. Because I liked it better in neon.

Third shot, carnelian. Because carnelian.



That's it for now, folks. If you need more, try this video of a not-at-all guilty dog...

Quick pointless post of the week:

 Yeah, oops. I wasn't intending for this to be post of the week, obviously, and now I have work to do so it'll have to be just photos.

Above, amazonite. Which is just fancy talk for green microcline feldspar, but hey. They're pretty.

Below, the continuation of last weekend's box saga, which would have made much more sense if it had been posted, say, Monday or Tuesday. Label this one as how are you making out with that box, Tom? Just thought I'd check.

Oh, and in other quick news this week's medical stuff went all right, so that should be it now until April. Or until one of my other body parts decides to explode.

I'm hoping that last doesn't actually happen...

Toys

My Dad's computer is convinced that there's something wrong with my Croco (yes, I'm still using a crocodile-shaped flash drive. Interestingly, I didn't pay near the price for it listed in the link), which there isn't. It's so persistent in wanting to scan it, though, that today I let it.

There's nothing wrong with my Croco. Told you so, computer.

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Today's Illustration Friday prompt (don't worry, readers of the other blog. You're not in the wrong place. I just haven't gotten around to doodling yet) is toy. That's a big one, and if you're in a slightly philosophical mood you could even ask what a toy is. Is it a box, as cats and babies through the ages seem to believe? Is it a poodle? Is it a cell phone, considering the way that most people use theirs?

I suppose that a toy is whatever you play with, really. I habitually call my 3DS my toy, I guess because I'm not exactly a gamer and I'm also not exactly the demographic. I don't take it seriously; it's my toy.

Just a pointless squirrel on the balcony

I suppose that my camera counts as a toy as well, although I do take that somewhat more seriously than the 3DS. I'm not a photographer, I'm mostly just fooling around, but I am still looking for good photo opportunities. On the rare occasions when I get a good shot I do save it, although I'd say that 99% of what I take gets posted randomly here and then deleted.

Just as an aside, I got myself into a slight bit of trouble over that attitude once. I had a photo of an unusual ladybird beetle that I blogged. Later on, our preschool teacher brought in the same species, intending to take a picture and send it to someone who was working on a Ladybugs of Alberta book for identification. I suggested that we just send my shot, which I hadn't deleted yet. Turns out that the author really like the photo because the beetle was on an apple and its scientific name had apple in it (in Latin, of course). He asked for the highest res possible of the original image, and I sheepishly had to send him the small, square-cropped only copy that I had saved. Or, more accurately, not deleted yet as I said above. It did make the book, though. You can find it in here, if you're inclined to see my name spelled wrong in the photo credits.

This is sodalite. I'll leave you to look it up for yourselves. 

I do have actual toys, of course. I have a few constructing toys because sometimes that's what I like to do when I'm sitting in front of the television. You'll probably find Kinder Surprise toys around my apartment because every once in a while you've just got to have a Kinder Surprise (unless you're in the US. Sorry about your overprotective government, folks). I have modelling clay because... well, modelling clay.

And that last link brings up the art supplies. While I occasionally do real illustration work for the nature centre, for the most part I'm playing when I'm doodling. It's toys. Even my rocks, to an extent, are toys. I wear them on cords so that I can play with them, if I'm being entirely honest.

Obviously I have no trouble playing, then. What I will have trouble with is deciding on a subject if I ever get around to the IF word of the week. Tonight, maybe.

Until then, don't be ashamed to play with your toys, boys and girls. We all have them, and we all still need to play.





And I personally need to eat lunch now. Catch you in a day or so, depending on how Monday goes.

The world, again

There were two RCMP officers shot in St Albert early this morning. Suspect's still on the loose as I type this.

I hate hearing about man's stupidity to his fellow man yet again, so rather than go on about that I'm just going plain stupid in this blather. Pointless, as it were. Gee, that might be a good name for a blog.

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Let's start by visiting the bad cats, who didn't get up on the counter, knock the laundry basket off, and strew the towels around. At least that's what you'd believe from their body language, right? What, this? We found it this way...

The Turkey Brothers had an adventure this week. It was their first visit to the vet for shots and a physical before the big day when they lose their testicles (that'll be early February, for those counting the hours. And if so, why?). I wasn't there, but Dad says that the vet found them healthy, sweet (in the case of Bob), and sleek (in the case of Tom, who didn't want a thermometer up his backside. Can't say that I blame him, really). And the kicker? THEY BEHAVED. That's right, the little sh turkeys didn't give much of a hint as to what they're really capable of.

It seems that they're good actors as well as being turkeys.

According to the vet, the only sign of kittenhood left in the boys is the fact that Tom still has a couple of baby teeth. I guess that my father has cats now. I shall try to remember to refer to them that way in the future.

When they're back from the next visit.

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I mentioned in passing in an earlier blather (more of a non-blather, actually) that I had medical stuff this week. Nothing invasive; just sitting in a room for a few hours getting educated. It was all right, but with everything that's gone on lately I figured it was time for a treat so on the way home I stopped in at the smaller version of my favourite rock shop.

That's right. More rocks. And you poor people get to see them, of course. And just to make it more fun, the photos were taken on a fabric that will either strobe for you or just make your eyes complain, depending on what you use to view them. Yes, purposely. You're welcome.

What you're looking at today is a piece of Red Jasper, which is apparently heroic, strong, enduring, blah blah blah whatever and something about communication if I remember right. Or not. What it is to me is something red, which I was in the mood for. I'm also a sucker for jaspers of almost any kind. Agates too. I've probably mentioned.

This one's a decent stone, considering what I paid for it, and it feels nice in the hand. Yeah, that's important. My two fans know that I'm a big one for textures in art (one of the reasons why I don't paint much. That, and the fact that I have the painting skills of a five-year-old), and the same thing goes for my rocks. They have to be good to play with, because I do. If I'm not playing with a pendant I'll play with my infamous rolling ring, and if I'm not playing with that I'll likely be playing with a pen or my hair or whatever else is around.

My hands like to be doing something.

Fondling a rock seems like one of the less harmless things that they could be doing, when you think about it.



Going now. Need to finish at least a few of my open browser tabs before lunch. It's my version of the weekend reading list, I suppose.

I'm sure that I'm not the only one.

Thursday Eve

Title? Well, Hugh Laurie wished his twitter fans a happy Thursday, which of course brought up the very predictable flurry of "why you take X out of Xmas" semi-literate comments that make a person wonder how any celebrity actually manages to stay on social media for more than five minutes before wanting to smash any and all technology. It's especially astounding with that particular account, since so many of his followers don't seem to get it when the COMEDIAN and actor (and musician and whatever else I need to add for the Hughheads) is making a joke...

Today's photo, by the way, is the closest you're getting to a Christmas tree from me. I told you that we weren't going to have one, courtesy of the Turkey Brothers, and we don't.

Can't say that I miss cleaning up the mess anyway. We'll try for one next year, though.



And no doubt spend a lot of time cleaning up the mess.

Anyway, I feel like I should be trying to blather something to make up for the lame posts of the last few days, but I'm not sure what I have. Well, I do have a cold, but that's been going on since about last Thursday so by now it's not exactly newsworthy. I've been taking otc meds, which have taken the edge off, but that's about it. I suppose if I took the full dose it would help more, but that would mean a whack of acetominophen and that's so completely unnecessary -- and potentially bad for a person's liver -- that I just don't want to do it. Edge off is fine, then.

What else? Well, what with the hospital stuff and using this excuse to get my diet (which wasn't horrible, but could have been better) a little more up to par, I've lost a bit of weight and it all seems to be from my fingers. Seriously. One of my newer pinkie rings (which, admittedly, was a tad big to begin with) now fits most of the way onto my ring finger. Do I smell a reason for more new toys, then? Possibly, depending on the finances. Luckily for me I prefer silver anyway, so picking up a cheap ring or two won't be a big deal. Not giving up on the infamous rolling ring, however. Even if it ends up moving to my middle finger.

You needed to know all of this, of course.

Lastly (for the moment), if I'd had time yesterday I definitely would have made mention of Joe Cocker's death. Sad, that. He was an acquired taste for me, for sure, but once it hit there used to be nothing better than coming home from work, putting my head between the speakers of my old bookshelf stereo (which sat on the floor, in case anyone was wondering if I actually crawled up on the bookshelf) and blasting through Delta Lady or She Came in Through the Bathroom Window. The man was definite proof that it's not so much the instrument you have as what you can do with it, and I spent a fair amount of time at work yesterday with a Joe Cocker soundtrack.

And there's a good excuse to wrap up with my personal all-time favourite. I've linked to it before, but I'm going to again. And I hope that, in the lead-up to the Big Day, my two fans are also feelin' alright (must... not... fix... spelling... gah).



See you later.

Oops

Forgot to blog. Now I don't have anything to say, really. So have some unakite:

I'll leave you to look it up on your own. May it cure what ails you, I guess.