November 2009
Billie Silvey
Rockhound
My father was a rockhound. He loved to climb hills and clamber
down into canyons in our native Texas Panhandle or in nearby New
Mexico or Colorado in search of interesting rocks.
He’d cut and polish them, then mount them in settings of silver
or gold to make jewelry.
I still have a smooth white opal he set in a heavy silver ring. The
stone flashes colors when you hold it in the light. I have a chunk of
olive-colored layered jade attached to a chain for a necklace. Also
part of his collection of tumbled rocks in a silver goblet.
I inherited my mother's small gold wedding band set with a row of
tiny diamonds, and my daughter gave me a sapphire ring, my
birthstone.
Now her daughter is following in my father's footsteps. Despite the
fact that we have a basket full of toys for her, she loves to carry
around the smooth, varicolored rocks—in her hands, in the goblet,
in a basket or in a paper cup. From time to time, she loses one of
the rocks, or adds to the collection from the numerous rocks in our
backyard. That's the great thing about rocks, they're always
underfoot, an inexhaustable supply.
Rock collecting is a cheap hobby that gets you out into the natural
world. It sharpens your awareness and encourages you to spot the
beauty in what others might walk right past.
This month we'll consider the forces that form rocks, some of the
various types of rocks and minerals, and the metaphoric use of the
word rock in Scripture.
I'd love for you to email me about gemstones or rocks you've
collected, about geology, or about the scriptures that treat rocks.
Just click on my address, b.silvey@sbcglobal.net.
down into canyons in our native Texas Panhandle or in nearby New
Mexico or Colorado in search of interesting rocks.
He’d cut and polish them, then mount them in settings of silver
or gold to make jewelry.
I still have a smooth white opal he set in a heavy silver ring. The
stone flashes colors when you hold it in the light. I have a chunk of
olive-colored layered jade attached to a chain for a necklace. Also
part of his collection of tumbled rocks in a silver goblet.
I inherited my mother's small gold wedding band set with a row of
tiny diamonds, and my daughter gave me a sapphire ring, my
birthstone.
Now her daughter is following in my father's footsteps. Despite the
fact that we have a basket full of toys for her, she loves to carry
around the smooth, varicolored rocks—in her hands, in the goblet,
in a basket or in a paper cup. From time to time, she loses one of
the rocks, or adds to the collection from the numerous rocks in our
backyard. That's the great thing about rocks, they're always
underfoot, an inexhaustable supply.
Rock collecting is a cheap hobby that gets you out into the natural
world. It sharpens your awareness and encourages you to spot the
beauty in what others might walk right past.
This month we'll consider the forces that form rocks, some of the
various types of rocks and minerals, and the metaphoric use of the
word rock in Scripture.
I'd love for you to email me about gemstones or rocks you've
collected, about geology, or about the scriptures that treat rocks.
Just click on my address, b.silvey@sbcglobal.net.
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Culture and the Arts--and anything else that comes to mind.
Culture and the Arts--and anything else that comes to mind.