My New Computer. Rocks.

Little pieces of the Earth

My new computer rocks. I'll get to that in a minute though, because the rocks in the pictures are what I'll tell you about first.

Besides the rocks in my head, I have rocks, minerals and crystals all over the house. I love to collect them and look at them. They decorate tables and shelves and cubbyholes in the rooms I frequent the most. To me they are a true art form - God's of course. I find them fascinating.

The picture above, is just a very small sampling of rocks that were given as gifts or that I collected myself. They are numbered and here's what they are and where they came from:

1. Petoskey stone - Michigan's state rock. It is fossilized coral from a time when Michigan was covered by a shallow salt sea and had the same weather as Florida. G

2. Slate from Harper's Ferry on the Shenandoah River. M

3. Sedimentary stone from Holland. G

4. Granite from Wright Paterson AFB in Dayton Ohio. G

5. Dinosaur egg shell - (purchased)

6. Galena (lead) from Galena, Illinois. M

7. Limestone from Hawaii. M

8. Dolomite marble from Belize. It also contains quartz and hematite. M

9. Sedimentary stone from the top of a mountain in Chile. G

10. Cert from Israel. G

(The M's mean Me -I collected them, the G's mean they are gifts.)

Little pieces of Ireland

My bonnie niece, Brigid has made several trips to Ireland, and she brought back several stones just for me from her trips! Thank you Brigid! Ireland is a bit smaller now, as part of it is in my house.

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I spent some time studying the latest batch, and was able to identify them. In telling you what they are, I'll give you a very quick lesson in rocks.

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Rocks are classified into 3 types:

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Igneous - molten magmas. These are either intrusive (formed within the earth) or extrusive (flowed out or ejected volcanic rock)

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Sedimentary - deposits laid down on the earth's surface by wind, rain or fire

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Metamorphic - existing rocks that are subject to extreme pressure or temperatures or both which alters their composition.

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What each rock is called depends on many things, including the major and minor minerals that make up the rock.

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1. The first rock in the picture was given to me by my sister, Janet - Brigid's mom. It is a piece of Connemara marble, hand carved in the shape of Ireland. Marble is a metamorphic rock, and this world renowned marble is from the green Connemara mountains. It has a greenish cast to it from the mineral olivine.

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2. Gabbro - intrusive igneous rock) with oligoclase ( a silicate mineral) layer

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3. Granite - the most common intrusive rock on the Earth's continental surface. The main ingredients are potassium feldspar, quartz, mica and sodium.

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4. Quartz - one of the most common minerals, by weight, on the earth's surface.

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5. Chert - sedimentary nodules formed in sedimentary rock

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6. Jasper - a silicate mineral

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7. Two graywacke stones - marine sedimentary rocks

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8. Jet - an organic gem also called lignite coal made or organics and hydrocarbons. This was used in mourning jewelry during the Victorian age and has been traditionally fashioned into rosaries for monks.

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9. Micaceous sandstone - sandstone, a sedimentary rock, with mica crystals in it. Mica is a soft silicate that comes in sheets that are easily separated. It is also known as isinglass and was once used for windows.

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10. Hornfels - a metamorphic rock -crystals in a metamorphic rock matrix.

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11. Five siltstone and/or mudstone - sedimentary - rocks

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12. Sandstone - the second most common sedimentary rock after shale. The Painted Desert is sandstone. Sandstone was used as building materials for, among others, Stonehenge, Petra, Abu Simbel and the Red Fort in Old Deli, India.

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All of the stones in the second picture were found on the beach at Bray, Ireland. They more than likely made their way to Bray from the surrounding areas: Cornwall, England, Scotland Wales and various places in Ireland, during storms, glacier movement and upheavals and are all now smoothed by the sea.

So, about my computer - I have a new one, a Toshiba, with a large bright screen. I've had it for about 6 weeks. It is a huge improvement over my old dark screened HP. The most important thing (to me) about this is how beautiful all of your blogs look on my bright shiny screen! That really rocks!