today in efforts to enjoy the cool outside air, we ventured to downtown wake forest to stroll the streets during their autumn arts festival. there were lots of "artists" with their "art" on display. i use the " " signs because we definitely agreed that "art" is in the eye of the "artist"... as some of the stuff down there was both tacky and not very artistic (in my terms, anyway). there were some lovely paintings... some for sale for over $600... and i'm pretty sure i could make an exact replica in less than an hour ("abstract art") for probably a total cost of $50 which would include the canvas and paint and maybe a brush or two...
anyway, there were also some neat metal art, BEAUTIFUL bird houses, wood carvings, and most importantly... jewelry. some of the stuff down there was absolutely gorgeous. i wanted so many pieces. there was this one lady, though, that still stands out in my mind. she had a beautifully beaded necklace framing a pieced of carved rutilated quartz. i picked it up to look closer at it and she said to me "that is rose quartz". i just looked up, politely said thank you, set the necklace down, and walked away... biting my tongue (did i spell it right mom?)
rose quartz looks practically nothing like rutilated quartz. come on. ROSE quartz... the name itself implys that it is pink (rose) colored. this stone was not pink at all, it was clear with golden rods sprayed throughout the rock. lets see... can you figure out which of these rock/pendant pairs is ROSE quartz and which one is NOT rose quartz?
the rock she had was rutilated quartz. the golden rods in the quartz are the mineral rutile (TiO2... titanium dioxide... now go check your toothpaste ingredients because many toothpastes have TiO2 in it!!!)
anyway, back to the cool stuff we saw. there was this one lady that had birdhouses. the houses were made from "recycled" wood (i think more appropriately it should be reused wood). she had one house with keys (real keys) tacked all over the brightly colored house. on the side were the words "have you seen my keys?" and then on the back there was an empty nail/tack for you to put your OWN key on it (i.e. your spare key cleverly hidden on the birdhouse). i thought it was SO cute and had we the ca-zash to be buying birdhouses, we would have taken it home!
another cool thing we saw was down at the farmers market they have every saturday... a hive of bees (behind glass, kinda like an ant farm - these bees were in the honey booth). nathaniel was pushing kendal and i saw the bees. i asked him to back up so kendal could see them, and when i pointed at the hive, i noticed how warm it was! i didn't even have to touch the glass to feel the heat. the beekeeper told me that the bees keep the hive about 97 degrees, and using a heat sensor is generally how he finds bees when someone calls him to get rid of them. interesting, huh? anyway, we bought some of his honey. $3 for about a 6 oz jar of it. i tasted it when we got home and MAN OH MAN is it good honey. tastes nothing like the brands they have at the grocery store.
last words... we saw a sign for an
oktoberfest in WF on october 25th. i think we're gonna try to go. maybe you will too!
today in efforts to enjoy the cool outside air, we ventured to downtown wake forest to stroll the streets during their autumn arts festival. there were lots of "artists" with their "art" on display. i use the " " signs because we definitely agreed that "art" is in the eye of the "artist"... as some of the stuff down there was both tacky and not very artistic (in my terms, anyway). there were some lovely paintings... some for sale for over $600... and i'm pretty sure i could make an exact replica in less than an hour ("abstract art") for probably a total cost of $50 which would include the canvas and paint and maybe a brush or two...
anyway, there were also some neat metal art, BEAUTIFUL bird houses, wood carvings, and most importantly... jewelry. some of the stuff down there was absolutely gorgeous. i wanted so many pieces. there was this one lady, though, that still stands out in my mind. she had a beautifully beaded necklace framing a pieced of carved rutilated quartz. i picked it up to look closer at it and she said to me "that is rose quartz". i just looked up, politely said thank you, set the necklace down, and walked away... biting my tongue (did i spell it right mom?)
rose quartz looks practically nothing like rutilated quartz. come on. ROSE quartz... the name itself implys that it is pink (rose) colored. this stone was not pink at all, it was clear with golden rods sprayed throughout the rock. lets see... can you figure out which of these rock/pendant pairs is ROSE quartz and which one is NOT rose quartz?
the rock she had was rutilated quartz. the golden rods in the quartz are the mineral rutile (TiO2... titanium dioxide... now go check your toothpaste ingredients because many toothpastes have TiO2 in it!!!)
anyway, back to the cool stuff we saw. there was this one lady that had birdhouses. the houses were made from "recycled" wood (i think more appropriately it should be reused wood). she had one house with keys (real keys) tacked all over the brightly colored house. on the side were the words "have you seen my keys?" and then on the back there was an empty nail/tack for you to put your OWN key on it (i.e. your spare key cleverly hidden on the birdhouse). i thought it was SO cute and had we the ca-zash to be buying birdhouses, we would have taken it home!
another cool thing we saw was down at the farmers market they have every saturday... a hive of bees (behind glass, kinda like an ant farm - these bees were in the honey booth). nathaniel was pushing kendal and i saw the bees. i asked him to back up so kendal could see them, and when i pointed at the hive, i noticed how warm it was! i didn't even have to touch the glass to feel the heat. the beekeeper told me that the bees keep the hive about 97 degrees, and using a heat sensor is generally how he finds bees when someone calls him to get rid of them. interesting, huh? anyway, we bought some of his honey. $3 for about a 6 oz jar of it. i tasted it when we got home and MAN OH MAN is it good honey. tastes nothing like the brands they have at the grocery store.
last words... we saw a sign for an oktoberfest in WF on october 25th. i think we're gonna try to go. maybe you will too!
A person who works with stones should never try to put one over on a geologist!
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