Wrinkly Bits
A Blog by Gail Cushman
A few days ago, I joined a very nice lady for lunch. I had never met her, didn’t know for sure what she looked like, but she (you know who you are!) reads my blogs. We had a lovely conversation over coffee and sandwiches and it was a delight to meet someone new. I liked her immediately and hope to meet for lunch again sometime soon.
My life is an open book because everyone on FB knows everything in my life anyway, so meeting up with new people, aka strangers, is easy for me. I can talk about anything and carry-on inane conversations about whatever. Proof is in my blogs, which are mostly about nothing. My issue has to do with trying to silence myself. Shush.
We found plenty to talk about because we were both teachers, worked in school administration, and retired. I like to put words on a page, and she likes nature, specifically rocks and she gave me a few. They aren’t anything like the rocks that I find in my yard or on the driveway, which are jagged and dirty. These are polished, shiny and smooth and have names…jasper, agate, quartz, and a chunk of petrified wood. What beautiful works of nature, the rich colors, deep reds, some are translucent with wild colors buried deep inside. They indeed are a treasure of nature. As usual, my mind wondered, and I started thinking about rocks or stones.
A few years ago, a fad emerged and “Pet Rocks” became the rage. In my mind, the creator was a genius. He probably made a lot of money, but I never bought one. They were perfect pets, needed nothing, no cleaning up after them, nothing about sending them off to rock-training classes, no worry about food and water and pet-rock skat, no barking, scratching, or shedding. No care necessary. The perfect pet, er, Cody, never mind, at least you growl and warm my feet on a cold winter night. Back to rocks, I guess I could heat up rocks on the stove, put them in bed, Grandma says that is what they did in the old days on the farm.
I think my new friend used the word “rock” but I think the word “stone” has a nicer ring to it, and maybe a little more sophisticated. Can rocks be sophisticated? I checked with my friend Dr. Google who said that a rock and a stone are the same thing, but TECHNICALLY, a rock that is used by humans is a “stone.” Rock is natural, in the rough, while a stone is something for human use, and he offered the example of Michelangelo’s statue of David. Oh, boy. Now you have my attention. I do love that statue! Cowboy took a picture of me standing next to this fabulous work of art, my mouth open as I gazed onto that masterpiece. Talk about a rube just off the turnip truck, my gaze had no shame as I muttered “not a bad looking rock,” as the understatement of the year. I didn’t need any hot rocks in my bed for a couple of nights, that’s for sure.
I have never thought much about rocks, can’t tell one from another, but I appreciate the ones I received from my new friend. So here I sit with five lovely stones, shiny, polished, and very beautiful, but they “ain’t no David.”
