A Getaway and a Giveaway

Thought for the day:  There are little gems all around us that can hold glimmers of inspiration.  [Richelle Mead]

Last Friday, I told you about panning for gold at the Crissom Gold Mine in the north Georgia mountains. What a way for a couple golden oldies to celebrate their anniversary, right? Well, today, the saga continues:

Not gonna bore y'all to death with a bunch of info and pictures about our tour of the Consolidated Gold Mine. Just this one pic and a couple interesting tidbits, okay? The mine extends two hundred feet underground, which means, if the owners didn't siphon the water out on a regular basis, the whole thing would flood. As it is, there's plenty of water to see... and feel. (But we didn't let it dampen OUR spirits!)

Consolidated was one of the first mines in the country to use electric lighting. Trouble is, all those lights were in series, which meant if one bulb blew, the whole mine went dark. Then someone had to come in with a lantern to check miles of lighting until he could find and replace the culprit. (And you thought it was a pain to find a burned-out Christmas tree light!) There's still so much gold in the mine, it can readily be seen in the walls and ceiling, but the owners can't remove a single nugget. Why? The mine is now a national historical site. Bummer, huh? Then again, if they were still mining, we wouldn't have been able to tour it.

I won't show you a bunch of pictures from the Gold Museum, either, other than this one of some of the gold coins from the Dahlonega Mint, which operated from 1837 until 1861. Although 1.4 million gold coins were struck during those twenty-four years,  complete sets are extremely rare today. A full set of 58 coins is on display at the Gold Museum, as well as at the Smithsonian.

Okay, just one more picture from the Gold Museum. One of the cool things about the museum is the fact that it's housed inside the oldest courthouse in Georgia. This is a shot of the judge's chambers. Even after all these years, the leather on that chair looks absolutely gorgeous, and the hardwood floors have character out the wazoo. There were a couple wonderful roll-top desks and other relics from the courthouse days in the museum, too. Almost as neat as looking at all the displays on the history of gold mining in the area. Almost.

Okay, enough of that stuff. I promised to tell you about panning for gemstones, right?

At the Crissom mine, gemstone panning was done at the same troughs as gold panning, only instead of using a pan, we used a wooden-framed screen set-up. We got a BIG bucket of gem-filled dirt, and used the water to wash away the dirt to reveal all the hidden lovelies. MUCH quicker and easier than panning for gold.

We also panned for gold and gemstones at Consolidated, but there, gemstone panning is done over a steady flow of moving water. Kinda neat. Anyhow, wanta see some of the goodies we brought home?

Here's an overview of them spread out on top of our pool table.

We haven't identified everything on this tray yet, but as best we can tell, there's nothing real exciting here.

Here, among other things, we have some amethyst, rose quartz, and tiger's eye.

Some more pretty stuff, whose names have mostly escaped me. Peridot maybe, citrine, and aquamarine.

Here are some of the better gemstones. Would you believe emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and garnets on the right-hand tray? That large piece at the lower right is an emerald. Nice big pieces of amethyst and amber on the other tray, along with more tiger's eye.

Looks like we're gonna be having even more more fun with these stones. We already bought one gizmo for tumbling and polishing them, and are waiting for the postman to deliver another, along with some other stuff. Huh. How 'bout that? Looks like we may have stubbed our toes on another hobby...

Oh, and since we were celebrating our anniversary, Smarticus told me to pick a gem to have polished, cut, and set in a necklace. Next Tuesday, I'll tell you which stone I chose, and show you the finished product. How about you? If you could choose any gem in the world, which would you chose for a special piece of jewelry for yourself... or for someone you love? Turns out, just by dumb luck, I picked the perfect stone. I'll tell you what that means next week, too.

Before I sign off, I guess you'd like to know who won that signed copy of my book, huh? (Insert drum roll here, please.) The winner of my little treasure IS...

                                 the lovely Wendy AKA Quillfeather of New Zealand.

Congratulations, Wendy! Might take a while for the mail truck to traverse the ocean, but the book is already on its way to her. Because there were over four hundred (!) entries, I felt a little chintzy picking just ONE winner out of the hat, so the cats and I picked another one. (Another drum roll, please.) And the second book is on its way TO...

 the equally lovely Arleen, who has one of the prettiest gardens in the whole darned state of Pennsylvania.

If you aren't familiar with these two ladies, check out their blogs. (Try 'em... you'll LIKE 'em!)

Oh, yeah. One more thing. Finally, FINALLY the paperback version of my book is available on Amazon. It's kinda funny. When I contacted them to find out why it was so darned late for its own  party, I was assured it was already there. Yep, they said, their records showed it had been available since the 20th. After a couple back-and-forths, someone finally took his nose out of the blooming records and  looked at the site. Too funny. Oh well. It's there now. For a widdle discount, too. Cool.

                            Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

My memory shrinks, my hearing stinks. No sense of smell, I look like hell. The Golden Years have come at last. The Golden Years can kiss my ass.

(Um, not that I AGREE with that little ditty, but I DO think it's funny!)