What a strange idea for a blog right? On the surface it seems a bit pedestrian, a bit pulled out of the blue. but it is something that Evan & I talk about frequently just because, over the years, we have accumulated some really interesting & unique possessions. I essentially felt like playing a little bit of ‘grown-up show & tell’ today with you all & I hope that’s alright!
I don’t want this blog to include things like our 185 gallon reef tank or our other animals or our 150-200 house plants, because while they are wondrous things & are unique in their own right, I wouldn’t say that they are curated pieces per se. Today I want to talk about the curated or the things in the house that get the most comments on them. Some of these are crystals/rocks/minerals, others are readily available, but they get a lot of comments when people come over so I feel the need to include them, & others are cool just for being representative of who we are as individuals. Let’s dive in shall we? I’m curious to know at the end which of these pieces piqued your interest!
Mount Saint Helens Ash
I for a while got really into the live auction scene. This, honestly, is where several of the pieces here within originated from, this being no exception. If you’re new here or missed the information I’ve given along the way by chance, I was born in Portland, Oregon. The house I spent my toddling years in had a back porch, that at the time had views of Mount Saint Helens & when it erupted in 1980 a photographer happened upon what would be my parents land & took a photo from the spot of the volcano erupting. The ash covered a lot of the Pacific Northwest & eventually became a part of the substrate, nurturing all of the plants that grew there, infusing their cells with the volcanic minerals. So in a lot of ways the mountain is deeply engrained with me as a human being. I carry around this world a portion of that which was expelled during its explosion.
An auctioneer I had become rather fond of out of Springfield, MO (strangely another touch point of my life as my father’s whole family lives there) posted this peculiar item one afternoon that I immediately knew I needed. It was a 4-ish inch tall plastic box tower that housed three smaller boxes. Within each box lived grey dust of varying levels of fineness in particulate, each sporting a label. From top to bottom it reads 250 Miles, 22 Miles, 5 Miles, with the bottom of the case labeled as “Mount St. Helens Ash.”
Like I said, it was immediately something that I felt deeply attached to. I placed a bid on the set & waited in anticipation. It wasn’t long before I was outbid & it ended up being a bid higher than I thought I was willing to pay for some boxes of ash. However, the more time went on, the more I felt deeply saddened by the potential loss of the item & I ended up increasing my bid & winning the box. I was so overjoyed & I couldn't wait for the case to come in.
Now the case lives on my living room mantle, in the center of our home. It acts as an anchoring point, as a reminder to me of what lies beneath my skin, infused in my bones. It also is one of the items in our home that frequently get the most attention from guests as it is utterly unique & dear to my heart.
Neolithic Libyan Desert Glasses
Another live auction find, we have ourselves a set of Libyan Desert Glasses that date back to the Neolithic era of human evolution.
I know that for many of you that sentence was just a lot of words that maybe separately make sense, but together are a big fat '“?.” That’s totally fine, worry not. I’m going to explain it all to you. Let’s start with Libyan Desert Glass.
Libyan Desert Glass is technically not a mineral or a crystal or a rock, it’s what we call a tektite. I know, another word that if you’re not in the mineral world probably means very little to you, but a tektite is glass that is formed from the heat of the impact of a meteorite. Other famous tektites include Moldavite, which formed from a meteorite that hit the Moldova region of Europe, & Fulgurites, which form when lightning strikes sand. This particular tektite, Libyan Desert Glass, formed when a meteor struck the eastern Sahara Desert around 29 million years ago. Yes, million with an ‘m,’ back when the world was transitioning into the Ice Age.
The next bit of information that we need to dissect in that title is Neolithic. The Neolithic era began around 12,000 years ago & stretches from around 10,000 BCE to around 2,000 BCE, give or take a handful of thousands of years. This era of human history is characterized by the development of settlements & agriculture. Humans became less nomadic & more stationary, domesticating animals & planting & harvesting crops. These pieces that I have are from that era in human development.
So they’re chunks of space glass? Cool. What makes them neolithic if the glass itself dates back to 29 million years ago? I’m so glad you asked.
We assume them to be neolithic based partially on their finding, the area in which they were uncovered, as well as the surrounding objects in the excavated settlement. Additionally, what makes them special, is that they aren’t just chunks of space glass. They’ve been carved or otherwise shaped into objects by the humans that handled them. Some of them are arrow heads or clearly lean that way, others are large enough to be spear points, & yet another has a small hole bore in its surface that goes all the way through, probably meant to be a necklace of sorts.
These were a thirtieth birthday gift to myself (yes, I’m weird like that) & they actually live scattered around my house. Some are in more prominent display locations like the mantle or even by the front door, others are tucked away with other treasures or clustered in smaller groupings. At any rate, I find them to have such enjoyable perspective. They make me feel so small in the best way possible. They also remind me that of all the variable possibilities over the eons, that I am here despite everything that works against me not being so.
Assorted Legos
I was always a lego kid. In fact, there are still bins & bins of legos at my parent’s home in Kansas. During the pandemic I found myself, at 28 years old, once again drawn to their plastic-y goodness. I started with a small botanical set, the bonsai tree, & that eventually erupted into the numerous lego sets you can find in display around the house.
There’s many a botanical set mixed in with the real foliage of the house; two ever growing vases of lego flowers, mini potted lego plants, bigger potted lego plants, sets of lego succulents, lego flowers in old jars, etc. Additionally you’ll also find nods to the many geeky things that I love; a lego Infinity Gauntlet from Avengers, a lego of Thor’s Hammer, a lego model of the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars, a lego BD1 from Jedi Survivor, a lego Mandalorian helmet. But my main big ole pieces would be my lego of The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai & my five story tall lego Daily Bugle from Spider-Man. I even still have some that are yet to be built including a lego portrait of Harvey that Evan got me for Christmas last year!
Some other lego sets include the Singapore Skyline, a small Harry Potter set I won at a trivia night, & an assortment of other small pieces & characters that dot the many shelves & surfaces in our home.
Golden Painting
The single most complimented item in our home is always the same thing. It’s become the center piece of the house, what we redesigned our living room around & is, without a doubt, everyone’s favorite thing when they come in. It’s a painting of a Golden Retriever shaking off water that sits smack dab in the center of the living room over the mantle.
The painting was a gift from my parents one birthday many years ago & if I’m being honest, I have no idea where it came from or really even how long we’ve had it. I just know that since it began its life as our center piece, it has always been an eye catcher. The green of the walls was pulled from the painting, the accent colors of the furniture, the colors I spray painted the lamps, down to even the rug in the room were all pulled from this one painting. It absolutely completes the rooms & ties it together beautifully & it is one of my favorite pieces in the house outside of just being a great conversation starter!
Those are just a few cool items in our house. Like I said, I kind of wanted to come on here today & play a bit of adult show & tell as I don’t feel like I often share those aspects of my life with you all! If you end up liking this & want more we have lots of really cool things in the house to talk about. From shark lamps to triassic rainbow petrified wood, there are other options! From my tarot deck collection to the 42 pound elmwood calcite that sits at the entrance of the primary bedroom, there are lots of things to discuss! Let me know if you want more! Til then…
Much love to you all,
-C