I haven’t been cooking as much as usual, so I don’t have as much to share about food lately. The heat makes it hard and I’ve just been feeling tired of the constant dinner grind. So this morning, I thought I would share an interesting collection I’ve developed – rocks. I’m not fascinated by the scientific information about rocks – what they’re called, how they were formed. No, I just like them because they’re pretty. And they are a way of bringing home a piece of a place I’ve visited.
My fascination with rocks started when we rented a house in York Harbor, Maine for a week several years ago. The coast is very rocky there and the house was right on the water, with a very rocky and challenging shore. We spent a lot of time clambering around the rocks. So many of them were so beautiful that I started hauling some back to the house with me each time. This rock sits beside the doors to our basement and garage and I use it as a doorstop. I just love the wavy lines through it.
These are more Maine rocks. Thank goodness we drove, because I could never have gotten these home on an airplane! I love the pink rock and the amazing stripes in the blue rocks. I was like a kid in a candy store before we left – stuffing more and more rocks into the car. I did try to sift through carefully and only take the most beautiful.
A few years after the Maine trip. we rented a house on Cape Cod. Again, there were so many beautiful rocks! As you can see though, they are very different from the Maine rocks. I love the green ones the most. Again, we were driving, so I didn’t have trouble getting them home.
These rocks are in a basket that came from Maine (I know, I should swap things around and put the Maine rocks in this basket.)
I put some of the smaller rocks in a rectangular glass container on a kitchen shelf. Next to it is driftwood I found on the beach there as well. Dude Martha and I spent a lot of time just walking on that beach, looking at rocks and exploring tide pools. As a kid, we vacationed in Maine, so a rocky beach is my ideal for summer vacation!
I was so enamored with the Cape Cod rocks that I took lots of photos of them because they are most colorful when they’re wet – right after a wave has washed over them. So I had to take some photos to preserve those bright colors. This photo sits on a shelf in my office and it makes me happy every time I look at it!
Our trip last summer to England and Scotland was magical. My entire life, I dreamed of going to Scotland. After we had crossed the border into Scotland, I said to Mr. MarthaAndMe that I couldn’t believe I was actually there. It was so beautiful that I had a tiny little cry. So when we got to Loch Ness and parked on the side of the road and climbed down some stairs to get to the beach, I couldn’t help but pocket a few rocks! They aren’t as colorful as the New England rocks, but they sit on a shelf in my office and remind me that I actually did go to Scotland.
I don’t have rocks from our trip to Hawaii (the goddess Pele would have been angry if I had brought home any lava rocks) but I do have some shells and coral, as well as a nice container of beach glass I found there.
This summer we’ll be headed to the Pacific Northwest – Seattle, Alaska and Vancouver. Maybe they’ll have some rocks I can bring home.
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Nice rocks! I never thought to take photos and post about my rocks. Good idea. I loved rocks ever since I was a child. Growing up in Michigan we were at the coast all the time, my parents had a boat we’d vacation on. The northern part of lake Michigan has plenty, and petoskey stones that are only found there. Then I became a travel agent and where ever I traveled I brought back stones or rocks. I have some from England, Spain, Switzerland, New Zealand, Venezuela. I used to live in Hawaii too and never brought back a lava rock either, or from the Canary Islands, they have the same legend (or superstition)there too. I have some wonderful quartz rocks from Colorado and North Carolina.
Wow this is fun talking rocks with you! Can’t wait to see what you get from the NW. One place I haven’t been.
I got a degree in geology many years ago and just recently came across a box that I’ve been lugging around for decades labeled “Rocks from the West.” And yes indeed, it is a box of rocks from the west and I love them all.
Neat! Thanks for sharing. My parents have a house on a small Finger Lake here in NY, Conesus Lake and it is famous for turtle stones. I’ve never seen one though and from what I’ve read there aren’t many left.
Oh Brette, you will LOVE the Pacific Northwest. I was in Vancouver and Alaska last year and Seattle and Alaska this year. Alaska is my favourite place in the entire world. I hope you share some photos and thoughts of your trip with us!! ENJOY!
I will definitely do so! I was just talking to someone from Alberta who was telling me how gorgeous it is up there, so we’re looking forward to it so much.
You remind me of my mother. She was a rock lover and would bring home rocks to decorate her yard and garden on every trip we took. One time, she had my godparent’s car so loaded down with rocks that the trunk was almost dragging the road! 🙂 Word of caution: Never take rocks from the shoreline of a national park or state park. 🙂
Nice collection! Very colorful. They hold so many memories, don’t they? I have a rock from Maine that is black and completely spherical. It has a place of honor in my garden, and when I wet it with the hose it glistens. I also have some small rocks from an archeological site in Crete – they were just rocks from a path, not part of the dig, but just the thought that people from thousands of years ago might have walked on them was enough for me to collect them. How about that, all of us collecting rocks? Do you by any chance remember the pet rock craze?
Pet rocks were a little before my time I think – just a few years. I had a mood ring though:) I know what you mean about the historical significance of rocks. It makes them fascinating.
Thanks for your post! I have been picking up rocks and shells for most of my life, and usually they are my favorite souvenirs of places I have lived (including Maine and Cape Cod) and places I have traveled. Each place has its own variety of rocks. I particularly love the striped rocks from the Maine coast, and have one sitting on my desk here. Happy collecting in the Pacific Northwest!
i recently saw a “turtle stone” that was shaped like a disc/turtle & is naturally formed. the person said that they are all over lake erie, pa. i think the beach is called westfield ?? i tried to google it online but couldn’t find any examples of the stone. do you know where they could be found online?
the “turtle stones” had the mass of the size of a bowling bowl (just more flattened out like the shape of a turtle)
I don’t. I do know my mom bought a turtle stone on eBay several years ago.