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Stones & Minerals Information

Page 22

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50 pages of this Stones & Minerals Information section are below. The other 4 are in the index, page 5. (see the end of the page for link)

I Love Limestone
By Minna

Hello - I was asked to write about my love of stacking stones. I then asked that if I write this, that it be removed if it appears to be of no intrinsic worth. Here goes.

I love limestone. I live in the Texas Hill Country, full of limestone, caliche (white crushed limestone which tries to pass for dirt), cedar and oaks. We are blessed with limestone - little actual soil, but an abundance of limestone. I'd like to tell about my love and respect for this wonderful - and, I guess, very common rock. It is a sedimentary rock, built of the soils and minerals of the ages.

I've always loved to draw limestone - the angles, the facets, the time-worn curves and clefts. I love the color, the light and shadow of limestone, the warmth and coolness in sun and shade. I love the way rock workers can use one piece of limestone on another to break away the perfect shape for a wall or a path or an embankment. This dear stone is so comforting, so steady and so ready to be of help. Its kind, strong, clean surface calms and steadies us and gives itself to us in service.

Sitting on a sun-warmed limestone boulder is like touching the bones of the earth - sitting in Grandmother Earth's lap.

The little stones lend themselves to small children to be thrown so these youngun's can brag of their strength and prowess. Then there's the wonder of stone splashing into water - sending ripples out into a pond. They give the children joy, and to we old folks, the same joy, and something to wonder and think on.

The boulders let us sit on them and wonder about the world, talk to Spirit, or just be quiet and feel comforted. They support us while we gaze in love at the Spirit of the Land. They hold us, steady and strong.

They give us a dry path across a creek. They let children build dams and imagine wonderful things.

They provide retaining walls for the trees, protecting their soil and food from washing away. They make guardian circles around an old tree, adding honor and protection to this sacred life. They give us safe and beautiful pathways. Limestone is the bones of my sidewalk, where, interspersed between the limestones are other stones and mementos from other parts of my life - the sandstone from my family cemetery in Arkansas, the volcano rock Pele gave me from our honeymoon in Hawaii, the horseshoe from my Grandpa's farm. The rocks hold these pieces of my life safe in their embrace.

Where we are, the actual soil is thin, so i can just sometimes sweep the ground - and this sweeping will expose the beauty of the limestone beneath, supporting my house, showing a steady path where before there was none, helping us walk down the hillside in safety and comfort. My house has two walls of beautiful limestone. Limestone borders protect my flower beds and offer their own beauty in my rock garden. Karst is wonderful for this - beautiful holes all through it, showing so much beauty, personality and character. Tree roots wind through the karst, finding room through the places ancient water has washed.

A limestone boulder, embedded deep in the earth can be a surface for campfires, and a retaining wall to prevent harm from fire to neighboring grasses and trees. A limestone circle around a campsite blesses it with protection and comfort.

Limestone lets this old gal climb all over her, like when i was a little girl - she holds me steady when i slip. I can take her 'hand' when i am uncertain of my balance.

My stones support the art i have around our place - holding it steady to share a little glimpse of beauty through the trees.

Stones are a hiding place for bugs, spiders and other critters -providing protection, or shading them from the sun, giving shelter and safe harbor.

One time, i lifted a rock and under it found the most amazing bug i've ever seen. Maybe a centipede, with many yellow curved legs and a green and red body - i really wondered if i'd surprised one of the fey, and he had to run off in disguise.

When i am stacking rocks, i talk to them - i look around to see who i think will fit within whatever structure i am making. I look around to see color and size and shape, and i say - "Who wants to come?" or "Who wants to play?" Then my eyes will fall on a particular rock, who seems just right for what i need.

I clear rocks to protect people from stumbling, then move them to honor and protect a tree. The stones keep the soil from washing away and protects the life of the tree. I use the stones as boundaries to show where it is not safe to drive, or where it is better to walk, or to outline a cozy campsite. This dear limestone gives so much to my life and home. I truly honor this common and wonderful stone. Limestone also reminds me of those quiet, steady people in our lives who are so important to us, and in their humility, so very unaware of their importance.

NorthernStar:
Dear Minna, thank you for the beautiful article. Even reading it I felt the Beauty of the stones and of nature... Thank you so much.

Minna:
Thank you so much for your kindness, NSD. I did feel a little funny about writing it - wow - and you called it an actual article - wow. I just got carried away when i was writing though, thinking about all they do for us. I did forgot about - i love the part where you have just finished stacking stones, for a walk, or a retaining wall, and it rains, and you get to see them snuggle down into their bed to get cozy in their new place. I love that.

CinnamonMoon:
Thank you for the lovely post Minna! Well done!

Minna:
(((Cinn)))

Dragonfly
Beautiful I felt every discription. Well done Minna!



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