Justme’s Comments (group member since Feb 09, 2016)

Justme’s comments from the Gemstone Reading Challenge group.

I don't own any true amber, just a few representative samples of copal amber...with some gnats...from Madagascar. Copal is relatively young (hundreds to thousands of years) & not considered a true fossil. Baltic is the most commonly known, true, fossilized amber...mostly from the areas around Russia, I believe.

While hunting for my pictures of bloodstone, I, of course came across my pictures of copal amber. Well, perhaps I will have a picture for you another day.
My fascination with stones, minerals & crystals came from my mother who was always a rockhound. When I was little, we went camping with an aunt & her children, and I remember at the end of the trip, they backed the van onto the beach at Big Sur & loaded it will boulders. The van got stuck...and other interesting events occurred. This was before prohibitions from wild collecting of rocks & shells.
When I was a teenager, my step-father cemented my mother's entire rock collection into the walkway up to the front door. Sadly, it was a rental house. I think she should have chipped them all back out, but she chose the man over the rocks.
All rocks have stories...and bloodstone always seems to have mystery & magic associated with it (usually a talisman). Bloodstone (or Heliotrope) is typically a dark green Chalcedony with blood-like spots or streaks of Red Jasper, Hematite or iron oxide inclusions. (Seems like most of the book covers get it wrong, thinking it is a red stone).

My List:

Amber: Amber Beach by Elizabeth Lowell 4*
Bloodstone: by Gwen Hunter 4.5*
Corundum: by Leighann Dobbs 2.5*
Diamond: by Michael Siemsen 5*

If you need help getting started...& you like paranormal romances, check out Deborah Cooke's Dragonfire series (each dragon is associated with a specific gemstone)!

I don't remember which books in the series feature the amber dragon...but the series in on my 'must read' list. Here's the first book, Kiss of Fire

You are on the hunt for this semi-precious gemstone, a fossilized remnant of tree sap often trapping flora & fauna within.

If you have any real amber in your collection, I'm sure we'd love to 'Ooooo" & 'Ahhh' over it, too...pictures are welcome.

But don't forget to tell us about the books you are reading & if they are worth our time, too! Thanks

Are you a gem finder/worker or a gem collector/hoarder? I thought it would add some fun for us to come up with our Dwarf or Dragon nicknames...feel free to refer to them in your posts!

I come from a long line of Dragons! My mother was a rockhound...she had so many naturally collected rocks from California coast that my stepdad cemented them into a walkway (without telling her) so he wouldn't have to pack & move them ever again (yep, I'm totally bummed, 40 years later!).

I favor African minerals & crystals, though I have a few from other countries as well...but my name is Celtic, like me. I found it looking for a damselfly genus (type of dragonfly), and my research revealed it is also the name of an ancient Peace Goddess:

Nehalennia

This is where you can make a list to keep track of the books you've read...as this challenge is ongoing!

Welcome! Feel free to join in anytime!
Start at the beginning, or jump in with the rest of us...

I've posted our first letter, 'A.' (please click 'all' or 'more discussions' to see list)
I will take suggestions for subsequent letters...if there is a preference, we'll go with the majority. If not, I'll choose something that keeps us moving (i.e., plenty of book titles come up).
(I may have been ambitious about 'every letter' so we may have to open our minds a little. In some cases, we may do less 'gemmy' rocks, for example. And, if things get too challenging we can group letters & add authors.)