You can always tell when I am super busy - I either don't post or I fall back on posting photos of holidays from earlier in the year...
Elestial and a Malachite egg
One of my favourite minerals is Malachite, a copper
carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the formula Cu2CO3(OH)2. Individual crystals are rare but do occur as
slender to acicular prisms but typical malachite is laminated. It is this banding in differing greens that
make it so beautiful.
Archaeological evidence indicates that the mineral
has been mined and smelted in the Timna valley in Israel for over 3,000 years.
Since then, malachite has been used as both an ornamental stone and as a
gemstone.
#
Malachite was also used as a mineral pigment in
green paints from antiquity until about 1800 when it was replaced by its synthetic
forms such as verditer, a pigment typically
prepared by adding chalk or whiting to a solution of copper nitrate.
#
It is used for decorative purposes, such as in the
Malachite Room in The Hermitage Museum of St Petersburg which also contains ahuge malachite vase.
The above malachite vase is in the Linda Hall Library in the USA.
On our trip to Glastonbury in October we came across
lots of rock and mineral shops including Elestial.
In the window was
this huge Malachite Egg.
I fell in love with it and can’t wait for that
Lottery win so I can buy it…
Gloucester - The Raven Tavern - Not!
Another glimpose into our exploration of the route down to Daughter-who-takes-photos last October. This was in Gloucester.
And a church spire that has got lost...
Ivy
Those of you anticipating a mention of a certain kitten should be made aware she is in disgrace. She keeps darting between people's legs to escape from the back door. She's not allowed out for a couple more months until she has been spayed. She knows she's not allowed out and she risks decapitation in her attempts to dive out of the door. If she's better behaved tomorrow you may get some more photos...
How mysterious - an old building nobody knows for sure who once owned it and what it was used for! Couldn't it just have been the living (and probably working) quarters of some well-to-do merchant?
ReplyDeleteHmm... I doubt Ivy will be in disgrace for long. You can't tell me that you can resist her cute little face when she looks at you! But it is very, very sensible of you not to let her out until she's been spayed.
Amazing. A country where the 'new' church building was opened in 1734. I live in Ohio, in the Colonies. I don't think we have anything older than 1850 or so.
ReplyDeleteThe pix are excellent!
That malachite egg sure is a beauty. I can see why you fell in love with it.
ReplyDeleteSo you collect minerals as well? (Thinking of the lamp in a recent post.) The egg is beautiful - who needs Fabergé?! And I like that building whatever it was originally.
ReplyDelete