Sticks and Rocks

You know what they say about men: they grow up and their toys just get more expensive. Or something like that, anyway.

Husband is no exception. He still likes to play with rocks and sticks, but now his rocks and sticks have become far more sophisticated and costly.

Husband has a thing for rocks and minerals. He also has a thing for carved wooden flutes and Irish penny whistles. Yesterday bought about a serendipitous culmination of these two hobbies when we got to visit the Mountain Man Rendezvous and Gem and Mineral Show going on in the same spot in our fair city.

We were drawn to a flute maker's tent pretty quickly. The flute maker, a young-looking mountain man in his 60s with a long white beard, a straw hat with a rattlesnake skin as a band, and bundles of his flutes hanging around his neck, was demonstrating to a group of fifth graders on a field trip some of his musical talents using a singing bowl, a Native American drum, and two small flutes that he played at the same time. We were as mesmerized as the kids.

When the kids left, Husband started asking about the flutes, which were stacked on stands throughout the interior of his tent. Eric (for this was the flute maker's name), talked about the different woods he's used in each of his creations. He played several of them to demonstrate the different tonal qualities the individual woods produce. Husband was enchanted with one made out of cocobolo, but he eventually settled on one made of kingwood, which has a rich but clear sound all the way up to the top registers.

Top to bottom: the Eric Hash E-flat kingwood flute, a High Spirits G flute, and a carbon fiber Irish whistle. Also featured: Lincoln, the cat, who decided it was time for a cuddle with me only because his favorite human, Gabrielle, was at work.

Husband has been playing flutes and the penny whistle for a while now. In the evenings when he gets home from work, the house is often filled with the trill of an Irish jig or a soulful and plaintive Native American tune.

We also visited the gem and mineral booths, with their enchanting displays of rough rocks, polished spheres and other shapes, and jewelry. It was here that Husband found a small piece of ammolite, one of the rarest gemstones in the world (you can see it leaning against the purple amethyst's stand). The vendor and his friends had found a small deposit of the stuff in Utah, which makes it even more rare, since most ammolite comes from Alberta, Cananda. The price was incredibly good, so Husband now has a new rock to add to his growing collection.

Here you can see some of Husband's rocks and gems. I'll detail them more thoroughly in a future post.