Late last night we returned from perusing the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. I'd never been there, tho I've heard plenty about it, and at first had a difficult time taking it in. Such a diverse and interesting sub-culture! Part old grizzled sort of miner guys, part Middle Eastern L.A-Fabric-District type salesmen and nationalities, part hippie-Grateful-Dead-Shakedown-Street, part new age cahkra-auric-healer-type, part just-some-folks-who-like-shiny-baubles... And dozens of other sorts spread out all over the place. Giant stones and ginormous crystals and semi-precious pieces of all kinds - huge quartz crystals and massive amethyst geodes twice as tall as Violet, gorgeously green polished chunks of malachite and deeply lustrous slices of labradorite. It all seemed sort of never-ending.

We went for a few reasons. It was nice to get out and we both like crystals. It seemed a good way to spend a long Valentine's. Primarily, though, we went to pick up some pieces to make jewelry with as we've been getting ready to start adding one-of-a-kind pieces to the website as well as sell in a few really unique locations; and to pick up some rocks for some friends. it's amazing walking around and seeing all these different pieces of the planet in all of it's stunning color and reflections, Of course, it was nice finding the occasionally amazing deal like the one dollar a pound chunks of rose quartz, that, for under $20, let us walk away with a couple of serious pieces of it. Then, a little bit later, we stumble on another fellow selling rose quartz and it's $10/lb. He's probably buying it from the first guy. What a mark-up! What a racket!

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