04/16/2022

Linda has again thrown down the gauntlet asking us to tax our brains and write stream of consciousness. Curious what it is all about – then check out Linda’s post for all the details. Why not jump on the bandwagon?

Today’s prompt is as follows:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “nose/noes/knows.” Use one, use ’em all, bonus points if you use all three. Have fun!

I did not want to get up this morning. Sometimes I wish I could lie in bed and vote to decide about getting up. This morning you would have heard the universe announcing the result of the vote. “The noes have it.” And I would still be lying in bed pretending I have absolutely nothing to do today.

Hubby always waits for me to get up so we can have our coffee together. My nose would know it is time to get up if I smelled coffee brewing.

I made the mistake of reading some headlines this morning. Big mistake. I should have passed. It did, however, allow me to have a revelation. The big problem with most of our delegates to Washington is that the majority of them are ‘know it alls.”

My first cup of coffee is a wrap and now it’s time for a later than usual breakfast.

Happy Pesach and Happy Easter to all who celebrate.

N is for Nephrite

Nephrite is one of the two stones known as jade – the other being jadeite. It is a microcrystalline mineral with long prismatic crystal structures. Nephrite can be many colors but the most sought after is green.

The long crystals of nephrite intertwine making the rock very strong and perfectly suited for carving. The history of using nephrite for ornamentation and weaponry in China goes back as early as 1000 BC. Jade is still widely used in China but is more sought after by the West as collectibles.

Nephrite found in New Zealand is known as pounamu. It is found on the west coast of the southern most island. The term pounamu includes the mineral bowenite which is not a jade. The nephrite found in New Zealand is predominately green. While jadeite (the other mineral classified as jade) can have its color altered, nephrite, due to its crystal structure, cannot. Pounamu is culturally important to the Maori people. It was an important material for the construction of hand tools and important sacred carvings.

Globally, nephrite ranges in color from a milky white to green to a dark (almost black) color and has a hardness of 6 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale. There are no known toxicity concerns when working with this material.

In jewelry, nephrite is normally seen as beads, cabochons or carved focal pieces. The Smithsonian holds a beautiful carving of three figures carved from nephrite in its collection. I am amazed at the craftmanship involved in carving something this intricate. You can see the piece by clicking here.