great picture!
I am drooling over the rocks as well! What are you going to do with them?
Molly is adorable. My dog is part Newfoundland...if there is any water within a mile, he will find a way to get into it.
I woke up to a snowstorm this morning. Thankfully it is melting now but my drive into work was awful. I am so ready for winter to be over here

First I'd like to say hi to Molly, cute and frisky water lover she is, wore her out (last pic).

Got any pics of the black flintstone? Flint often presents itself as round nodules, I know of a site in Southern Illinois where these flint nodules weathered out of their strata from stream erosion. Indians used the chert (flint) available there as an arrowhead manufacturing location; there were tons of flint chips and slivers from their stone-knapping.

You mentioned agate slices in your post so I'll contain myself to only post a few pics of worked stone -



Used to face some buildings there.








Rhodocrocite


<Malachite


Agate slab


This is a chalcedony geode from Colorado, we collected a milk carton full in 2006.
From those I chipped out enough of the chalcedony (a type of agate) to tumble , creating these

Love the fire agate and the agate slab but they're all terrific, Jack!

The flint is gorgeous.

Jeanie,..i was asking myself that same question,..what use can i make of those rocks nevertheless i will find a use,..flat stones i use for stepping stones on the paths,..larger stones tend to end up as a wall to grow Campanula or as dividers.

So you know just what its like to have a water loving dog,..a Newfoundland or part will have the same tendencies as Molly

Hoping your snow stays away,..its not comfortable driving in snowstorms

=

jmorth,..ohhhh i love all those slices and the work created from the tumble,..Fire Agate is very eye catching as is the Rhodocrocite,..and Agate Slab,...i could keep going,..did i mention that i brought home a big piece of Malachite from the Belgian Congo,..in fact many of the guys brought some home,..Jewelers were going mad for the stuff here in the 60's.

Not sure if i have any Black Flint left,..i think there might be some left in the garden,..i used to have a big piece in the house but it was so sharp i cut myself too often for comfort,..even smaller shards were lethal,..shiny black but sharp as a piece of glass,..must have a search in the garden otherwise its a trip up the lake to the island where its in abundance,..' Nun's Island'.

=

Arlene,..i agree they are all beautiful.

Wow, Belgian Congo; they have some world renown specimen mines there. Sometimes, Malachite is as green as green can be!
When you were there was it as restless then as now (politically a/o warfare)?
Philip, you are indeed a world traveler.
here's a piece (didn't show well in above post)

Nun's Island, any significance or history to that name?

That's another nice piece of Malachite,..the stuff we got was dark green.

Itchy feet i am told,..and so the globe trotting.
We were based near the Union Miniere Mines,..in Katanga,..sooooo much diamonds/gold/copper/coltan and cobalt in the area and everyone wanted to own and sell the stuff,..back in the 60's it was a bad place to be,..one would be bludgeoned to death if captured by the Baluba,..bodies were used for rituals and so forth,..one didn't need to see the after effects.

Nun's Island,..was inhabited by about 30 Nuns back in 1641,..they had to leave the mainland due to warfare,..some were buried on the Island and there are remains of a Medieval Church still there,..there are records of a religious settlement there before 1641.
When i head off in the boat and stay overnight on the lake,..it tends to be on Nun's Island,..nobody else will stay there

Most of the Lake and River Islands were inhabited by Monastic Settlements like ' Quaker Island in 540 AD ' and ' Clonmacnoise in 544 AD ',..Quaker Island was so named many years later when a Quaker Family purchased the Island.

Thanks Philip and thanks for the history. History was my major in college the 1st time around, medieval history in particular. England and Ireland are just chock full of it.
Those monastic settlements go back to the end of the Dark Ages, probably a horrible time to live.

This is such an interesting and educational thread!
The agates on the north shore of Lake Superior are very pretty, but that's about all we have here. Nothing so exotic. I also have some antique rings made of something called Thompsonite that are also rather nice. If I remember correctly the stones are found in Minnesota, but I could be wrong. It has pinkish colors and veining in it.

Minnesota is the home of Lake Superior agates (pictured) . From Minn they are swept into the Mississippi River which is quarried for stone fill for decorative and railroad rip rap (what the timbers that hold the rails in place lay on). I've seen large hills of finger tip to hand sized rocks quarried along the Mississippi, especially just north of Davenport and east central Missouri. If you can access these rock piles, you can find both thompsonite and Lake Superior agates. My major source of the agates is the rock used under RR ties. Walking the dog I might find a pocket full. I also was able to access where the local RR kept their supply of rock and would walk the dog there, filling a couple of pockets.Lake Superior agate is sold by the pound in lapidary and rock shop/shows). Thomsonite isn't as hard as agate (the former a 5 on the Mohs hardness scale, the latter a 7) but often displays some similar aspects as the agate (ie- concentric bands and eyes). Some beach in Minn. (Cook Co.) is famous for it's Thompsonite.

Love those patterns in each piece. Nothing man-made can compare.

jmorth,..beautiful colors in those stones,..well i had a look around the garden for some Flint Stone,..i think someone might have took a fancy to it seeing i didn't really want to lift it again for another cut,..i did have nice round stones but they also seemed to have gone to folks who thought they would make nice paperweights,..i only have three left




That Black Flint i mentioned was a big piece,..as big as a Coconut and very shiny,.. so not Porcellanite,..the latter was found to be better than Flint for Neolitic Axes.

All i could find in the garden was one piece layered with either Black Flint or Chert,..i might give it a good tap to see will it divide.





I am sure i posted the piece of Marble below,..spotted it protruding from a heap of pebbles and presumed it to be just another average sized pebble,..surprise surprise it became bigger as i dug down with my fingers.



Now i want to go searching for colorful stuff

Jmorth, thank you for all the info on thomsonite. The photos are beautiful.
Philip, you have some interesting rocks there. I should take a closer look at the 6.5 tons of boulders I have installed in my gardens. I know for sure a few of them are interesting to look at. Even though granite is fairly common, I find the colors and sparkle pleasing; there is a very large one with a rough cut face in my east corner garden. In my west corner garden there is a dark colored boulder that has deep but smooth grooves and I have no idea what it is. And there are some boulders with a pronounced red/rust color. I don't know what those are either, but they do add a nice pop of color.
Of course, these are just the supporting players to our gardens....

Jeanie,..6.5 tons of boulders can sure tell a story,..i would love to have the means to test the age of stones hereabouts as well,..some have Fossils which make them more interesting,..apart from that interest stones do make a garden

I have being very busy away from the house for the past few days,..April is the time we go hell bent for leather preparing for the Tourist Season,..in my case and several friends its preparing boats we hire out,..i wont see them again until the end of September,..with new carpeting/ mattresses/bed linen and covers/kitchen utensils/not forgetting the biggest jobs of taking the boats from the water to clean off dirt and Zebra Mussels,..the same people book the boats for the same times nearly every year and do want the same boat if possible,..so if anything came to their attention that was not up to standard they expect it to be replaced for the next trip.

A little bird appeared in the garden this evening and not one i see very often.

Goldfinch.


Helleborus.

Sweet goldfinch and beautiful hellebores!

Hi Arlene ,..Primroses and Cowslips bloomed today.

Love your color echoes, Philip!

Thanks Arlene,..i have nothing to do tomorrow but stay at home to do some gardening,..providing the rain holds off,..everything looks promising for a good bloom season ahead.

Great to hear! We've had really nice weather and it's due to continue for the next ten days with only one day of rain. By the time it rains I can use that time for indoor gardening, cuttings, tending my dahlia tubers.

Appreciative of the rock pictures Philip! I was going to respond with a few pics and the list expanded...and expanded...To curtail my inclination, I had to bury said list in a deep pile of similar sized stock, all the while with my back turned to prevent revealing the secret destination.
Looks like spring is finally approaching. The 10 day forecast has two days over 80° F.

Philip, sounds like you will have your hands full for awhile. Makes a nice change from being stuck in the house because of all the rain, doesn't it.