On Wednesday I found a glass top for my
Earth Garden coffee table – made out of a copper firepit base and filled with sand and rocks from around the world.
Some of its contents are linked to parts of my life: I have rocks from the
shore of
Lake Michigan and
Virginia Beach, commemorating Sophia’s birth and infancy and shells from a trip taken with Sam to
Miami Beach.
Others are just from interesting places. People are usually very accommodating when I ask them to bring me a little bit of sand or a rock from a trip they’re taking; sometimes they forget and that’s okay, I hardly expect it to be a priority, but more often they remember and are glad to do it. I keep a log of them all and one of these days intend to make a book to keep on the tabletop.
Mom sent me rocks from White Sands and Roswell, and the ranch in Decatur. Patricia brought me sand from the Valley of the Kings and a rock from the shrine of St. Sophia in Greece; nephew G3, a rock from Germany; classmate David said he spent much of his recent trip to Samara, Russia with his head down, staring at the ground and choosing just the right rock to bring me, finally deciding on one from the banks of the Volga. I told him I appreciated his devotion to the task but now felt as if I had ruined his trip. Susan, an art history professor at Rollins, brought me rocks from Museum of Medieval Art Herb Garden in Paris, when she was doing research on the portrayal of Africans in 19th-century European art. A former advisee brought me stones from various castles in England, Wales, and Germany. A new friend here brought me sand from Costa Rica and Madrid.
Most recent acquisition: Bailey selected a small stone from inside the Florida Caverns last weekend.
I let visitors rearrange the sand and rocks and use zen garden rakes to make paths and designs; I have some old British currency and other items that can be buried or arranged on the surface.
Copper Firepit: $50 on discount from Big Lots
Bag of Play Sand for base: $3 at Home Depot
Glass top: $24.99 at Big Lots
Rocks and sand from around the world with their stories, from friends and acquaintances: Can’t put a price on them.
Keeps me off the streets.
Copper Firepit: $50 on discount from Big Lots
2 Comments:
You've told me about this before. I think it's a really cool hobby. The collector in me always got a huge kick out of thinking about where a certain book or poster or object has been as it's been passed around from one person to another over the years. In this case, it's like owning a little piece of each place's past.
I really want to get around to making the book with the details of when and where and from whom it all came, complete with pictures.
I don't have anything from dear old Foat Wuth, and certainly should, so that would be more than welcome.
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