The Rambling Writer: Sara and Thor’s Cabinet of Curiosities, episode 2a
In which Thor takes another turn to explore our cabinet of curiosities, this time selenite and adamite crystals gleaned on a geology adventure in remote Mexico.
Thor is taking up the slack as I recover from the latest round of cancer treatments (my hero!), so here we go on one of his adventures years before we met. Like typical philosopher/scientists of the 19th century, we have a curio cabinet, full of specimens, travel mementos, and stories. Next time, I’ll take a turn with treasure from diving on a sunken ship in the Caribbean. Meanwhile, take it away, Thor! (In the following photos, he’s the tall guy.)
In the second of my Curio Cabinet blogs, I want to focus on more minerals. Below are pictures of selenite (the crystal form of gypsum) and adamite. The two clear crystals are selenite, and the green one is adamite.
Here is a picture of our selenite “sword.”
In the Naica mine in Mexico, these crystals have grown as large as trees. In the image below, you can see a person standing on one of these selenite crystals in the Naica mine (no, this is not photoshopped or AI).
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You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s Book View Cafe Greek islands novel is available in print and ebook: The Ariadne Connection. “Technology triggers a deadly new plague. Can a healer find the cure?” The novel has received the Chanticleer Global Thriller Grand Prize and the Cygnus Award for Speculative Fiction. Sara is back at work on the sequel, The Ariadne Disconnect. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
3 thoughts on “The Rambling Writer: Sara and Thor’s Cabinet of Curiosities, episode 2a”
Thanks, Thor! For everyone, here’s a YouTube video about the amazing crystal cave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb1bL8xTqAs
-SaraS
Noooooo, do not strand us in the tiny mineral town! We must have more!
It’s astonishing to me that the town, built of stone, with its own medical location, school, and entertainment hub, was abandoned. Especially since it was in the mountains, and they have gone down to the desert floor. I would think the mountains would be cooler in summer. But that may not be the case, closer to the Equator?
And of course that four miles from the old town to the current mine entrance may be too difficult to justify staying in the mountains. (It’s an old story, if you have read anything about mining towns in America pre-unions.)
But I love to see the crystals that form deep within the Earth, even if we have no commercial drive to dig for them. Thank you for sharing your crystal horde with us, Thor!
You have to be patient. Don’t worry, there were a minimum of casualties. As for leaving the mountains to live on the desert floor, well as you can see from the pics, the mountains were no Garden of Eden. At least there is some life down in the desert. Thanks for your comment!