Tracee's mention of the rock garden stirred several memories, and it's driving me crazy; I've gotta confess. The story you are about to read is true; only the names have been changed to protect the guilty. It's about 1952, and I would often walk home from school east along Gibraltar, turning right onto Evergreen at Van Riper's house, crossing the street to look at the rock embedded in the tree that everyone said was a meteorite, then a left turn at old Doc Proud's house onto Hill St., which had a new coat of gravel. I'd stop to look through the gravel, and I'd find some quartz crystals and fossilized sea creatures every time. I'd stuff'em into my pants pocket and go on home.
They caused no problem unless I left them in my pockets and they ended up in the washer. Mom yelled a few times, and that was all, until I was called into conference with. . .we'll call him "Big Daddy." I thought I was in big trouble, but he handed me a Junior Geology Set, with dozens of samples of all kinds of rock.
Yup, Big Daddy was aiding and abetting, but that was just the start of it.
We began taking trips in the summer time, supposedly to see and do things, when Big Daddy would suddenly stop along a mountain road where chunks of rock had broken loose. Then he picked one up and put it in the trunk of the car! What if the cops catch us? We'll all go to jail, and I'll never become an international spy with a record! Worse yet, he did it several times! They're gonna break a hole in our trunk, the the copswillcomeandyouknowwhat!!
The cops never caught him, and he was bold enough to put the evidence on display in the flowers in the backyard! He would even remember where he stole each when, telling anyone who pretended to be interested. Thankfully the flowers ended up swallowing most of the evidence. But at least I no longer felt guilty about my fossils and quartz.
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Yes, I seem to remember a HUGE rock in the rock garden that was very smooth, colorful and seemed to contain quartz or something like it. It was kind of shaped like a horse's head. So THAT'S where all those rocks came from - they were STOLEN!! Do you remember how the drain tile from the house once drained into the rock garden? I think it was abandoned years before Dad showed it to me when they came through and put sewers in. Actually, Dad told me the bottom of the "man hole" was really the top of the old abandoned septic tank. Wow, you got taken to the quartz rock garden of Eden to steal the finest specimens and I got a tour of the man hole, septic tank and broken drain tile! I took one last look at the rock garden as I was saying goodbye to the house and I could not believe that it was so overgrown, I am not sure anyone knows there are rocks in there. Mom spent a LOT of time weeding the rock garden.
The rock garden now seems to be the myrtle-covered rock garden. I hope the new owners don't break a shovel when trying to dig in there.
When i retrieved a few plants from the house I found a few small chunks of mica rocks that mom and dad "picked up" somewhere. I remember they always liked to get a rock as a memory of the place visited and that some were big. I have to admit I've done the same thing on vacation, but have much smaller rocks. At one point I think Mom tried to label the rocks on the bottom in permanent marker, but it didn't last. Did I remember that or did I dream that?
Sounds like Dad showed you twosome really interesting stuff!
While "big daddy" never lured me into rock stealing, I do remember big mama doing it. The vacation to Niagra falls in 1970something or maybe 1960something when they had the American Falls "turned off" to clear debris, they allowed people to actually walk out on the Niagra river bed. I think Lou was on that vacation. It was really cool and mom decided to slip a 10 pound rock into her purse for a souvenier. When we exited the walk, we noticed them selling the same size rocks for $15!! (a pretty penny back then). Did mom fess up to the theft?? Heck NO!! I couldn't find that particular rock when scavaging the ruins but did take the horse head rock (mom and dad procured that on their honeymoon), and the rock that mom always said looked like a brain.
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