Our Montana Sapphires Arrived

What a delight to go to the mailbox...and to realize....it's them!  They came!  Remember many posts ago my post about finding sapphires in Montana on our trip last June.  We had such a great time.  Well, we paid for and parted with our daughter's big beauty and four of our own pretties.  They were sent overseas to be heat treated and cut.  You sort of "never know" when you do such things for the first time.  Will they really do it?  Will we ever see them again?  Will they switch these raw sapphires for pieces of glass?  Well, thankfully we dealt with a trustworthy company, Gem Mountain, and they did indeed arrive.

What do you think?  Our daughter's is the gorgeous beauty in the middle (just shy of 1 ct. at 0.9 ct. for perspective).  We will have it put into a ring when she is older and can truly appreciate it.  The other four are mine--two round and two princess cut.  They all differ a bit in color, but I don't care!  I'm just thrilled that they turned out so well and that they are here.  What a great memory!  Now...it's up to my dear husband to design something with a jeweler for me with these. ; )

Natural Sapphires

While on our trip to Montana last month, one thing we really wanted to do was look for sapphires.  You buy a bucket of dirt, shake and rock scoops of dirt placed into a mesh box in water, flip the box over, and carefully look for colored bits that look like glass with a pair of tweezers.  What a ball we had!  I didn't know that spending $20 for a bucket could offer such grand entertainment for hours on end.  Forget the theme parks! 

This is a picture of what hubby and I found together.  The kids each had their own bucket (to cut down on any disagreements...and trying to find the best one first). 

Our young daughter found the biggest and best in her bucket--a 3 k round one. 

I thought that they would be, well, really blue like one thinks of with a sapphire.  The naturally blue out-of-the-mine ones are found more on the eastern side of the state, and we couldn't find a "buy a bucket of dirt" deal there.  Most are heat treated to enhance the mineral that is already present in the sapphire--so the pink ones get pinker; the blue ones bluer; etc.  Most of the ones we found were too small to have cut.  We were thrilled to find many different colors including one small bright pink one. 

Perhaps I'll put the natural sapphires into a bottle or something.  Otherwise, we sent away to have three cut and heat treated, and, of course, we sent our daughter's to be cut and treated as well.  We'll put it into a ring for her when she is older and will appreciate the fact that it is a stone she found herself.  I'll show pictures when they arrive...but it won't be for awhile. 

Royalty

I was once told by a New Zealander that as an American I could never really understand royalty and a subject's relationship to a king/queen. At the time he was talking about the Christian's relationship with the King of kings. His statement is true since royalty is not a part of American culture. Perhaps that is why some of us (me included!) are in such awe of the actions of royalty across the world. Understanding it all can be difficult.
I so enjoyed looking at all the pictures (the ones above are complements of www.jewelry.com--a favorite website of mine--you can see more pictures of other royals at the wedding HERE) of the wedding this past weekend of Swedish Crown Princess Victoria...all of the pomp...all of the formality...all of the beauty...all of those gorgeous gems! Her sister and mother looked stunning as well. It amazes me that people have opportunity to look like this and wear such beautiful, historical things. I guess I cannot truly understand royalty. It all IS fun to observe, however, and, though Jesus is my Lord and Saviour, someday I will truly understand my position as a subject under His kingly reign.

Victoria Magazine--September/October 2008 Issue

I have had fun lately browsing the latest round of magazines I thoroughly enjoy--like Tea Time Magazine and Victoria Magazine. Victoria has an article on a shop called Tail of the Yak which is a shop full of eclectic curiosities and oddities. I wish I could visit it, but California is unfortunately a little out of our budget at this time. Two pictures, well...actually three, captured my eye. One was of waxed paper teacups and saucers (page 59). These are a must-see! Talk about a paper cup gone to a higher level (perhaps two higher levels). These would be fun for a whimsical outdoor, patio-tiles-under-foot tea. They look lovely and there would be no need to fret about your lovely teacups shattering on the floor. The other picture is on page 61. IF you can get past the LOVELY diamond and gemstone rings in the antique jewelry boxes (that's the third picture!), there is a picture on the top left of the page that has what looks like miniature paintings in tiny gold frames. If only I could get a closer look! You know how I love and enjoy tiny things (one of the reasons I like those small, glass flower beads), and these looked intriguing to say the least. Get yourself a copy of Victoria and check these things out for yourself. Just this article, not to mention the rest of the magazine, is worth it.