Not Your Typical Birthday Present

My birthday was earlier this month.  It came, and it went, on a Tuesday, without ceremony.  The kids are all grown and busy.  DH never has been much for birthdays.  And I absolutely refused to bake my own birthday cake.  So, it came, and it went.  Without cake.  Without presents, too, not counting the card and check my parents sent.

DD2 arrived home from college for Christmas Break on Friday.  One of the first things she did after walking in the door and dumping armloads of stuff onto the kitchen counters and floor, was to present me with a belated birthday gift. Something she had seen, and instantly knew I would like.

Now, it's far from your typical birthday present.  Not jewelry. Not candy.  Not clothing. Not a book or a movie.  But it is perfect.  I love what she brought me.  This girl gets me.

Yep, that is a tree made out of rocks.  It's so quirky, and natural, and cool all at the same time.  She bought it at a 'rock show' (her words) at the college's mineralogical museum.

I've been entertaining myself by trying to figure out exactly what rocks (minerals) it is made of. The base is easily identifiable as amethyst quartz.  It's the green stones that make up the leaves of the tree that have us guessing.   They all have a milky, opaque quality, and vary in shade from pale green to almost a gray-blue-green.  Are they a type of chalcedony?  Smithsonite?  Hemimorphite? Aventurine? Something else entirely?  Where is a mineralogist when you need one?

In addition to figuring out the rocks it is made from, I need to figure out where this figurine is going to 'live' at this little place here.  Somewhere I can view it often.  It reminds me of the rugged, gnarled trees that grow along the windswept cliffs that can be found in certain spots along Lake Superior.  One of my favorite places to be.  Someday, when we retire, we shall move to such a place.