Sticks and Stones
Some people bring home stray puppies. I bring home rocks. Over the years I’ve collected river rocks, lava rocks, Virginia quartz, pink and green flecked granite from New England, blue and orange stones from the shores of Oregon, and more. I like rocks, but I’m even more drawn to seashells. My interest in shells began while growing up in Hull, Massachusetts, a small peninsula along the South Shore of Boston, and it grew with my travels as an adult. My current collection includes shells from the Caribbean Islands to England and Ireland and places in between.
I like to hike trails and walk along beaches. When I do, I have to remind myself to look up because my inclination is to keep my eyes down towards the ground, and then to fill my pockets with things I find there. When Joe and I go off with the camper there’s space beyond pockets or the back seat of my car for collecting. I remember the scene, either from a movie or TV show, in which Lucille Ball is traveling out west in an Airstream, and she collects so many souvenir boulders that the motor home can’t budge from under the weight. The memory of it helps keep my habit in check. 
Once, while in St. Croix, Joe and I came across a beach so full of conch shells that we first thought it was litter strewn across the couple of miles of sand. My suitcase on the trip home from that vacation was about twice as heavy as it was when we arrived.
Throughout my house I have little altars to display my foraged treasures. When I go on vacation I like to bring home natural souvenirs that I can show to the children in my life (or that’s the excuse I use), like cotton plants from South Carolina, pine nuts and juniper from the Southwest, pressed aspen leaves from Colorado, or shamrocks from Ireland.
I’m constantly picking up gnarly driftwood and finding bird nests that I can’t resist. I have turtle shells, a hornet’s nest, some dried roses, and a dead sunflower spread out on one bookcase. Pinecones, bark, and a patch of green moss sit on another. All the vases in my house are filled with dried flower arrangements that I’ve collected from the woods, open fields, and my garden. I once made a mobile out of seagull feathers. The one that hangs from my living room window now is made from driftwood, shells, and bones. 
Collecting goes against my tendency to dislike material clutter. I don’t like nick-nacks because I consider them just more things that have to be dusted. But I find it much easier to occasionally dust of a conch or nautilus shell than to dust something I might buy from a store. I marvel admiringly at my wild treasure as I dust, like other women might admire a collection of jewelry.
February 6th, 2007 1:12 am
Oh my god, I have a huge rock collection, too! I favor heart-shaped stones. Recently after I’d worn Ted’s jacket for a walk on the beach, he put it on to discover he was laden down with about 10 pounds of rocks. Someday we’ll have to get together and compare our collections. Or we could declare international rock collection day, and all post photos of our favorites–just like you did here.
February 6th, 2007 8:08 am
Hi Coleen! I also bring home rocks from our travels. A rock is a real reminder of the trip, bringing home an actual part of the place, much better than a postcard or sometimes better than a picture, something you can hold in your hand. Some of the rocks I have – one picked up standing by the Colorado River while watching rafters go by, smooth river rocks from the Great Smokies, rocks with layers from Cloudland Canyon, rocks from Rock Town. My granddaughter had to do a school project on rocks and she came to borrow some of mine.
February 6th, 2007 8:26 am
My only problem is that I have so many rocks and shells that I can forget where some of them came from. I feel like I should be oragnizing them or showing them off better. Joe has said he might mix some concrete into the house foundation and let me stick shells along it. If I lived by the ocean this would fit but I’m in the mountains where there is narry a shell.
February 6th, 2007 10:22 am
you need Sami’s newest picture. What size was this one? I have a bunch here still if you want me to send or drop one over.
xoxo back to ya!
February 6th, 2007 12:30 pm
My husband gave me a small rock from Montana when we started dating. It looked like an ordinary white rock, but when you put it into water, it changed to all different designs and colors. I still have it…ten years later.
February 6th, 2007 4:07 pm
Rocks have lots of old magic in them. You must be drawn to them for a reason. Since you make memories with your rocks, too, I imagine they are quite powerful.
February 6th, 2007 4:40 pm
I used to be you…but I have moved several times and no longer am you.
February 6th, 2007 5:09 pm
I try to keep the collecting down to a minimum but I do like to bring some small (preferably nature-based) thing home so that it can remind me of the wonderful trip I just had…but it does add up quickly!
February 6th, 2007 5:46 pm
I have a lot of rocks and shells and I keep some in my summer bedroom and others along the windowsills. Fossils are neat too. When I was 4, I used to go up and down the side of my road and collect the prettier stones in a jar and called them,”My Beauty Stones”!
I also have named many stones that I have collected..like one small square-shaped light brown one is called,”toast- stone” and the pink marbly with quartz is called,”Hamstone”. I have Heartstone, Pizzastone, Bicycle-seat-Stone”….!
Good thing you don’t fly on your holidays or you’d go over the weight allowance!
February 6th, 2007 5:50 pm
you sound like my little sister….she does the same thing. she just recently gave me a bird’s nest that she didn’t want to take back to london with her….
February 7th, 2007 6:32 am
Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany,
at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’”
So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?”
And they said, “The Lord has need of him.”
Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road.
Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying:
“‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!’
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”
But He answered and said to them,
“I tell you that if these should keep silent,
the STONES would immediately cry out.”
February 7th, 2007 8:51 am
I love to go to the beach and get rocks and shells.
I would much rather take care of a piece of nature than dust another figurine.
Love your collection!
February 7th, 2007 4:49 pm
I have several pieces of raw amethyst (my favorite) and malachite, as well as some rocks from near the pyramids in Tikal. I totally understand this kind of collection. 🙂
~S
February 7th, 2007 7:51 pm
I wish, wish, wish.. I had a beach to visit about now. One that wasn’t frozen solid of course. 🙂
February 8th, 2007 5:55 pm
Hm. I have to add myself to this club…. What to do with all the collected things….? *lol*
I’ve had a hard time many times, to NOT bring home tonnes of stuff 🙂