253 Journal

253 Journal

Object: Cat journal

Acquired: 2010

From: Mom, who got it at a garage sale

Dates: April 9, 2011 - May 3, 2011

Notes: I wish Mom would stop buying journals for me at garage sales, since she has no idea what I like in a journal.  Folk art, for example, has never been one of my preferences. Although I suppose there's a chance that I might have bought it for myself if I'd been there.

252 Journal

252 Journal

Object: Journal

Acquired: Christmas 2010

From: Lydia

Dates: January 16, 2011 - April 8, 2011

Notes:I'm pretty sure this is one of the journals from Lydia.

A lot happens in this journal, too. This is the one where Grandma died, my niece was born AND I met my boyfriend. Also, it contains the getting of my job (as small and pathetic as it is).  Normally the excitement in my journals is me whining about having to do the dishes or something. This is different.

251 Lego Boxes

251 Lego Boxes

Object: Two Lego box-things

Acquired: Unknown

From: Mom and Dad, who got them at a garage sale

Notes: I think these might be lego-themed file boxes? They are about the size and shape of a file box.  And certainly the way they open is not conducive to keeping Legos in.  I rarely use them, and when I do it is for non-box purposes.

250 Boxwood Rabbit

250 Boxwood Rabbit Bead

Object: Rabbit bead made from boxwood

Acquired: May 2011

From: The Bead and Button Show, Milwaukee

Cost: $10

Notes: There's a name for these, hang on...ojime, that's what they are called--or rather, what they are inspired by.  I like that they are tiny, pretty, carved sculptures.  And now that I have both a dragon and a rabbit, all I need is a turtle, and my obsessions are filled.

My sister came with mom and I to the bead show this year, and the two of us went around together.  We found two other booths selling ojime beads, both of which were more expensive.  One of them, however, had X-rated ojime beads.  Like, penises and women in dirty positions.  We left that booth quickly.  What would you even DO with a bead like that? I do not know.

249 Gloves

249 Gloves

Object: One pair magic gloves

Acquired: Unknown

From: The lost and found bin

Notes: Pair of gloves, yup. You're supposed to carry extra pairs around with you when working with kids in the winter.  I did offer gloves to kids several times, but if you're looking for a bit of advice, I'd say carry around thicker gloves because whatever the kids did to make their original gloves wet (mostly eating snow, in my experience), they'll just do it again with a dry pair.

Mostly I wore these myself, though.  They are a little short in the wrist, but I have wrist warmers/muffatees that I like to wear the gloves with, making the wrist-length of the gloves inimical.

248 Markers

248 Markers

Object: Two sets of small markers, minus the yellows

Acquired: 2008

From: Store

Notes: These are another night-hike item, used for showing how you can't see color in the dark I took the yellow out because it's an obvious color, even in the dark--but you can't see it written on your skin, so it's not really fun to use anyway.

I suspect that most of these are dead by now, so on that distant day when I finally go through my NH kit and toss everything out (except the rocks, of course), these will go, too.

247 Quartz Point

247 Quartz Point

Object: Large quartz point

Acquired: 2009

From: Gift shop in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Cost: $5

Notes: While my sea-rocks worked just fine, I'd once had the pleasure of seeing someone use a quartz point for their night hike glow.  The clarity of the rock made all the difference and I was thenceforth determined to get myself one.  but quarts points are really expensive, and my local rock store had all the ones of good size listed as $20 or more.  So I put my desire on the back burner, until I was on a vacation of sorts with my ex in the Upper Peninsula.  Were stopped at one last tourist trap--a high railroad bridge over a stream they'd used for transporting lumber--and there I unexpectedly found a quartz point that was both large and cheap.

Apparently the UP is where you ought to get all of your minerals.

246 Quartz Rocks

246 Quartz Rocks

Object: Two large quartz rocks

Acquired: 2008

From: A beach in Rhode Island

Notes: When you rub two quartz rocks together you get a bit of triboluminescence, which is a fancy term for 'light from friction.'  As you might imagine, this made quartz an essential part of every night hike kit.

Since I was in New England, I would every so often find myself on a Rhode Island beach, where I was ever in search of descent quartz rocks to use. I'm not sure exactly which trip I picked these up, but I think it was the time we somewhat impulsively went to a tiny bar/restaurant on the seacoast, where we had bloody marys, the 'best breakfast in the world' (neither of which were as good as I'd been led to believe) and watched the ocean. That was a fun little side-trip.

245 Altoids Tin

245 Altoids Tin

Object: tin from Wintergreen Altoids

Acquired: Unknown

From: Nature's Classroom

Notes: When you chew wintergreen mints--either the lifesavers or the Altoids variety--in the dark there are little glows of light that appear in your mouth.  Obviously that was part of the Night Experience. This tin is left over from that, and I should probably get rid of it, but I can't bring myself to cull the Night Hike Box yet, so I'll keep it for now.

244 Eye Patches

244 Eye Patches

Object: Collection of eye patches

Acquired: 2008

From: Ella's wedding

Notes: My older sister had a pirate and princess themed wedding, which was really neat. But one of the wedding favors they gave out was these eye patches.  They had a whole bunch of them left over at the end of the wedding, and I said I'd take them because I could use them on night hike.

And I did use them on night hike for several seasons after that, making my night hike the coolest.  but not really because the kids kept taking the patches off, and then whining when they couldn't see the trick.