"The Calcite Quarry"

We did it again ;)

25.10.2015, afternoon.
The quarry is located about 15 km from Mallow.

After a dangerous, 20 min long walk along a busy road, we were finally able to go in. But first, we had to face nettle and mud. Klaudia tripped and landed in the nettle but did it discourage her?- noooo! Just the opposite- we had a great laugh and the situation made the adventure even better! :D

We didn`t expect to find real treasures, we knew Iceland Spar was found there years ago, only in one corner of the quarry, but we didn`t know which corner it was. In this case getting to know the place and learning this and that about the geology had more meaning than the calcite.

Gaining entrance took more time than expected and we could only stay there for a short hour, as it was going to get dark soon. One day we may go back and look for the Iceland Spar...

Nettle... ouch!!! Klaudia ready to fight it!

The part of the quarry we checked

Our first finding- a huge boulder of calcite. We broke it and managed to extract a few clean pieces

This place was full of calcite, it was everywhere

Klaudia on her way to check the most interesting looking rocks

A weathered goniatite (left)?

A good view for the quarry

Earlier mentioned clean calcite pieces. Parts of them very clear.

And bye-bye! As you can see it was windy (and a bit rainy, too). Not the best selfie in the world :P

See you next time!

Ballyhass Lakes... again... :)

My.Life.Is.Busy.


On Monday I`m starting a new job. I`m excited, happy, positive and I can`t wait! For that reason we had to buy another car, which made us both busy (looking for a new car, travelling for a new car, fixing some things on the new car, paperwork for the new car...) and broke :P BUT!- right now I don`t depend on my boyfriend`s car anymore and I have more freedom (and comfort). I used it yesterday. My son was sleeping at my mom`s place and Klaudia and I had a short and quick trip to the Ballyhass. The damp (or heap) of soil was washed by heavy rains and we were hoping to find some goodies revealed by that. And we did indeed.

We found lots, and lots of fossils!
The most interesting is probably this one

This is a massive block of about 8-10kg with numerous crinoid stems. 

Crinoid stems

My sample needs good cleaning and trimming ;) I was thinking of careful cleaning with a small brush, so I could reveal more stems. Unfortunately, I have no air brush or water pressure cleaner (yet).

Then, there is this one. I still don`t know what it is but I will let you know as soon as I find out.
Edit (02.12.15): I know what it is now- it`s a brachiopod, Productus (Thanks, Richard!) 

 

Another one is that one. Small shells. I already have a similar sample from Ballyhass. 

 And I also found a few blocks with thick stems, but I only took two ( I may go back for the rest)+ the syringopora coral block of 20kg ;) that I left there before

It was very windy and rainy that day, and the wind was cold. My hands were freezing. We stayed there for maybe 45 minutes and only checked the surface, no digging. Having enough of being soaking wet I exclaimed "Klaudia, let`s go!" and the moment I did it I found this!

A beautiful, large quartz crystal. The tip a bit broken, but the size is impressive! Now imagine, if THIS was on the surface, what`s underneath?! They are planning to plant some grass on that damp early spring next year, so we have to be quick with checking it out! We will definitely go back there!

And the last one. The tip is intact and very clear, see through, but much smaller in size

There will be another post soon, so keep checking!
Monika

Busy life

Hello everyone!

The reason why I have been quiet for a while now is that my life has been really, really busy recently. There`ve been a lot of changes and I`ve had no time for minerals. But I think, however, that it will slowly start changing in the coming days and maybe I will be able to post some pictures soon.
I don`t know if I will go collecting anytime soon. Winter is coming, it`s getting colder, more rainy and windy, and Klaudia is busy in her new job.  But I will try.

We have moved into a new house, but still renting. I have lots of space now for my minerals, but I will wait with a display cabinet until we actually buy our own house. I would like to have it custom made and exactly the way I want it- something that would look good in our modern interiors :) So for now, my collection is still safely packed in boxes.

I learn as much as I can. I check Mindat regularly, and I am in touch with Thomas on everyday basis. We have minerals-elements behind and now we are concentrating on oxides. I am learning chemistry, imagine!!!!

Hopefully I`ll be able to post on something more interesting soon ;)
Keep warm,
Monika

The Mourne Mountains- day 2

Thank you very much for the positive feedback I got about my last post. I have to tell you that I`ve just got over a thousand hits (in two months) and I`m very happy about it. I`m thrilled to know that someone enjoys my blog and there are people who read it regularly.

Today I`m going to tell you about day 2 in the Mournes.
As you know, the first day was exhausting and at the end of it all of us were wrecked! We walked about 12 km in the mountains. That`s why Stephen suggested that on Sunday we go to the Bloody Bridge quarry, because it doesn`t involve so much walking, "I can remember up to an hour walking at slow pace"- he said. All right! Sounds good! Klaudia`s boots were soaking wet and she had blisters on her feet, so she had to wear regular snickers, but as it was supposed to be an easy walk it was not much of a problem. Off we go!
Walking, walking... half an hour... Still walking though, an hour... And walking, `n walkin even more...
To make the story short, it was about 11 km both ways! You can imagine what we looked and felt like when we eventually got down... ;)

There are three quarries at the Bloody Bridge (from what I noticed)- the lower quarry, where we found nothing (just a broken base of at least a few cm long smoky quartz crystal), a quarry on the left on a steep slope, where we didn`t go, and a quarry on the right where we found only one, but REALLY NICE thing. If not that, we would be going down with empty hands.

At the start of the walk- Stephen taking pictures

Nice views

The lower quarry

Martin, me and Klaudia- the Isle of Man visible on the horizon. The lower quarry on the right. Klaudia wearing rain throusers, but it didn`t rain that day...

 And here it is! Our finding of the day! It was lying there, right on the path, waiting for Martin (oh! lucky him!) to discover it! He was very excited about his finding and I was very proud!!! :)

A severly weathered granite boulder with MANY aquamarine/beryl crystals filling small veins. Some smoky quartz on it, too

Working to take it out

Here it is!

On the way back

The lower quarry on the left and the upper, right quarry- top, right

And here is a close-up on the best pieces, although the other parts of the stone were also not bad!

I think I will go back to the Mournes one day to check two other localities. One involves twice as much walking, so we need to be prepared and maybe even sleep in a tent in the mountains, the other is quite well-known and has produced good minerals. But there are so many places on my list that I don`t think I`ll be able to go there for the next two years.

Thanks for reading!

The Mournes, day 1

Saturday, August 29th, 5 in the morning. Getting up. We are going to the Mournes!!! Yeeeeey!
We need to drive through Dublin to grab Stephen on the way. Everyone sleepy, but moods are good!

We caught a glimpse of a beautiful rainbow on the way

Having Stephen collected, we stopped at Starbuck`s to load on some carbs and caffeine. We welcomed the Mournes at 11am.

In the centre- a quarry. On the left- a gap leading to the Diamond Rocks, our destination point.

At the gap. The Mourne Wall serving as a great orientation point. From here it`s only a 15 minute walk to the Diamond Rocks.

Breaking granite, hard but fun!

Beautiful views from the Diamond Rocks and the result of collectors`work in the foreground

Note the cavities visible on the big rock chunks- this is where you find the goodies ;)

I have people working for me ;) Martin (red jacket) trying to trim rocks for me :) Klaudia studying her samples, and Stephen acting as a teacher for all of us

What can I possibly find here?

On the way back

We caught heavy rain on day one that lasted only half an hour but left us soaking wet. Except for this short weather breakdown, the weather was acceptable, even though we didn`t have much sun and it was a bit cold.

On our way back we checked the quarry, but found nothing there. It was getting late, and we were tired and hungry, and craved beer badly, so we rushed down to the car, drove to the hostel/B&B (call it whatever, but it wasn`t a dream place to be), checked in and headed to the nearby Kilkeel to eat the worst chicken kebab ever! The whole town was celebrating some protestant/national day and driving our car with Irish reg. no felt... uncertain...

Kilkeel, Northern Ireland

Kilkeel, main street, Northern Ireland

Police Station in Kilkeel, Northern Ireland

Best findings of the day:

Mica flakes, orthoclase, albite, smoky quartz

Beautiful, intact crystal of smoky quartz

Almost in the centre- a mysterious bright red, microscopic dot, almost invisible on albite. Smoky quartz, mica, orthoclase

Top right- clear topaz. Albite, orthoclase, smoky quartz, mica

Very nice orthoclase, albite, smoky quartz

Beautiful smoky quartz crystals on orthoclase; albite, and mica

And now a few poor microscope photos. Taking pictures through the scope is harder than I thought but I`ll get there! Just give me time!

My best topaz sample, found loose, about a cm long, gem quality

Small, beautiful topaz

Here is the mysterious dot :P Plus topaz, albite, orthoclase and smoky quartz

Oh! And I almost forgot this buddy! A badly fractured green beryl sample. We also found some aquamarines, but mostly small and of poor quality.

We finished the day relaxing over beer cans, laughing at basically everything, as we were so tired. It was a very nice day, and I learned a lot (from Stephen and through experience).
The next day we woke up early and went back to the mountains, but what we found you will see in the next post...