Why do I collect?

Well, first of all- thank you very much for reading my blog and the positive feedback that I`ve received from you. After 3 weeks, I`ve got 500 hits and I believe it is not so bad, considering the fact that mineralogy is not as popular as fashion or traveling, for example. My audience mostly comes from the USA, the British Islands, Canada, Russia, and Germany.

Link to my blog landed on some Russian mineralogical forum and that gave me a significant number of hits. They apparently liked my quartz sample from the post about collecting crystals in Co. Clare. 

For those of you wondering why I`m not posting so much right now I have this explanation- my sis is on holiday and I don`t have a companion to take on my collecting trips. She`s coming back on the 4th of August and I have already planned wavelitte and hematite collecting in Co. Cork, the first one on the beach near Rosscarbery, and the second in an old mine.


But let`s answer the title question.

I think the most important reason why I collect is the fact that I simply love minerals. I love the way they look, I like their diversity. I think most of them are really aesthetic and beautiful. I like to display them, look at them, admire their colours and shapes, I often show them to my guests and tell them about my specimens. So yes, their unquestionable beauty is definitely the reason numer 1!

Just look at these examples from my collection, aren`t they amazing?

Desert Rose, photo: Marina Gonzales Bardon

Some Agates from my collection, bought. Photo: Marina Gonzales Bardon

Jasper. Photo: Marina Gonzales Bardon

Another reason is that field collecting makes me feel almost like a detective. I like the topographical/ geographical side of collecting, I`m not really into chemistry, and not so much into physics and maths. Speaking about chemistry, I really only learn the basics, something that I can`t do without. I like to learn about my specimens, but more about the crystals they can form, the places where they can appear and stuff like that. I spend a lot of time looking for certain info and studying maps. When I`m there with my sis, collecting somewhere in the field, climbing rocks and studying them, I feel like the world around doesn`t exist. I`m like in a bubble, me and my thoughts. People passing by, cars, birds, they aren`t there. I lose sense of time. And when I find something, I`m on a high. I could hit my finger with a hammer without feeling the pain. The moment you find a vein with something that no one before you has ever seen- that`s it! That is what all of it is about! It`s completely different than collecting stamps, magnets or beer cans...

My hobby fills my life, prevents me from being bored (well, with a 2 year old at home you are NEVER bored, but still...), occupies my thoughts, takes me to breathtaking places, introduces me to interesting, wise, passionate people, gives me joy and also lets me do something good for nature and the future generations, because minerals left on the surface would weather, turn into dust and disappear. When we collect them and take good care of them, we give them longer life.

My boxes full of stones (and my son`s art ;) ). One third of my collection. We currently cannot display them, but once we buy a house- we`ll do it for sure! :)