Wooden bookends12/18/2023 A significant portion of petrified wood is believed to have formed from ash covering forests after major volcanic activity. What you are left with is a non-carbon-copy of the tree made of rock instead of organic matter. Given the rigidity of plant cell walls, these structures act as a blueprint for the replacement to take the exact shape of the preexisting material. If conditions allow, groundwaters rich in silica, calcite, and other minerals, will seep through the buried tree and replace the organic material with inorganic material. This lack of oxygen protects the structure of the tree from rotting and decaying. If that covering happens quick enough and complete enough, it will create an environment around the tree that is free from oxygen. This occurs when a tree falls and is covered by sediment. ![]() Petrification of wood can happen in a few ways, but the most common process is by way of silicification. This color is dependent on the location and age of the wood, but all specimens are truly astonishing to behold. ![]() Depending on the minerals present in groundwater during the fossilization process, petrified wood can be a variety of different colors from deep blacks to reds, yellows, pinks, blues, whites, and even green. Most of the petrified wood circulating on the market is the remains of tree trunks. This term is applicable to any form of fossilized vegetation, typically trunks or stems of larger plants. Every time we cross paths, I’ll remember them sitting in Aunt Bebe’s little house and I think: "Cool.First and foremost, petrified wood is actually a fossil. Turns out, I wound up with those marble bookends. This too does tend to travel well over time. Personal items of distinctive quality can hold their end up pretty well. ![]() But my Aunt Bebe taught me there is a relationship between the two. Sure, it was whoever she was, rather than whatever she owned. I realize now that means she really must have been. By age 7, I had concluded she was really cool. Bebe was already well past 50 when I first knew her. The long list of memories I have of Bebe include some wonderful personal traits – the kind that travel well over time: generosity of spirit, a sense of humor, a gracious ease. Classy stuff: a lovely carved wooden pole lamp from Seville, marble bookends featuring a bust of Longfellow, and my personal favorite: a large oil painting of a forest scene that hung over her sofa. With no children from this union, Bebe had sold their spacious home in town and purchased a tidy ranch house in the suburbs, furnishing it with the splendid artifacts from her previous life. She was widowed by the time she was in her late 30s. She had once, and only once, been married to a wealthy older man. Aunt Bebe was a fairly free spirit, especially for a woman born in 1907. ![]() My grandfather’s younger sister was a real peach: Aunt Barbara. In my life, I was blessed with some truly good ones. These women, especially those who are not cursed with extended grief or poverty from the death of their spouse, will often bring a welcome energy to the challenges of childhood. For young kids, this would likely and hopefully be a great aunt. If you have an extended family in your life, one experience I would wish for you is the presence of a widowed aunt.
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