One thing leads to another

I'm in vacation mode- we're currently on Pender Island!  On our first day here I sat on the huge rock formations along the shore in front of our cottage. I was puzzled by the rocks as they were pitted with intact rounded pebbles. I was pondering whether the rocks had at some point been coated with concrete as we headed off to the Red Tree Gallery

photo by John Bagshaw

 where we were greeted by Susan Tait who is a glass painter extraordinaire.

After a lively conversation largely conducted by our daughter Gen who makes fast friends wherever she goes, Susan invited us to visit her garlic farm . We dropped by a few days later and had a lovely visit. We left with a bagful of gorgeous basil, tangy garlic bulbs, a book about silk painting and the latest copy  of Avid- Pender Islands art magazine. (Thanks again Susan!!)

When I returned to the cottage I leafed through the magazine and was astonished to have my first question of the day answered- there was an article by David A.E. Spalding describing the specific rock formation I had been sitting on! The rocks are Puddingstone - conglomerate rocks created when small pebbles are washed into finer sediments which in the course of 84 million years or so are compressed into natural concrete! Pender Puddingstone!

A little Googling led me to see what some artists do with this geological phenomenon- here's a pendant by Diana Whitmore of Whispering Earth.

Next step... Polymer Pender Puddingstone?