Peacock Rock

Peacock Rock, Puget Sound

The water along the shores of Puget Sound was almost dead calm today, and the sun was shining: both relatively rare events here in Seattle.  It seemed a perfect day to prowl the shoreline looking for rocks, esp. where the rising tide washed over the beach, revealing the stones' true colors and patterns.

Along the shore of Lincoln Park is a favorite spot since the strong currents make for good-sized rocks, mostly free of barnacles and other marine life (I prefer to avoid killing things that live on the rocks, and for that reason avoid low tides).

I walked for half a mile along the beach, and my best find was this multi-colored, thinly layered cobble. I brought it home and cut through it.  It has a handsome patterning and wonderful, subtle colors. I haven't tested it for hardness yet, but I'm hoping its hard enough to take a polish. Either way, it's not like anything I've ever seen here before.

Right off the Beach

Many of the stones I gather are truly "diamonds in the rough," rocks whose pattern and color you can really only guess at until the tumbler has scoured off the weathering crust, the scars, cracks and staining.  Then there are the stones that appear, at first glance, as if they have already been polished and shaped.
That was the case with this one, a reddish-purple stone that looks like a translucent jasper/agate. It has a glassy character, but also a granular texture, along with random black dots and faint stripes.

If you have any ideas what this might be, I'd love to know. In the meantime, it is simply a lovely stone of an unusual color.

Under the Sand

Sometimes a rock will catch my eye with only a tiny spot visible - that was the case with this handsome stone that was mostly buried under the sand. No idea what it is, with its smooth swirls of red and green, but it was definitely worth digging up and tossing in the bag.  It'll be a month or more before the thing gets a polish.