trapped in amber

Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment.  
There is no why. 

―Kurt Vonnegut

I have a thing for stones and bones, and I like to think it might be from my Native American DNA. One of my favorites is amber, petrified tree resin, prized for its natural beauty since Neolithic times.  Amber has been around forever as jewelry, but did you know since it is a resin, it can be melted down and is used as an ingredient in perfumes, and a healing agent in folk medicine?

One aspect I like most about amber, is since it started out as tree resin, many pieces have a bit of fossilized flora or fauna embedded inside.  Little lacy seed pods are encased in my amber earring, just like a time capsule, millions of years old.

About 90 percent of the world's extractable amber is found in Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia on the Baltic Sea.  Pieces are amber are torn from the seafloor, washed ashore by waves, collected by hand, dredging or diving.  Shades of amber range from almost clear to nearly black, the transparent pieces being the most prized.

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