196/365 Homegrown geodes

If you'd have lifted the dust ruffle on my bed when I was a kid and peered underneath, what would you have found?

Boxes full of rocks.

Yep, I collected rocks. I had boxes and boxes of sparkly, odd-shaped, crazy-colored rocks that I'd found on railroad tracks, in the driveway, on vacation, you name it.

You know how when you go on vacation and enter tourist-focused shops, there's often a freestanding display with little polished rocks for you to sort through and buy? I was the kid digging through that. Each time I came back with a little drawstring pouch full of pretty rocks.

I even had my grandfather build me a small display cabinet for my more precious selections.

So who knew, years and years later, that I would just now get what I always yearned for?

What is it? A geode.
Chase found this for me last weekend while he was on a trail ride in southern Indiana. About the size of a softball, on the outside, it's very nondescript and is completely inconspicuous if you don't know what you're looking for.

Then you crack it open, and this amazing interior is hidden inside. It's fantastic.

Carrie Newcomer even has a song about these marvelous rocks. You can listen on her MySpace page in the player on the right. The song is aptly titled "Geodes."

For me, the only thing that could top this would be a geode with amethyst crystals inside. I'll just have to send Chase out searching again.

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens
1st: lit with a flashlight, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 100
2nd: with external E-TTL flash, 1/30s, f/4 at ISO 100