top 5 shinies!

[dichroic]

callunav gave me a very fun prompt: "top 5 shiny things I've had my hands on. She may possibly have had beads in mind. Or maybe not. Of course, these aren't necessarily the best-ever-ever-ever shiny things I've touched, because how couold you rank, say, a Moon rock (shiny with much touching) against the ring that symbolizes 13 years (so far) of happy marriage against a peacock ? But here are five most excellent shiny things I have indeed had my hands on. Comment if you want me to prompt you with a top 5 or top 10 list of your own though I can't promise anythign quite as cool as callunav's prompt. (Specify if you want 5 or 10).

I will start the list with some beads, though it's not any jewelry I've made myself (except for restringing).

1. engagement pearls: When we got engaged, Rudder told me that he thought I'd want to help choose my own ring, but that he wanted to give me something to mark the occasion. He walked over tot he closet, rummaged in a box on the top shelf, and pulled out a string of creamy off-white pearls. At the time he was working lots of overtime, we were both wworking on graduate degrees, and we were rowing, so I have no idea when he had any time at all to shop. I wore them every day until we bought the ring. I still wear them quite a bit, especially when I want to look especially well-dressed, though I'll wear them with T-shirts too if the mood strikes. Now I have two other strands that I inherited from my grandmother. Being worn is supposed to be good for pearls, so I try to alternate them.

2. I've flown a lot of simulators, the hottest actual airplane I've ever had my hands on, not counting just being a tourist at an airshow, is probably the T-6. The time we went to the Reno air races, we were able to hook up with someone we'd rowed with in Houston woho was racing there, and we helped to take the tape off his plane after the race (put there to streamline all seams). However, that one was painted a matte Navy gray, so I'm not sure it counts. In that case, I'd have to list the Pitts-S2B, which I've not only touched but actually done aerobatics in (with an instructor, of course). The Pitts, which is nearly small enough to fit in a two-car garage, wins my vote for Cutest Airplane Ever, and it flies like a mad thing - takes off like it hates the ground, turns like an F-16 (OK, you use a 60-degree bank instead of the F-16's 90-degrees, but believe me, it feels like you're banked way up) and does aerobatics well enough to be included in serious competitions. And did I mention that it's adorable?

3. Speaking of adorable, I still miss the car I sold when we left Arizona, a 2001 Toyota MR2 Spyder. Leather seats, the looks of a 1960s British sports car coupled with Toyota reliability, handling so responsive as to be almost-but-not-quite twitchy. Apparently I like things that are tiny and powerful, which is probably not a suprise to anyone.

4. My first pair of dichroic glass earrings. Square cushions of clear glass with a blue sheen, my first introduction to dichroic glass and the spark for an online ID I've been using ever since. I bought them during one of the high points of the miserable winter I spent in central Massachusetts, when I drove up to visit the inimitable swooop and she took me down to Portsmoutn, NH. I liked them so much that when I lost one I went back to get another pair (not incidenatlly, it was also an excuse to visit swooop once more before leaving for home).

5. My boat, Sunset. She's pretty, and fast enough to deserve a stronger rower than I am. There's a paean to her and a picture linked above.