Out for a walk

Mazzy visiting her friend Charles.

Checking out the sights.

Mazzy is on light duty, only hand walking, so Kylie has been getting my full riding time every night. Despite the 100 degree weather, and the consistent riding every night, Kylie was a lunatic last night. By the time I got out to ride her is was cooler (maybe 80's), and she was raring and ready to go. I'm hoping for a mellow Kylie tonight.

I sometimes wonder if horses are susceptible to mental disorders. Heck, enough people are, why not horses? I would say Kylie could be Schizophrenic. Most days she is a joy, but some days not so much. She is frantic for who knows what reason. I have owned her since she was first broke, so there are no weird incidences that I know of to make her wacky. I honestly think she either hallucinates, is paranoid, or hears voices (other than mine). It has developed over time, I think. I do not remember these episodes in her youth. Luckily it is not all the time and I'm not quite sure, even after over 10 years, what sets it off. I think she just wakes up like that. It is not due to time off, because I have given her weeks off and she comes out quiet as a church mouse, and sometimes she will be good for weeks at a time being worked daily and I change nothing then one day...crazy! Luckily she is never dangerous, just hyper sensitive to everything (except me). But then the next day, she is completely normal, quiet calm and perfect. According to Wikipedia, "Diagnosis is based on the patient's self-reported experiences and observed behavior. No laboratory test for schizophrenia currently exists." So I guess there is no way to diagnose this in horses. My trainer and I have discussed this many times, but we have decided Kylie is just Kylie, and we have come to accept her quirkiness. Luckily there are some good days are some really good days that make me accept the willy nilly days.

I just thought of the one thing that does send her into panic mode....the pickup truck with the wood bed. It somewhat resembles the truck that comes to pick up the horses after they are put to sleep, so I can understand her panic. When she sees this truck (which belongs to the barn owner's son-in-law so it is always on the property somewhere) she completely checks out. There is no talking her off the ledge at this point, our ride is OVER. I try to avoid it and for the most part we do, but occasionally it will drive past the ring while I am riding and Kylie goes into "frantic panic" mode. She shakes with fear. Poor girl! I have tried showing her that it will not hurt her, but in reality no matter how much someone showed me their pet snake would not hurt me I would want nothing to do with it! I couldn't get far enough away. Don't they all have such unique personalities?

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A glimmer of hope

I'm not any closer to an answer as to Mazzy's future, however, a good friend of mine connected me with the best in the field of joints (thank you Jennifer!). And I am talking BEST. C. Wayne McIlwraith, BVSc, PhD, DSc, FRCVS, Diplomate ACVS. He is the director of Colorado State University's Equine Orthopaedic Research Center, the most prominent and largest of the handful of such facilities in the country. He has led the veterinary profession in the development of its most important tools for treating joint disease.

Dr. McIlwraith is a world authority on equine joints. He has performed surgery on more than 10,000 horses. He is a Past-President of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and the American Association of Equine Practitioners, and a recognized leader in the field of equine orthopaedic research and surgery. He consults worldwide as a specialist equine surgeon and has received national and international media attention for his contributions to joint research. Dr. McIlwraith is the author of four textbooks: Techniques in Large Animal Surgery, Equine Surgery: Advanced Techniques, Arthroscopic Surgery in the Horse and Joint Disease in the Horse. He has authored or co-authored over 250 refereed publications and textbook chapters, and has presented over 350 seminars both nationally and internationally to equine practitioners, veterinary specialty meetings and human orthopaedic meetings. His honors and accolades would easily fill the screen.

It doesn't take away the horrible situation, but it surely makes me feel that if there is anything that can be done, he is the man that can do it!

Managing Joint Disease in the Sport Horse Webinar by Dr. McIlwraith - very interesting, great information, but extremely scientific. Lots of studies
Growing Problems - TheHorse.com

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Devasting News

Xrays revealed some pretty horrible news about Mazzy. She has a deep lesion of the lateral trochlear ridge in her stifle joint. At this point it is incurable. It is a developmental abnormality. This is caused by impaired blood supply to the joint capsule which reduces conversion of cartilage to bone as in normal development. There are many factors that contribute to this disease syndrome. The genetic predisposition for rapid growth seems to be one.

I'm still trying to process this horrible news. The xrays were sent up to one of the foremost equine clinics in the world to see if there was anything they could suggest.

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Poor Mazzy Girl

Perhaps I have been in denial that there is a problem with my young horse Mazzy, but I am fairly certain there is at this point. I guess by finally posting about it I am admitting it. She has been under saddle for just about a year now. From the beginning there has been a weakness behind which we at first attributed to her being young, very large, and having no fitness or muscle. Her training has progressed well, she wants to learn and enjoys working. She is really quiet, so I never have to lounge her, thankfully. I really look forward to riding her everyday because she just keeps getting better and better. Since I've raised her from birth I have a very special bond with her.

Due to her size and growth spurt at a young age I have kept her on monthly Adequan injections and a joint supplement (Recovery EQ with HA). She has always been stiffer going to the right, it is harder for her to bend that way, but don't all horses have a better and worse side? There are some other young horses at the barn that seem to be progressing faster, but I wasn't necessarily concerned with that because I didn't need my three year old jumping 3 foot courses if I want her to last more than a couple of years. I am perfectly happy with the slow pace she has been brought along at. She gets two professional rides a week which has worked out great. She gets to keep learning and I try and reinforce what my trainer teaches her. In March she seemed to have a sore back and was not quite right behind, taking shorter steps. I wasn't concerned because babies go through alot of changes and things get sore as they develop and learn to use different muscles. We gave her some time off. She was fine for the month of April and then the beginning of May was off on her right hind. Gave her a few days off and she seemed fine again. Meanwhile she was consistently hacked and wasn't working terribly hard. The end of May she came up sore again, so it was time for the vet to come out and look at her. She was quite positive to the stifle flexions and dragging her hind toes. We had already assumed her stifles were what was was bothering her, so it was no huge surprise. My vet evaluated her and gave me some options. 1) Injection of anti-inflammatory medications such as hyaluronic acid and corticosteroids directly into the joint OR 2) The use of bone marrow or Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist protein (IRAP).

When a joint is inflamed, it creates an unhealthy environment for healing. The inflammatory process can create a less-than-optimal chemical mix in the joint fluid. While non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications block production of PGE2 to effectively obstruct pain, cartilage breakdown continues. Corticosteroids prevent production of PGE2 to block inflammation and pain, but they also inhibit synthesis of the cartilage matrix and increase risk of infection. Traditional anti-inflammatory injection treat the symptoms. Mazzy is so young, so I really wanted to do the least invasive treatment.

And since IRAP treats the cause, we decided on IRAP. Also, because the IRAP serum is derived from the animal’s own blood, the possibility of adverse allergic or anaphylactic side effects is drastically reduced. The cost is quite high for IRAP, but I wanted to do what was best for my young horse. Many horses that do not respond to traditional anti-inflammatory injections respond to IRAP, so I figured I would go what works best. It really stinks having to even make this decision so early in her career!

IRAP uses the body's own protective mechanism to produce autologous conditioned serum (ACS) from your horse's own blood. The ACS counteracts the destructive effects of inflammation within the diseased joint. The procedure begins with drawing blood from your horse into a special patent syringe. The syringe contains chromium-coated glass beads which enhance production of anti-inflammatory proteins including IRAP. The blood is incubated for 24 hours at which point the blood is spun down and the conditioned serum is extracted and processed into individual doses that can be injected similar to a routine intra-articular joint medication.

Good article from The Chronicle of the Horse:
http://www.equinepi.com/links/IRAP.pdf

Post IRAP treatment:
Mazzy was hand walked/saddle walked daily for a week and then walk-trot for a week and now she is back to normal hacking. I have had some of the best rides on her since the IRAP, she has felt soft and light and her canter is so much more coordinated. It really has been such a pleasure feeling the improvement. And then...three weeks after the IRAP treatment, lame. So frustrating. I have the vet coming back out tomorrow.

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Making Soap from Scratch - Spa Bar

I love making my own soap. It's not difficult to make once you understand the basics. Soap is made by combining fats and oils with lye (sodium hydroxide). Soap is created as lye reacts with the fats and oils in a chemical process known as saponification.

Another reason I like to make my own soap is I am grossed out by what is in a regular bar soap. Ivory soap ingredients: Sodium tallowate, sodium cocoate or sodium palm kernelate, water, sodium chloride, sodium silicate, magnesium sulfate, and fragrance. The main ingredient is rendered beef fat. Ewwww! When I make soap, I prefer to use vegetable and non-animal oils.

This batch was for a Spa Bar or Salt Bar.

Equipment:
digital scale
Goggles & rubber gloves (wear a long-sleeved shirt)
bowls or measuring cups for mixing (glass pyrex, or plastic)
stick blender
stainless steal or silicone spoon or spatulas
bowls to weigh out salt, colorant, fragrance
Lined mold (I like to use a wooded soap mold lined with butchers paper)

My Ingredients:
10% Palm Kernel Oil (creates a hard bar of soap, lathers well)
80% Coconut Oil (creates a nice, hard bar of soap, fluffy lather)
5% Avocado Oil (contains Vit A, D, E, and helps in healing, conditioning, moisturizing)
5% Castor Oil (moisturizer, humectant, rich conditioning lather)
Lye (Sodium Hydroxide)
Distilled Water
Colorant (optional)
Fragrance or Essential oil (optional)
Sea salt (fine grain)

Mostly coconut oil is used because it is the only oil that will produce a lathering soap in salt water. It doesn't really matter what oils you use as long as you use at least 50% coconut oil. Normally you would not use this much coconut oil in a soap recipe or the soap would be drying, but that doesn't seem to apply when making spa bars. Sea salt is a natural rejuvenating & healing element. It contains anti-inflammatory properties making it ideal for damaged & irritated skins. The salt bar will cleanse the pores helping excrete the daily toxins & pollutants the skin is exposed to. It has a very rich lather and a creamy texture, not at all scratchy, and I do not find it to be drying at all.

I run all my soap recipes through a lye calculator to figure out the correct measurements. The saponification index measures how much lye is required to turn that oil into soap. Different amounts of lye are needed depending on the saponification index of the oils used to make the soap. I use http://www.soapcalc.com/.


Once you have your recipe (there are tons out there on the internet), the first step is prepare your work area. I put down several layers of newspaper and clear away everything else. Put on your protective gear. Lye is VERY caustic and can easily burn your skin. Noxious fumes are also released from the exothermic reaction that occurs when you mix the sodium hydroxide with water so either wear a face mask, or do this by an open window and leave the area right after mixing the sodium hydroxide with the water. You must have all of your equipment and ingredients prepared before you start since the reaction moves quickly.

Preheat your kitchen oven to its lowest temperature (approximately 170°F).

Weigh out the distilled water first and put it in a heat resistant container (glass, stainless steel or enamel). I use Pyrex. Next weigh out the sodium hydroxide. Add the sodium hydroxide to the water and mix with your spoon or spatula until dissolved. Never add water to the sodium hydroxide as this can cause a volcanic like reaction (snow falls on water is how I remember which order to mix them). Leave this solution to cool for about 1 hour. This really stinks so either do it outside or by an open window. I do this in my stainless steel sink which is right below a window. I do not worry so much about temperatures, but I like to have both my lye solution and oils cool enough so that I can touch the bottom of the containers they are in without it being too hot to hold my hand there for some time.

While the lye is cooling, weigh out your oils, fragrance, colorant, and salt. Mix your colorant into the fragrance if the color is a powder or if it is liquid you can mix it into your salts.
Melt your oils in a microwave heating in increments of 30 seconds until all the coconut oil is just melted. You do not want it to get too hot. Again check to make sure you can touch the bottom of the oil container without it being too hot to hold your hand there.

Once both the lye and oils have cooled sufficiently you can add the lye solution to your oils.

Begin to stick blend for about 30 seconds or so and then stir with the stick blender. This helps to keep the motor in the stick blender from burning out. Keep the stick blender fully submerged to decrease the amount of air that gets mixed in and reduce the number of bubbles formed.

You will see the mixture start to thicken and turn more of a creamy opaque color after a couple of minutes. Once the mixture is at a light trace add your fragrance and coloring. Trace is characterized by lines or drops remaining on the surface of the soap when you remove the stick blender.
Continue to stick blend until you reach a medium-thick trace.
After mixing in all the colorant, mix in the sea salt. I use a 1:1 ratio of sea salt to oils. You can use slightly more or less depending on your preferences. Do not use Dead Sea salt as the extra minerals seem to cause undesirable excess sweating of the bars.

Pour your soap in a lined mold.
Cover the top of the soap with a layer of plastic wrap to help prevent ash.

Place the mold into your preheated oven and turn off the oven. Leave the soap in the oven for about 2 hours or until the soap feels firm enough to cut. I put it on a cookie sheet, because I've had it overflow and ooze all over the oven, which was a huge mess. Cut the soap immediately after you take it out of the oven or else it will become too hard to cut.

My helpers:

Here are some sources I've used to get my ingredients to make soap: http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/ (my favorite)
http://www.thesage.com/
http://www.brambleberry.com/
http://www.millersoap.com/ (tons of very useful information)

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World's Records of Horses

In 1921 a horse called Humorist won the Derby, England’s jewel in the racing crown, and was dead three weeks later. An autopsy allegedly revealed the horse had only one lung! In America, a palomino horse grew the longest tail in the world measuring some 22 feet long while a Californian horse possessed the longest mane at an interesting 18 feet. There are very credible feats in the equine industry that span the centuries of recorded time, some completely ridiculous and others a biological wonder. The world’s tallest horse, smallest horse, oldest horse, greatest jockey - the merits roll onwards and upwards. So here is compiled a list of records that have been set in the world of horses, some still standing (literally) and others that still bewilder decades after their inauguration…

Largest Horse
The tallest documented horse was a shire gelding named Samson. He was 21.2 1/2 hands tall, and weighed 3,360 pounds. He was bred by Thomas Cleaver of Toddington Mills, England, and was foaled in 1846.

The world's tallest living horse, Luscombe Nodram, or 'Noddy', stands with his owner Jane Greenman. The Shire horse is seven-years-old, stands at 20.2 hands high (2.05 meters) and at 1.5 tons weighs three times more than the average thoroughbred racehorse. He is broken to saddle and harness. The Shire horse is now endangered with approximately 2,000 left in the world with very few of them being gray.

Smallest Horse
Little Pumpkin is the smallest known horse. He stood only 14 inches tall and weighted only 20 pounds on Nov. 30, 1975. He was foaled in April 15, 1973 and was owned by J.C. Williams Jr. of Della Terra Mini Horse Farm, Inman, SC.

The Smallest Horse
The smallest horse alive today is Thumbelina, believed to be a genetic midget of an already tiny breed of horse, the Miniature. Thumbelina stands at 4 hands high to the horse world, or a mere 17.5 inches! While still a horse, the miniature of a Miniature would struggle to jump clear over a bucket. Owned by Kay and Paul Goessling who live on the Goose Creek Farm Inc, St Louis, Missouri . Recently a horse from New Hampshire, has been receiving an incredible amount of media attention regarding his size. The horse is called Einstein and is said to be 14in (35.6cm) tall, and weigh 6lb (2.7kg). This has led to speculation that Einstein is the world’s smallest living horse. Guinness World Records will only consider a claim for this record category when the animal is at least 4 calendar years old. As has been widely reported Einstein is only a few months old; and therefore the title of ‘smallest living horse’ is retained by Thumbelina.

Oldest Horse
The oldest horse reliably recorded was Old Billy. He lived to be 62 years old. He was foaled in 1760 and died in 1822. He was bred by Edward Robinson of Woolston, England.

Oldest Pony
The oldest pony reliably recorded was named Teddy E. Bear, and lived to be 55. He was owned by Kathy Pennington of Virginia Beach, VA.

Oldest Thoroughbred
The greatest age recorded for a Thoroughbred racehorse is 42 years, in the case of the chestnut geldinhg Tango Duke (foaled 1935), owned by Carmen J. Koper of Barongarook, Victoria, Australia. The horse died on January 25, 1978.

Oldest winner (horse)
The oldest winning horses are 18-year-old Revenge at Shrewsbury, England 1790; Marksman at Ashford, Kent, England, 1826; and Jorrocks at Bathurst, Australia, 1851. At the same age, Wild Aster won three hurdle races in 1919, and Sonny Somers won two steeplechases in February 1980.

Highest jump
The record for the highest jump is 8 ft. 1 1/4 in., by Huaso, ridden by Capt. Alberto Larraguibel (Chile) at Vina del Mar, Santiago, Chile on Feb. 5, 1949. After setting the record, (he was 16 years old when he jumped) Huaso was retired and never ridden again. He died of natural causes at the ripe age of 29.


The Unofficial Highest Jump
A horse called King’s Own was ridden into unofficial history in the 1940s by Fred Wettach Jr. by clearing a fence standing at 8ft 3½in (over 2.5 metres)! Motion picture cameras captured the awesome effort but the record remains unofficial because it was not achieved before a public gathering of witnesses.

Longest Jump
The record for the longest jump over water is 27 ft., 6 3/4 in., by Something, ridden by Andre Ferreira (South Africa) in Johannesburg, South Africa on April 25, 1975.

Michael Whittaker holds the record for the highest BAREBACK jump, after clearing 7 foot aboard “Red Flight” in 1982

The Oldest Horse
The oldest horse verifiably recorded was Old Billy, a Cleveland Bay heavy draught foaled in Woolston, England in 1760. The average lifespan of a horse is 24, though some do progress towards 30. Old Billy however died in 1822, and that made him an astonishing 62!

The Oldest Winning Horse
The oldest winning horse in recorded racing history was a Bathurst thoroughbred called Jorrocks who raced to victory at the age of 18, an impressive effort in light of most racehorses retiring before they reach 8.

The highest price ever paid for a horse at auction was 16 million dollars for a 2 year old named "The Green Monkey" in 2006 at Calder Race Course in Florida. John Ferguson, the bloodstock manager for Darley Stud and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum gave up at $16 million, and Demi O’Byrne, a bloodstock agent representing Irish-based powerhouse Coolmore and John Magnier bought the 2 year old. The son of the great Forestry, whose grandfather was Storm Cat never won a race and retired with lifetime earning of just of $10,000. As in all of life and all of sport -- there’s no such thing as a sure thing.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/32373784/The_16_Millon_Horse_Could_Still_Pan_Out

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Motivational Monday

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. -Mark Twain

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Countertop Complete for the Lobsterfest!

Although it has been done for a couple of weeks, I forgot to post the finished slate countertop! Since starting at a new client for work, and riding after work every night, I get home at 9pm and have had barely any free time to post!

Luckily we finished in time for the surprise party, I had been planning for my brother's 40th birthday. He was really surprised!

We had a great lobsterfest!

Lobster, steamed in beer, the only and BEST way to make lobster!!!

Now that the patio is done. Next project is the rest of the backyard.

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June's Featured Etsy Blogger: BeadedTail

Congrats to this months feature, Sharla, AKA Beadedtail!!!

The Beaded Tail, has beautiful jewelry in her shop, a lot of which are pet related to the cat and dog. The best thing about her Etsy shop is that a portion of the sales go to animal awareness causes! You can also stop by her blog to see what she's up to creatively and to get to know her pets.

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Suryia the Orangutan and Roscoe the Dog - True Friends

This was just so cute I had to share....
After losing his parents, Suryia, a 3 year old orangutan was so depressed he wouldn't eat and didn't respond to any medical treatments. The veteranarians thought he would surely die from sadness. Dr. Bhagavan Antle, founder of The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (TIGERS) in Myrtle Beach, told the Daily Mail that Roscoe, the Bluetick Coonhound, followed him and Suryia through the park's gate one day. "As soon as he saw Roscoe, Suryia ran over to him and they started playing," Antle said "It was unusual because dogs are usually scared of primates; but they took to each other straight away." After a few unsuccessful phone calls to find an owner, Antle said they decided to let Roscoe stay.

The orangutan found a new reason to live and each always tries his best to be a good companion to his new found friend.

Swimming is their favorite past time, although Suryia needs his friend's help to swim.

Together they have discovered the joy and laughter in life and the value of friendship They have found more than a friendly shoulder to lean on.

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DIY BBQ Countertop

A few more no shows and several people who wouldn't call back so we decided to just settle on The Granite Center who actually did show up to give us an estimate (aside from the $6,000+ estimate). It was still more than I wanted to spend $2,100 (plus tax), but I just want this thing done, and since no one will show up we didn't have a ton of options. The Granite Center sent us down to the slab yard 45 min away to pick out our granite and while down there I asked the guy about different prices to make sure I didn't pick out some expensive, exotic stone. He pointed us to an area and said they were all about the same price and reassured us when I showed him my choice.

The Granite Center called us to come down and fill out the paperwork (and get money) so they could get started. As soon as we sat down the guy said it actually is going to cost $400 more than the estimate I gave you...

I don't remember my exact words, but I don't think they were very nice. I got up from my chair and made a b-line out the door. When Chad caught up to me outside we both agreed that we are sick of being taken advantage of. These contractors give you an estimate to rope you in and then take you for every last dime they can. Coincidentally the $6,000 guy called back wondering if we had made a decision and after we told him it was way too much he told us he could negotiate. So basically he was going to rip us off for as much as possible. No! No! No!

So we decided to tile it ourselves. I am not handy. The biggest home improvement project I have ever done was strip the paint off of our built in china cabinet and shelac it. Chad has also never done anything like this, so we got a book from Home Depot and bought the supplies to get started. Plywood, thinset, screws, a level, Backerboard, fiberglass tape, 2"x4", etc. Oh boy this is going to be a challenge!!!

Day one we framed the inside of the barbecue with 2x4's so that we would have something to anchor the plywood to. Cinderblock is quite tough to drill into, but we bought a special drill bit that made it possible (not easy but possible). At this point we realized that the guy who built the barbecue did not measure very well because nothing lines up. One side is one length the width changes, it isn't level. This is going to make this job very difficult! Doesn't anyone take pride in thier work anymore?

We also cut and fit plywood on one side. A very successful day in my eyes.

Day two Chad finished cutting the plywood to fit over the entire countertop and also cut the cement-backer-board to fit over that. It is not the easiest to cut in odd shapes, probably because it is cement. The cement backer board can be cut with a saw, but that process creates clouds of choking dust. And in our case it ruined the blade completely. You can score the cement backer board with a hand tool that has a carbide tip. You make numerous passes along the cut line, and then apply pressure to the other side of the cement backer board along the scored line.

I got home at this point and I was ready to do something (even though Chad was ready to call it quits). We then mixed up the cement based thinset. Once thinset is mixed with water, it makes a sticky mortar that tenaciously grabs onto anything it touches. So after we were mixing and mixing it finally looked like it was ready to spread over the plywood. You spread the sticky, gloppy mess around with a special square-notched trowel. Then we screwed the
backer board onto the plywood and to make a sandwich with the thinset in between. I then taped the joints and edges with fiberglass tape and more thinset. We finished up around 10 last night. Tile next!

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June Birthstones: Pearl, Moonstone, Alexandrite

Elizabeth Necklace

From one of the humblest of life forms, the mollusk, comes the pearl. Ancient civilizations had many stories to explain the origin of June's birthstone, such as the Greek belief that pearls were the hardened tears of joy that the goddess of love shook from her eyes as she was born from the sea. According to Arab legend, pearls were formed when oysters were lured from the depths of the ocean by the beautiful moon and then swallowed moonlit dewdrops. And the Ancient Chinese thought that these gems originated from the brains of dragons.

Pure of Heart Earrings

The scientific explanation for natural pearls is almost as mystifying as folklore. When an irritant, such as a small parasite or a fish lodges in the flesh of an oyster, mussel, or clam, a protective substance called "nacre" is produced. Over years, layer upon layer of shimmering nacre coats the intruder, creating a lustrous pearl. Natural pearls are relatively rare, so a process evolved in which a piece of shell or bead was placed inside a mollusk to stimulate the production of nacre. This results in a cultured pearl, which accounts for about 90 per cent of the pearl industry. Pearls are unique as they are the only gems from living sea creatures and require no faceting or polishing to reveal their natural beauty.

Pirouette Bracelet

June has two alternate birthstones. The first is Moonstone, a type of feldspar named because of its uncanny resemblance to the iridescent sheen of the moon. A phenomenal gemstone, moonstones show a floating play of light called adularescence. Varying in color from clear to blue-white or peach, it was considered by ancient civilizations to be a sacred stone, bestowing the wearer with great spiritual understanding. Some believed that the Moonstone could even make a person invisible! Mined in Sri Lanka, Brazil, India, Madagascar, and the United States, a gift of this stone is symbolic of health and longevity.

Rainbow Moonstone Earrings

Dreamland Bracelet

Moonlit Walk Necklace

Moonlit Walk Earrings

The second alternate birthstone for June is the Alexandrite. Its color is a lovely green in both daylight and fluorescent light; it changes color to a purplish red in incandescent light. Because of this quality, it has been characterized by poets as "an emerald by day, a ruby by night." Alexandrite was first discovered in Urals in 1830 but is mined today primarily in Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Burma, Madagascar and Tanzania. It is a rare and expensive gemstone, symbolic of joy and good fortune.

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