Promise me the moon & stars
Here at last is the story of the ring. The Professor arrived in early August for his visit, bringing the ring with him. It was unfinished: the stone had not yet been set, and the size needed to be checked. I tried it on, and it fit perfectly, so I wrapped it up in lots of protective packing and sent it back to Anna, telling her to go ahead and set the stone, and suggesting a few other small changes. Shipping is slow, unless you're willing to spend three weeks' grocery money on it, and making final adjustments to the ring takes time, so it didn't get put in the mail back to me until the final day of the Professor's visit.
I thought it might not arrive until tomorrow, but the postman brought it today. I spent an awfully long time on the phone with the Professor this morning, while continuing to tinker with the thing myself (good thing I still have all my needle files from when I used to play with metal, back in the day). Now, at last, I think it is completely, properly, finally Done.
I wore it today while sorting type. It is a very lovely thing to catch the shimmer of blue-green light out of the corner of my eye, while I'm meant to be concentrating on something else. Black opal has been my favorite stone since I was less than ten years old. As far as I know, it comes from only one place on the whole planetLightning Ridge, Australia. I remember wanting to go there when I was quite young, and being slightly annoyed when Crocodile Dundee made Australia suddenly popular among the masses. Australia was my magical place, and I didn't like it being taken over by people quoting Hollywood one-liners.
Opal is relatively soft, and not often used in rings, so the crescent dome is meant as a protective element as well as a decorative one. There's a mysterious dark cavity created by it, and the space it defines. And I love the symbolism of the dark gibbous part of the moon, the inverse of the crescent, being full of scintillating color.
And so, my dear Professor, astrologus, Kid Lightning, watcher of the moon and of the sub-atomic particles, Hooty Man and steam-pipe, patient friend and ally, I thank you. Though you may, at times, be writ down an ass, in this you have done very well. Über sternen muß er wohnen, mein Freund.