Jaci Dawn

I have this fountain in my cubicle. It was a gift from my mother-in-law many years ago (after I commented on how much I liked the fountains in her garden). I am surprised mt little fountain has lasted so long. The first couple of years that I had it, my office was on the east side of town where they have some very “soft” water. I had to clean it once a month or gunk grew in the bottom and clogged up the pump. Now I work in a part of the metro area where they have very hard water and I find I have to clean the calcium deposit off about once a year. But no more gunk.

Over the years, I have added little embellishments. Who wants a boring old generic fountain? Not me.

The pink frog is the oldest addition. I found him on the floor of the office after someone had clients with children visit. Some poor child lost his rubber frog, but the frog is happy: he has a fountain to float around in and a pond created out of half of a clam shell.

The clam shell was a gift from a friend many years ago, given to me as a reminder of how pearls are created. It takes years, a lot of stress and pressure to create a pearl.

The bear with the salmon in his jaws is all that remains of a key chain my oldest gave me after her first trip to Alaska. I think the bear is a little like the frog: happy to be somewhere there is running water. No doubt he dreams of salmon runs. (The salmon probably dreams of salmon runs, too, and dying in the jaws of a hungry rubber bear.)

The green coin is a St. Patrick’s Day souvenir left over from last March 17.  Someone at work handed them out to everyone.

The Depoe Bay snow globe was a gift my immediate boss (Lola) brought back with her after a short vacation to the coast. She brought one for me and one for my co-worker, Mary. Of course it has a lighthouse in it. There are ten lighthouses along the Oregon Coast and not one of them looks like the lighthouse in the snow globe, but who cares? And there’s no lighthouse at Depoe Bay, either.

The little ceramic cat was a birthday gift from my coworker and friend, Audrey. It’s a good luck cat. I don’t think she particularly cares for water (most cats don’t), but she stays dry up there on top of the fountain.

This has the best story of all my trinkets. I paid $1.50 for this painted rock. We were at a local rock and bark-mulch place, purchasing several yards of composted steer manure for the garden. They had a whole line up of these funny little painted rocks for $1.50 to $3.00.

I thought maybe someone’s child painted them and conned mom or dad into selling them at the office, but that wasn’t the story.

The artist, Vallie, is in her late nineties and is a survivor of the Holocaust. She paints these clever little rocks as a hobby (selling some is probably just icing on the cake). Each rock is signed and dated.

The woman behind the counter at the rock place couldn’t tell me anything else about the artist except she also sells her rocks at some senior center.

I wouldn’t mind having a lot of those special little rocks. The faces were all like the one I bought: cheerful little people. I think it is cool that cheerful people live in the heart of someone who went through something as terrible as the Holocaust. It gives me hope.