Oh dear. Sorry your cold has come back-perhaps the germs traveled through cyberspace from me to you. No fun. Mine persists, but I have decided to forego the meds since they seem to make me feel quite 'fuzzy' and worse than I feel with just the cold symptoms.

A new kitten-how fun. Lily will be getting tit for tat, huh, now that she isn't the newbie.

I have a guess on this. When we cleaned out my parents' home, we found a box with what I am sure was widow's wear or mourning wear for one of the girls from the late nineteenth century. One piece of the ensemble in particular was missing.

Feel better, Nancy. Naps can work wonders.

Cynthia

I have a couple of ideas which have to do with black but need a hint or two to see if I'm heading in the right direction.

Nancy, get lots of rest those darn head colds can make one feel pretty peely wally, hope you feel better soon luv.

Annette

In order to broach this subject without giving the answer completely away, I'll have to take a moment to scratch my head. I may need to use a chopstick to get through my braid.

OK. Are we talking a fashion trend still alive to this day or strictly a Victorian 'custom' trend?

In the meantime, I am planning my Halloween decorating. Found orange and black streamers and super cool silvery ghost fabric. Guess I'll have to find me a black kitten to call Spooky to make my decor complete! LOL. I'm sure the dogs would just love that!

Enjoy your new baby Nancy! They are so much fun as kittens! :)

Ginny

Anyone a fan of The Band? I think the answer may be in one of their titles referring to a woman walking the hills in...

Am I close Nancy? If I am, there is a clue in my first answer, too.

Cynthia

PS I was almost expecting another musical artist question for today Nancy. Just as well. Was all prepared for it to be related to Joan Jett since she is coming here in October. I then found out this concert is not part of a Canadian tour. Miss Jett will have to fit in elsewhere. Lol!

OK, some good info. in the above - it is not a particular piece of jewelery, but what it is made of....
The oldest pieces of jewerly of this material go back to 17,000BC. Yes, this jewelery is highly prized today. In the 1920's, it made a resurgence in the long bead strings that the flappers wore.

Kitten, whose name is Pia for pain-in the-ass, is a feisty one! She and a sib were found when they were only a couple of days old, abandoned on the farm where one of the young ladies at work lives. The mother probably didn't survive their birth. Anyway, they were both nursed, only the one survived. The young lady's mother opines that Pia has probably used up a few of her lives already. I am little worried, cause when I woke up first this am, she had climbed back into my bed, and was sleeping in my right armpit....

Nancy.

Was PSing at the same time Cynthia was posting. I realized I was missing a key word clue in my post with the Halloween decor. Can't redo that double clue so had to come up with another. Hehe

PSS Found me a coal black kitten for my Halloween decorations but this one is only stuffed. Dogs will like it way more....in fact they will like it to pieces of black fur all over the house!

AWWWW! PIA ia such a cute name. Apparently the same way friends got Lucy for their cat....Lucifer! :)

Ginny

I remember seeing items of mourning jewerly in museums when we spent a summer on an exchange in Scotland. The clues reminded me of the name though I did remember that it was formed from a fossilized substance that was often found along the coasts and collected by the poor to warm their homes.

I was thinking of a black cap with a crepe veil worn to help keep one's tears and emotions hidden rather than jewerly, so needed those clues.

Not anthracite.....

Ha, I was on the right track, lots of clues above.

Annette

Annette is just ready for take off!

This gives me a good idea for a Halloween costume.

Ginny

Well, I was thinking the veil as well. I do know a little about the jewelry. Now, I am thinking of something that would actually keep Albert close to her heart. I think she was the first to popularize this, but some of the other clues above don't fit with my idea. Tearing my hair out on this one!

Cynthia

Cynthia ~ Remember how black her heart was after her beloved Albert passed.....no light could be let in, pitch black....

Anthracite is a poor cousin.

Ready for take off, not me I don't like flying, jet or sea plane it doesn't matter, I'm hard pressed not to get down on all fours and kiss the ground when we touch down.

Annette

Aye, me too Annette! If I return to my rootland, it will be a long swim!

Yeah, I got the clues, but there was also something else she had put into the jewelry that was more precisely connected to Albert.

Nancy do you just want the hard facts or more?

Cynthia

lol - hit me!!

Nancy.

lol - I just reread my initial post!! Albert, not Alfred.

Sorry. Nancy.

Cynthia ~ Found a pic if you would like me to post it. :) If this is what you are referring to.

Just so you all know, I'm not ignoring you. I've been here all along --- just have nothing to contribute.

Carry on.

TM

Cyn, are you thinking the hare thing :), you know me and spelling LOL.

Annette

I love that Annette! I'm thinking that Cynthia is refering to the neck thing with the head thing. :) ??

Come on TM.....think chemistry here. Alchemistry even......lol

Ok, all, I know I am pathetic-ha. Since it is a school night and you are all on top of this, I will go with BOTH jet jewelry and jewelry made from Albert's hair (or was the hair incorporated into the jet jewelry?).

Jeepers, Honalee, neck thing? What neck thing? I am beginning to think I know nothing at all! Too funny.

Almost time for "Prohibition" which I think everyone should watch with a glass full of something or other.

I should have taken the route TM did and kept quiet.

Cheers all,
Cynthia

LMAO! Prohibition doesn't start here for another 2 hours so I think I'm gonna get drunk first. ......lol.

Ok My answer to the question is that Q Vicky was an absolute fanatic about jewelery but couldn't wear color while she was in morning. So, she had her smiths make her jewelery out of Jet which was found in abundance along the shores of England. And so forth and so on....... She never did move beyond black for the rest of her life,apparently.

Cyn ~ I think the hair thing was not so much part of the queens thing with Albert.?? I did find out that she was really into the Jet cameo of Albert that she wore around her neck....:)

That's my answer and I'm stickin to it!

Ginny

Hey Nancy just in case, my ISP is having email problems, I'm getting them but I can't send :(.

Annette

http://england.prm.ox.ac.uk/englishness-mourning-jewellery.html

lol. What a bunch. And TM, it sorta being a chemistry question, I am disappointed!!

You all seem to have gotten it: Jet Jewerly! All this history and cultural heritage is condensed and confined to just seven and a half miles of North Yorkshire coastline! In the light of this it is surprising to find that there has been and still is much conflicting and erroneous information concerning Whitby Jet. It has been called the 'Black amber of the North' a possible allusion to some of the properties that both these fossils share. Even its organic roots have been denied when it was suggested that Jet had nothing to do with wood (Tate and Blake 1876). It has been likened to a mineral deposit similar to turquoise and the most consistent misrepresentation is that it is a by-product of coal formation. The web site author has even been asked if his Whitby Jet jewellery came in any other colours! Well, sort of...it does comes a bit brown sometimes, due to the iron pyrite content of some jet.
{{gwi:614598}}
During the mid Jurassic period some 150-180 million years ago what was to be the British Isles was located further south in the area of Northern Spain and Portugal. It was thus much nearer the equator and had a climate to match. The dominant species of tree was the Araucaria very similar to the Araucaria araucana we see today. Its common name is the Monkey-puzzle tree or Chilean pine. Long story short, it fell into the ocean, alluvian silt settled, et voila, 182 million years or so later we have this interesting mineraliod, aka a minor gemstone. There are two forms: hard jet, formed under pressure with salt water, and soft jet, formed under pressure with fresh water. Hard jet is just that, and can be quite brittle; soft jet is easily carvable, so the two can be incorporated into the same piece of jewelery.
{{gwi:614599}}
It is apparently incorrect to assume that jet is related to coal, though it does have a petroleum oil content, and smell when heated. Oh yes, and there is some jet in Spain, which has an aluminum content, as opposed to the iron pyrite.

So, for Ginny, Cyn, Annette, Lorna, mnwsgal:
, although, Cynthia, maybe I should deduct a star for the hair reference?? Ewww, I always found that to be a creepy trend, to be honest!!

Thanks for playing, that was fun, and it helped me get through my cold-marred day. I leave you with a poem, and a link to the Whitby Jet Cnetre - just remember if you shop One pound sterling = US$1.54 and CA$1.61 - hey, that Canadian conversion it pretty good!! lol, somebody hide my credit card.

Ah! Black as jet, but long ago
In dignity and lace,
The ladies wore around their necks
A flash of ebon grace.
But oh! To-day Great Broughton mourns
Still waves the merry corn,
The beer flows at Jet Miners' Inn,
But jet's no longer worn.
Still, fashions change, mayhap some day
Again the craft will thrive,
And Yorkshire jet will ring the earth,
Black, flashing and alive.

Here is a link that might be useful: Whitby Jet

Lol! That was fun Nancy! I especially liked playing with the clues! Thanks for the tip last weekend Cynthia!

I feel the same way about the hair thing....ewww....Looking forward to next weekends mystery!

Ginny

I've heard of jet black, but never really knew anything about jet itself - just thought it was some kind of mineral. Very interesting. I would have never got this right in a million years.

Thanks for the trivia, Nancy and Cynthia.

Interesting how these words come into use, isn't it!!

Your welcome TM - it is sort of fun!!

Nancy.

Ginny, you are very funny. I was thinking there must have been some bizarre neck accoutrement that I hadn't heard of. "Neck thing" also made me think of an old person's wattle and wondered if they had some weird thing to disguise that-ha! Also, I was thinking the same thing about watching Prohibition! Too bad DH isn't drinking any more -well, not really, it is a great change, but I sure do miss mine!

This was lots of fun. Everyone had such terrific clues. That is the only way I got it. See you Saturday morning.

Cynthia

Cynthia, I sure wish there was something to disguise wattles. If I continue to age at this rate, I will be "in" the Thanksgiving roasting pan!

Just kidding about the 'last call' thing. No booze in this house. I have always been sober and my DH has been sober for 17 years on Oct 9 of this year!!! Yay for him!

Rainy and cool here this week. No fall clean up yet. Looking forward to Saturday's trivia and creating ghouls for Halloween!

Ginny

I purchased three bead necklaces years ago in Mexico, two were made of faceted jet beads and the third was made of plain, round lapis lazuli beads. An Indian lady was walking around a beach with necklaces strung across one of her arms, selling them. She was bemused when I ran the beads across my teeth to determine whether they were natural or plastic. The beads were simply strung on fishing line with no clasps. I paid a total of $7 for all 3. I eventually had them all restrung, and silver clasps added.

Gotta love those Mexican beach deals! I bought a gorgeous string of amethyst, and a friend one of lapis lazuli. On that same beach, at Tampico, a man had the coolest kites made of thin Styrofoam packaging, that rolled and tumbled, if you knew how to work the strings. Great recycling.

Nancy.