It's no secret that pet rocks are cheap to feed. The fad of keeping decorated rocks seems to come and go... sometimes they have googly-eyes, shaggy hair dos, or bright painted stripes. Whatever the characteristics of today's pet rocks, they still make rock-solid friends.While walking beside the river near my parents' farm, Mimi and Lotti had a great time collecting odd-shaped and pretty coloured rocks. Grandad found a particularly special one; it was small and round and had another paler rock poking out of the end just like a nose. Voila; pet rock!
Simple and sweet, I was thrilled that Mimi took to her new friend. It even seemed a step up from imaginary friends Africa and Bunny who usually hang around, but were apparently having a holiday of their own while we were away from home. When it was time to leave we had to load our luggage with a dozen pet-rocks... I was sooo hoping the lady at the airport-checkout would ask; "wow, your bag's so heavy; what's in here, rocks?"
Back home Mimi went to play with her cousins and took the bag of pet rocks with her. When she came back, each and every rock had a texta face on it. I'm not sure why, but it made me feel queasy. I love a pet rock, but for some reason, seeing all those perfect river rocks with childish smiley faces made me think 'vandalism.' Am I totally alone on this one? Let me know.
I've since calmed down enough (sort of) to write a blog-post on how to make a pet rock.
- Find a suitable rock whilst respecting private property and heritage listed National Parks!
- If it's dirty clean it with soapy water; pet rocks love a good bath as much as toddlers, but not at the same time if it's super dirty!
- Decorate your rock; I recommend a permanent laundry marker for a quick solution, you may have more time; let your own imagination soar.
- Name your rock with a suitable celebratory name such as (Rock) Hudson, Rocky, or RockAFella.
- Provide it with a nice place to sleep; I hear they're partial to bowls of potpourri, small handbags so they can travel with you, or decorated cardboard boxes... no rock music please.
- Encourage your friends to adopt pet rocks of their own; then you can all get together for a party!
If that's not surreal excitement enough; try a Salvador Dali downloadable craft project off my website.
