A Pearl

Walking back from the bakery this morning, I saw that Mount Audubon and the Indian Peaks are snow covered again; Sugarloaf, however, is brown and green.  We had a high of 65 degrees yesterday and are expecting a high of 42 today, then 50s through Monday.  Is it really December?
   Last week, a woman stopped at the Great Machipongo Clam Shack in Nassawadox, Virginia; she purchased two bags of Atlantic clams and continued to her family gathering in Pennsylvania.  The family steamed the clams, and the woman who had bought them found something hard in one of the clams she ate.  She spit the pearl out, dried it off and placed it in her purse.  When she returned home, she showed the pearl to her husband, and he did a little research.  The clams purchased in Nassawadox were from an aquaculture company, and were littleneck clams that had been grown in Hog Island Bay.  The woman had paid $15 for each of the two bags of clams that she took to Pennsylvania.  The pearl that she almost ate was 4.5 carats, and was lavender in color.  It is an unusual pearl in that it grew in a clam that was raised by aquaculture, that it's size is so large for such a young clam, and for the iridescent purple color.  That $15 bag of clams returned a pearl that's worth $3,000...

   Rosie is a little better, so I'm off to take her on a slow walk and then to sit with her until the vet arrives to give her an acupuncture and laser treatment.  Tomorrow I'll meet two cats that will be new clients...