The Azores. Volcanic islands. My son Sacha standing on a road lined with lava stone.
Thank you for the gazillion wonderful responses! Many of you guessed pumice stone, or bed warmer, or fishing weight, or candle stick holder, maybe somewhere those answers are true. But my lava stone is a tool, and not a romantic one at that.
The Azores island of Terceira is a pearl of simple beauty.
Your creative guesses I especially liked, it isn’t easy to add colorful interpretation to a lava stone. Dee thought it a tool to gaze stars, how I wish that were true.
Patti had a similar idea: "What you do is hold it out at arms length, aligning the bottom edge with the horizon, when the sun can be clearly seen through the hole, it is officially time to start happy hour."
Lisa guessed it could be used to remove the cork from a wine bottle. My Uncle Frank needs to get some of them for his Port-a-gee diesel! Happy hour.
Pumice stone was the answer most of you gave, and I am sure many a pumice stone has been made from lava. MisBooshay and My Melange made me laugh with guessing it was the first Brillo pad. Mais non, it is not that.
The farms are in the center of the island, the homes are along the coastline. Each farm’s property is lined with high lava stone walls or with….
Well manicured hedges. Dairy farming is the type of work my family did on the island and in California.
The century old homes are made with lava stones.
Pink Pomegranate guessed the lava stone was a door weight, nope. Julie Holvick guessed that the lava stone was heated and place into the honeymoon bed to keep tootsies warm…Who’s toes are cold during their honeymoon? Comtesse , Julie needs to go read your comment! Talk about hot potato!
Against a blue sky the white washed homes of the Azores stand proudly.
Pasture along the lava rock coastline of Terceira.
Natural lava swimming holes dot the coastline in Terceria.
Beachy had her entire Portuguese family guessing. Though the roads are made with lava and decorated charmingly, the lava stone I have is not a cobblestone.
There were many delicious romantic guesses that pleased me, but the two ( I couldn’t decide and trust me it is tough to pick a winner out of 95 responses among friends!!) creative winners are:
Julie for claiming the lava stone an IMAGINATION SPARKER.
Ariane her response reads: "When the Solar System was forming, Mother Earth gave birth to her daughter, Luna. But has her daughter grew, it became time for Luna to go off on her own. So she separated from her mother. Every time lava flows from the Mother Earth, she mourns the separation from her daughter, and these lava rocks are her solidified tears."
Aren’t those wonderful ideas!
Portuguese Sopas is one of the typical meals made in the Azores. Especially during the Holy Ghost Portuguese Fiesta.
My lava stone, I was told was used to skin the pigs and cattle when they were butchered. Stljoie guessed correctly with her response: "Well I’m going to guess it was used to scrape hides during the tanning process."
Thank you for playing along with the guessing game. I enjoyed the great humor, thoughtfulness and friendship that I read between the lines.
Thank you or as they say in Portuguese: Muito Obrigado!
Photos: Taken during my trip to the Azores.
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