While U2 lead singer Bono likes to rock, Pat Bono likes rocks.
In fact, taking a visit to the home of the Oxford Schools administrative assistant to the superintendent is like visiting a miniature rock quarry.
Among the rocks in her home, in front of her home, along the side and in the back yard are a motley array ranging from smooth to rough and from every color in the rainbow.
Bono has a few Petoskey stones. The largest in her collection was found at Pelee Island in Canada. Then there are the crystals and a few amethysts (one of the purple stones is an heirloom from her grandmother).
Bono also is working on a rock garden that consists mainly of rocks from Lake Huron. She found these rocks while taking a lighthouse tour with her father.
Then there are a few of what’s Bono’s favorite rock’the Michigan Puddingstone. While there are puddingstones all over the world, the ones from Michigan consist mostly of quartzite and pebbles of jasper. They can be red, brown, pink or purple. The stone gets its name due to its resemblance to Christmas pudding.
?[The Michigan Puddingstone] is not to be confused with other pudding stones, which are conglomerates of other types of stones,? said Bono, a petrology (the study of rocks) enthusiast.
Other rocks in her collection include those from Lake Michigan (including a stone with a swirly ghost face image on it), chain coral from Beaver Island and rocks she’s collected from the East Coast.
Bono likes to collect rocks wherever she travels in Michigan and America, and while some rocks in her collection consist of what came when she bought her home and from what family and friends have given her, she’s also obtained rocks when traveling overseas.
Such as in one of the two times she visited Stonehenge.
‘I found it by a hedge at the site location,? said Bono of her souvenir from Stonehenge, which is located in the English county of Wiltshire about 85 miles southwest of London.
While visiting Wales with her sister in the 1980s, Bono got to see a three-feet-high healing stone. According to legend, crawling through the donut-shaped stone a certain number of times will heal you.
For Bono, collecting and studying rocks is something she has always loved to do. Even as a child, she would pick up rocks and put them in her pocket. This was made easier since she and her family lived near a gravel pit.
‘I spent hours picking through rocks,? she recalled. ‘I was interested in the colors and am now interested in the shapes and the veins, such as the conglomerate rocks.?
By moving around rocks and collecting them and sometimes rearranging her rock gardens, Bono has even developed more upper-body strength when moving the heavier stones. Sometimes, collecting rocks comes with a price: Bono chuckles when she recalls how she once had to replace the shocks on her vehicle because they wore out under the weight of her rocky treasures.
Bono jokes that her love of rocks even dictated which house she would buy when house hunting earlier this year.
Her realtor had her visit a house for purchase, and Bono was taken back by the house’s rock exterior.
And if that wasn’t exciting enough, she saw that the fireplace was made from rocks.
‘I was 50 percent sold on the house from the outside, and when I saw the fireplace inside, I said, ‘This is it,?? she said.
Bono’s love for all things pertaining to rocks will continue this summer when she takes a vacation to Ireland (coincidentally, the home country of the rock band U2). She plans to fly to Dublin, rent a car and then drive around and stay at bed and breakfasts.
And, of course, she will travel to Blarney Castle (near Cork, Ireland in the southern part of the country), to kiss the famous Blarney Stone. According to legend, whoever kisses the stone will receive the gift of eloquence.
That’s certain to come in handy for whenever Bono answers the phone at work.
When not kissing the Blarney Stone, Bono is bound to find more rocks to add to her collection.