Pinolith

It's hard to find things to photograph that aren't covered by snow or ice right now.   I'm taking a break from my usual pictures and doing something else on the weekdays for a month or so.  This year I'm taking pictures of rocks.  I like rocks.  I don't know much about rocks but I'm trying to learn.  Pinolith was discovered in 1873 and is mined only in Austria.  It is a metamorphic rock w/ white magnesite crystals in a grey dolomite and black graphite matrix.   It's name comes from the shape of the crystals that were thought to resemble pine tree seeds (actually I don't see it).  Hardness is 3.5 to 4.5 (This is using the Mohs hardness scale where talc is 1 and a diamond is 10).  There is a lot written about it's metaphysical properties but since I think it's all a bunch of hokum I'm not going to perpetuate that belief by repeating it.