10 on the 10th, uhm, 9th - Diamonds in my life

Yes, I'm early again. The 10th is Thursday - silent movie day.
So I'm here today to talk about the prompt "Marsha in the Middle" gave us - diamonds in my life.
I have two options now. I get out all my jewelry, see if I get to ten with diamonds, clean it and take pictures. The other option is "mir etwas aus den Fingern zu saugen", literally to suck something out of my fingers or to make something up out of thin air as you would put it in English.
Both sounds very exhausting, it might be easier to go look for a diamond mine. Not that we have any around here.
This is alreay getting hard.
What else counts as diamonds in my life? Would rhinestones work, too? 😉
As usual, this will be in completely random order, but ...

1. How about starting with some real diamonds to give me a bit of time to think about the rest.
These are raw diamonds treated for blue color in fine silver wire crochet around an aquamarine drop. I made the ring in 2012 and think I would definitely do better now.

2. Let's do this right away. You know it, I know it ... the list wouldn't be complete without my cats and other animals. They are big carat diamonds.
This is the ancestral gallery.
Upper row - White Dude, Madam Mim, Magica de Spell, Jester, Gandalf
Bottom row - Merlin, Mephista, Greebo, Esmerelda Weatherwax, Ponder Stibbons

I don't have that many pictures of the rest of the zoo we lived with, at least not digital, so here are just a few. Very few. Volunteering at our local zoo for many years, we fostered, we adopted and had temporary guests.

3. "Panther and Tiger." No documentary, no martial arts movie, no book title. Those two are just my feline overlords (and they wouldn't appreciate my saying "just", I will probably regret that).

4. Family, friends - real life and online - and neighbors. I won't say more about that because they appreciate not ending up on my blog as more than a short remark and I respect that.

5. My library. I always dreamed of my own library. Shelves up to the ceiling would have been nice, but with high ceilings and my inability to get on a ladder and look up without getting dizzy - no idea if it's my glasses - that wouldn't have been a good idea.
Instead I have vintage book cabinets. This is half of them. Although this is an old picture and I have donated books since, the cabinets are still quite full.
And yes, I do have kind of a catalog.

6. My collections. They are more than just a bit of plush, vinyl, and whatnot.
They are experiences, memories of meeting people, making friendships - short-lived or really long ones - , of early mornings at fleamarkets, picknicks, amazing finds or newbie mistakes, disappointments, sunrises; they are also history, company history, design history, the history of people having an idea, of fails and successes which are often as interesting as the pieces themselves.
I might not remember the story to each piece I have, but I remember a lot, and if you make the mistake to ask me for one, you might not be able to stop me without pushing me into a river.
It's the same with all collectors, may their passion be stamps, coasters, porcelain, glass, books - or teddies and dolls.

7. Being creative. I've told the story before of how I got into crafting, how I found "my people", how I managed to do things I had never thought possible.
It was a long way from the girl who couldn't finish her cardigan in 4th grade (and didn't even want to) and got a C to the artisan I am now.
Had anyone told me back then that I would be knitting for years, work with wire and/or beads, needle felt, and embroider, I would have laughed out loud.

Here's my signature design, actually the miniature baskets were the first real design I ever made. Over the years, I have filled tiny baskets with all kinds of things, just yarn (wire or felted), yarn with scarves or socks, once a tiny knitting magazine, knitting needles or crochet hooks, cats, dogs, chickens, flowers, as pendants, earrings, and even rings.
This is one of my favorites, the basket is so tiny and cute, made from 0.2 mm sterling silver wire.

Enough now, I think you get the idea. I like being creative.

Also I appreciate artisans sharing their knowledge. I wouldn't even have dared to try more without the encouragement and mentoring I got when I started out.

8. Movies and shows. There are days when I'm pretty much knocked out. The Internet still allows me to keep contact and if even that is too much, I can find something on TV or watch a DVD.
And if you have a cat to snuggle up to you at the same time? Perfect.

9. This is probably the weirdest diamond in the list, but I think you will agree it's a big one even if it doesn't sparkle.
I have mentioned it before, my kidney and I have been together for more than 21 years now. We didn't have a perfect start, so that is practically a miracle.

10. Humor. Twisted, weird, black, dry. Where would we be without humor, a smile, a laugh? At the moment, I'm really grateful for all the cartoonists, comedians, and artists who share their work so generously. I wish I could support more of them.

There you go, ten diamonds in my life. They would make a very strange necklace indeed, but I don't prepare these posts, I just spill what's in my head right now.
Can't wait to see what the others list!