The apple never falls far from the tree

摘要

Have you ever wondered why you have a leaning towards certain things and not others? I know they reckon it's all in the genes but I figured that had more to do with why some people have brown eyes and others blue ones. And then I shook a few leaves on the family tree. I discovered that my maternal ancestors were prospectors and miners, and their interest in digging around in the dirt and examining rocks was the same as mine. From a very early age, I would wander along the creek beds on our farm and collect rocks, some of which would be broken into small pieces to discover what sparkling gems might be inside. This was followed some years later by a stint of opal mining after a trip to Coober Pedy, when a stay of days turned into several years.