The gemstone cutter.

Went up to Dave's this morning to watch him cut / fascet a sapphire. He had already cut a couple when I got there, as he was wanting a matching pair of yellow sapphires to set into a ring for selling at Gemfest which is 3 weeks away. The Gemfest is held on the second weekend of August each year. I went last year, this was the first time that we had been up here when it was on, since we started coming here about 10 years ago. The Gemfest is a four day festival, showcasing the Sapphire Gemfields and the brilliant gems and jewellery that come from this area, and also overseas.
Rubyvale & Sapphire are booked out for that weekend, usually from one year to the next.
The fascetting process was a lot more fiddly than I thought it would be, he cut a 4.5mm stone, which makes it hard on the eyes (well for me anyway)
The calander hanging on the wall, is one that I made up last Christmas and send out to our friends. The month of July featured pictures I took last year around Rubyvale.
Today is Craig's birthday, and when I rang and spoke to him, I asked him how old he was. "Forty one", he said. I told him that he would soon be going grey and loosing his teeth. "Just like PJ," he said. When I told PJ, he wasn't impressed, but he had to laugh.