The World in Hattie's Jars

by Michael Hofferber. Copyright © 1993. All rights reserved.

Hattie Gietzen holds a piece of the Holy Land in her hand. In the other palm she grips part of Hawaii. And on shelves and bureaus throughout her tidy Idaho home are portions of Belize, Death Valley, Alaska, Panama, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf of Mexico.

This 89-year-old woman has been collecting sand from all over the world for more than 20 years. The samples -- hundreds of them -- are gathered in small baby food jars marked with neat labels identifying the source of the sand.

"This one here is from the oldest pyramid in Egypt," she says, holding up a jar of white sand. "My niece brought me that one in 1983 after she went on a tour over there."

Continued at... The World in Hattie's Jars

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