[Rockhounds] Hello Everyone!!!

[Jeffrey T. Cessna]

Welcome, Dani. If you want to get out and collect a good way to start 
is to find out if there is a local club near you. You can look on the 
American Federation of Mineral and Lapidary Societies Page 
http://www.amfed.org/ for your local chapter and explore further from 
there. Then go to a meeting. If you are lucky you will have your 
choice. I belong to 4 clubs in the mid-atlantic area and they each 
have their own flavor. I would even have a few more choices if I 
weren't busy some nights.

Cheers,
Jeff

At 09:08 PM 7/1/2008, you wrote:
>Well, it was suggested that I introduce myself since I'm new, so I 
>suppose I shall.  :)  My name's Dani, I'm 28 years old, and I've 
>been collecting rocks since before I can remember.  My grandmother 
>used to buy me a new stone every time we would go to the local flea 
>market, and I've grown the collection to two full shadow boxes since 
>then.  At one point I was quite diligent about keeping everything 
>labeled and organized, until my grandfather knocked both boxes off 
>the wall while vacuuming one day.  Oops!  Most of them are 
>re-labeled and back where they belong now, thanks to a kind-hearted 
>geology professor who wasn't put off by my distraught sob story.  :)
>
>Most of the specimens that I have have been purchased from random 
>mineral shops and flea markets.  I have relatively few stones that 
>I've actually collected myself, although I would like to find places 
>where I can do that at some point.  I have a few Herkimer Diamonds 
>that my grandmother got for me (she lived in upstate New York), a 
>fistful of mica shists that I've picked up from driveways around the 
>countryside, a rock from the wall of the Rochepot castle in France, 
>and a couple of random fossil rocks that I found around my mom's 
>backyard.  Everything else that I have was bought, or sucked up in 
>my grandfather's vacuum ;)
>
>I'm hoping to get some good pictures of the rocks that I do have 
>soon, and catalog them on a website somewhere.  It'd be handy if I 
>ever lose the tags again, and that way I can show them off to anyone 
>here that would be interested in seeing them too.  :)  I'm sure my 
>collection is nothing compared to most of yours, but that's why I'm 
>here.  I'm always up for meeting like minded people and sharing information.
>
>So that's me!  Nice to meet all of you, and hopefully someday I'll 
>be able to offer something interesting to the group!  Thanks for 
>letting me join in the fun!
>
>~dani
>
>
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