June/July 2013 Meeting Minutes


Minutes of the Meeting of Shenandoah Valley Gem and Mineral Society
July 8th, 2013

Picnic at Coyner Springs Park, Waynesboro. Lots of fun; good to see so many people. Good food, good fellowship and good rock stories.

June 10th, 2013

The meeting was called to order by Club President, Dean Hostetter

14 members were present.

Business/Discussion:

  • Discussed details for the July picnic. All details finalized.
  • Discussed details for the upcoming October show. All vendors are set and everything seems to be in place.
  • Thanks to Jack Glenn the website is now complete.
  • New rock shop coming to Charlottesville: Excalibur Mineral Corporation

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PROGRAM: “SUISEKI VIEWING STONES” by LEO CLOUTIER

Suiseki stones are natural stones that depict something in nature such as mountains etc. Leo has been collecting Suiseki stones for over 30 years and displayed 20 from his collection.

The hobby was originally started 2000 years ago by the Chinese for use in garden displays. These were tall (5 ft) stones and usually vertical. Smaller stones were used by Chinese scholars.

The Japanese modified the hobby by using smaller stones for indoor display about 1000 years later. The hobby became very organized and competitive. The idea was to find the best stone depicting nature with minimal modification or polish by man. The preferred stones had flat bases and were placed on man-made beautiful wood bases called Diaz.

The hobby is relatively new to the US (last century). The Japanese gave 5 stones to the US which are on display at the Arboretum in DC.

Leo’s personal collection depicted various nature scenes with his own hand carved wood bases - Thanks Leo!

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August meeting: Monday, August 12th at 7:30 PM
Waynesboro Church of the Brethren
364 Bridge Road
Lower parking lot—Side Door entrance!

PROGRAM: Quartz by Scott Gregory, Club Geologist

Refreshments: TBA

Bob Helt, Secretary

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Club Officers and Staff 2013
President – Dean Hostetter
Vice President – Leo Cloutier
Show Co-Chairs – Dean Hostetter and all Club members
Educational Outreach -- Linda Corwin, Bob Helt
Secretary/Newsletter -- Bob Helt (heltsncrozet@comcast.net)
Field Trip Coordinator - Dean Hostetter (deanboy@ntelos.net)
Treasurer – Scott Gregory
Web Site Coordinator – Jack Glenn

Club web site: www.shenandoahvalleyrockclub.org
Club Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ShenandoahValleyGemMineralSociety
Club email: svgem-min-club@live.com