A Rocky Sunday

Michelle and Andy had been given some geodes by Brenda and Richard in the fall, and Jerry and Marlene have some good friends in Socorro, NM, who enjoy working with rocks. So we all piled into the car and drove to Socorro to see Dennis and Jean. Dennis and Jean are now retired. He had taught mathematics and science, and she was a bank vice president. About ten years ago they were visiting Australia and found several places where you could dig for rocks and gem stones. They have turned this into a vocation and have the tools to cut through a geode or polish a gem stone and cut facets into it.

Dennis helped Andy and Michelle cut through their geodes, and they just loved seeing what was inside as well as doing the cutting on a special saw with a diamond edge blade. Then Dennis took the kids to his back yard and they found several more rocks to cut. In the meantime Jean showed the rest of us their gem stone collection that they have made into lovely jewelry. HW2 had a wonderful time and ultimately brought home a few blings to add to her collection.

Once we were thoroughly rocked out, Dennis and Jean piled all of us into a Suburban and took us to the wildlife Bosque del Apache refuge that is about ten miles south of Socorro. We got to see the ducks and cranes leaving their eating areas and flying back to night time safety in the surrounding ponds. They flew in by the hundreds and landed without crashing into each other. We saw several species of ducks, geese, and cranes and just enjoyed the whole thing.

We then invited them to join us for Mexican food for dinner and left Socorro satiated with rocks, jewelry, wild life, and wonderful conversation. Dennis and Jean travel annually to Australia to add to their growing collection. He also is a hunter and has a collection of heads of beasts that he or Jean have shot over the years. Their house was an amazing collection of things that made it seem like you were in a museum. Their interests include aboriginal art, fossilized wood, and other items gathered from the many places they have visited over the years. We even talked about making a stained glass lamp shade with thin pieces of cut geodes for the focus pieces. Who knows we may yet work together on such an interesting project. It was a great rocky Sunday. Happy travels.