We had so many compliments from our visiting EFMLS Members and the general
public about our Show, particularly our Display Cases.
As you know, it takes some time to ponder, plan, assemble, and and label
your entries. And, by 7PM on a Friday setup night, almost like magic,
we have created a medium-sized museum of fresh, inventive natural wonders.
Many thanks to Sharon Fitzgerald and Dr. Peter Leavens of the University of
Delaware for sharing their expertise and highest quality specimens of
American Minerals with us. Kudos to Katherine and the staff at the
Iron Hill Museum for putting together a festive display of minerals from all
50 States.
I was especially impressed by our Junior Members work and the Members who
assembled and displayed their collections for the first time.
And, Members, as always, you continue to amaze me with your application to
Show theme and versatility in showing off your newest and classic specimens.
And, of course, congratulations to our EFMLS Display Case participants, who
have traveled from reaches of Maine and Florida, and every State in between,
to guide us to the pinnacle of our hobby. You are all winners in my
book.
There will cases for everyone for our
March 5-6, 2011
Show. You are all cordially invited to join us.
Hopefully, each of you has spent some time on your
collections this winter: looking through them, organizing them and
high-grading them. Thank you in advance for your efforts and your donations--they
will be a hit!
Remember, we still can accept and store any donations you
would have over the rest of the year before our 2011 show. As some of
us cull our collections during early Spring Cleaning, this is a great time, too.
It is a year away, but why wait, when you can declutter, and the club will
happily store them.
If you have any mineral or fossil specimens, lapidary
materials such as cutting material that you would like to donate for the
club to sell at the Junior Booth, please bring them to any club meeting, or
contact any of the Show Committee Officers. Donations are tax
deductible. (We'll supply an official itemized letter for your
records.)
Yes, it’s Show Time, again! And, we need you! While you are
reading this, many of us are already mobilized,
packing boxes, making programs, checking display case liners, and finalizing all
aspects in preparation for
our March 5-7 Show and EFMLS Convention.
Now, it’s your time for action. The club needs volunteers
for various posts: Admissions Table, Setup and
Takedown, Raffle Ticket Sales, Junior Booth sales, and more. Don’t worry, if you
hadn’t already signed up.
Just contact Wayne Urion, or any Officer to tell us you will be there. You don’t
have to stay the whole weekend;
even a couple of hours, here and there, will work. We can work side-by-side and
chat, as we enjoy our hobby
and our club’s biggest event of the year.
For Friday setup, Members will enjoy a free onsite dinner,
provided by our club. Even homemade desserts,
guys. I’m there! We can meet and talk with dealers, as we share a
meal together.
Oh, and do signup for a Display Case of your very own to
show off your collection. From the modest to the
extraordinary, we all enjoy sharing in our club. I know my first case in
2005 was simple and non-competitive,
yet I enjoyed seeking fellow Members’ suggestions to help arrange it. I thought
it was so cool that people from
all over the country and Canada got to view my first display.
Junior Members, this means you, too. We have cases ready
for you. Or, how about volunteering a specimen
or two for the Club Case and Field Trip Case. All are good ways to get started.
As this is our club’s 50th Anniversary, and as
we are hosting the EFMLS’ 60th Annual Convention, this year’s
Show promises to be a great opportunity to meet fellow enthusiasts from all over
the Eastern United States,
and extra fun events. The EFMLS Saturday night Banquet promises to be a gourmet
feast, along with fellowship.
Why not get your seats now, while they last.
Oh yes, please do tell everyone about our Show. You’ll be
glad you did. See you there!
DMS Members in Action at our
Scouting Educational Outreach Event at Greenbank Mill, October 7, 2006!
DMS Members in Action at our
Junior Booth Labeling Party, February 18, 2007!
DMS Members in
Action setting up our March 3-4, 2007 Show (on March 2nd)
Kudos to Bob Asreen for collecting and donating a bucket of Delaware
Belemnite fossils on behalf of the club to the
Delaware Geological Survey.
These Official State Fossils will be distributed for educational purposes.
Way to go, Bob!
For Sale
Members, if you have any hobby
related equipment, supplies, specimens, or such that you would like to
offer for sale to members or to the general public, please let us know.
Our membership year now begins at the beginning of January. To assure continued member
benefits you should plan to send in your
renewal dues by January 1, 2010. A
half-year membership is available, if you join during our
March
5-6, 2010 Show,
(or just after
by our March 8th meeting)
Our membership year begins January 1st, so see
Bob
Ehrlich, Membership Chairman, to renew.
We welcome new members. Please do invite folks who you would think be interested.
We have a new category of Student Membership. For $10. per year, you can be a DMS
Member. If you are a college
student, please join us at our next meeting.
New Members
Welcome to our guests, visitors, and new Members at our March 8th
club meeting! Welcome to our new families,
and all the new folks! We look forward to seeing you at our
April 12, 2010
meeting!.
It's Show Time! And, we need your help. Yes, Members, it is
time to pull together to enjoy making our show happen.
See Wayne Urion, Alex Kane, Fran Poniecki, Bob Asreen, or any of the Show
Committee or Club Officers to volunteer.
We need help to: load and unload truck (11AM at Storage Unit), front table admissions, raffle
ticket sales, and setup. See you there!
Signup with Beth Simpkins, our new
Hospitality Chair, to sign-up for our April-May meeting snacks.
Cell: (302) 561-0255 and E-mail:
dmshospitality@verizon.net for snacks for our next club
meeting to
bring.
Rock and Fossil Exchange between clubs: Members, why not
share the wealth? Collectors and enthusiasts from
other clubs around
the U. S. are seeking specimen exchanges. Started by the Western
Dakota Gem & Mineral
Society, we have just joined the fun. Check out
what we got in our box at:
http://www.delminsociety.net/exchange.htm.
The idea is 'you take
one, you give one specimen'. When we get a full box, we send it on.
Come join the fun! We
just got our second exchange box!
Contact: Ken Casey
Ken is seeking your pictures of your most colorful
minerals for our Future 2010 Mineral-of-the-Month
article series. Your colorful selection could be famous on our club's
site? If you like, call me, and we
can meet up.
I'll
photograph them for you to share with folks in our article.
Thanks!
Yes, we have arrived! After consistently creating and
maintaining our club's website since 2004, you have seen our
online following grow-- to almost 6 million visitors! As we have had
enthusiasts, students, teachers, and professionals
habitually visit with us from almost every nation on Earth, I see that reporting
increasing numbers is the rule, so as of
December 2009, I will pare down my webmaster report to offer only key items of
interest to Club Members. Much of
the order of results remain virtually unchanged, such as the number one nation
of hits comes from the U. S., and the
Top 12 States usually have California lead us in visitors.
So, from now on, I will offer specialized reports, like a
year-end summary, a March Show web report, and more.
If any news about our website pops up, of course, I, your
faithful webmaster, will report to you upon it--both here and
in the Geogram.
Oh, and it is appropriate to report that our club's website
has won 2nd place in the EFMLS regional area's
1st Annual Website Contest.
Please enjoy this last detailed update, until just after
December 31, 2009, when I give my year-end summary report.
Members,
We are being Googled and Yahooed from all over the
world now. It’s pretty amazing stuff for our
club to be found and enjoyed by folks around the globe, eh?
Here’s the stats:
·
DE (60,572), MD (50,013), PA (260,609), NJ (184,321),
NY (239,957), VA (326,431),
DC (57,107),
WV (4,825) since 2-3-2005
·
Total hits from surrounding states: 1,183,835 since
2-3-2005.
·
Visits to our
Fossil Forum Page “Dinny the Dino” (since it’s inception):
9,375
·
U. S. hits: 3,850,120 up from 3,758,909 since 8-22-2009.
That’s 91,211 hits this past month!
·
Top 12 States are still: CA, VA, PA, NY, NJ, GA, CO, TX,
IL, MI, DE, DC. Washington State is 17th
and rising.
Come on, guys, you can do it.
·
World hits: 6,311,013 up from 6,132,943 (From 8-22-2009
to 9-22-2009): That’s hits 178,070
since last
month!
·
Top 12 countries are: United States, Canada, United
Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Spain,
Mexico,
Sweden, India, Netherlands, and Japan. We’re at 187 countries, welcome
Martinique.
·
Ontario, Alberta, and Quebec are the top 3 Canadian
Provinces (From 8-22-2009 to 9-22-2009). With
231,373 hits
since we started. BC is climbing.
·
Some top recent search phrases: “carbon cycle”,
“bismuth”, and “goethite”.
Starting with October’s Mineral of the Month we’ll
explore ‘Minerals of the 50 States’. Let’s begin with our
neighbors. First we’ll visit New Jersey with a tie in to our October 12th
meeting program, presented by author
and naturalist, Karenne Snow.
Search for Rock Clubs &
Shops in your Area (or for traveling)
Recently, our club was invited to post info about our club onto an
interactive map
of the U. S., which now has over 500 clubs posted. Potential show attendees and
new members now have one more place to find us.
For us, we can locate other clubs, rock shops, and shows to enjoy
collecting and
meeting new people.
We are looking for content for our club's webpages. If you have any
pictures, stories, articles, or ideas you would
like to offer for publication here, please
feel free to contact me at our next meeting, or at
kencasey98@yahoo.com.
