President’s Message – December 2020

News
From the Top of the Rock Pile …. by Kat Koch
Governor Inslee and the CDC have asked all of us to not gather for the holidays. I know it’s very hard for some of us not see our friends and family at this time of the year.
The holidays gatherings, religious services, hobby or other group meetings, gyms, senior center activities have been canceled but remember we, as individuals, have not been canceled. We are still a family member, a friend and a rock club member.
Joy, fun and happiness have not been canceled! 2020 has been a weird year and celebrating with one another looks different. Remember to reach out via phone, video chat or email to family members, friends and our rock club friends/members during the coming holiday. We are all here to support each other any way we can.
Above all our rock club and our community of members have not been canceled! We are still here producing our monthly news bulletin, maintaining our website and leading field trips when the weather is good. If you are working on a lapidary project or tumbling and need help, have a question or need talk about rocks please reach out to one of our members. If you need a phone number or email for a member just check the contact page in our bulletin go to our website and under “Contact Us!” send a message with their name. You can also email me at president@cascademineralogicalsociety.org If I have their info I will send it to you.
I am also very happy to announce that the Board has approved a temporary reduction in our dues for 2021 only to $15 per family or individual. Even though we are not presently holding meetings, our club still has to cover our annual dues to NFMS, AFMS, ALAA, WA State Mineral Council and the cost of liability insurance for 2021. I am sure by spring we will be back to holding our meetings again. When this does happen we will once again have the cost of the monthly rental for the meeting room.
Stay safe and healthy so we can see each other next year.
Kat Koch, President
Updated: January 19, 2021 — 4:01 pm

Presidents Message

  • From the Top of the Rock Pile . . . . March’s Zoom General Meeting went well. We saw some of Terri Gerard’s sphere collection, Bob gave a lands’ access report plus a brief report from Roger, our Field Trip Guide. You can always check our website for the next planned field trip plus the details on where to meetup. We also saw some new faces at the March meeting. Hopefully more of you will decide to attend our April Zoom meeting. You can join via your smart phone, laptop, tablet or desk top computer. If you don’t have a …

Meeting Announcements

  • The General Meeting for April will be an online Zoom meeting on April 8th at 7 pm. This month our member, Jim Grace, will talk about what he looks for in a stone for faceting and the cut to make. Jim cuts all his own stones and is very well known gem cutter in western Washington and for his fabulous collection of faceted gems.  You can find him displaying at rock and gem shows in the area. More specifically, he always has a display case at the West Seattle show. Look for his display case if you want to see some fabulous faceting.   The link for the meeting will be in your email around the first week of April. Everyone stay home and be safe. If you have to go out be sure to wear a mask. Hopefully we will see each other in-person in May or June. In order to attend a Zoom meeting you need to download the app no matter what type of device you are on. Then setup an account for yourself. Now here is where the good part comes in where you can make yourself look awesome! There are filters that make you look better on camera. Here is how you access them: Sign into your Zoom app account. Click on your profile picture. Click the Background & Filters tab. Click the Video Filters tab. Select the desired beauty filter. The filters can smooth out your complexion, adjust your lighting, give you a background of your choosing, etc. You can try several of them and keep the one you like best. Zoom will now keep this setting for all Zoom sessions. You can always go back into the settings at any time and change the filter. Now let’s all jump in with both feet and attend our March general meeting!

  • The Board has voted that for 2021 our annual dues is just $15 for your entire family. So please renew your membership if you have not done so. Even though we currently can not have club meetings in person we are making every effort to keep our club running smoothly. We are still providing you with our monthly club newsletter. Our field trips are continuing as soon as the snows melt so check the website, be sure to read our monthly “Tumbler” and register for automatic notification of our next adventures. On field trips we will require 6 ft distancing and no carpooling other than with your immediate family. Our “Young Tumblers” can continue to work on their badge of choice. All the badges you can earn is under the Young Tumblers link on this website. It’s a great time to concentrate on earning 1 or more badges.  

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