I've always been somewhat of a rock hound, picking up a rock here or there in my travels. Back in 1994 my husband had an offer to trade a computer manual he had for some quartz crystals from a couple he met over the internet. We went to their house and made the trade and got an invite to meet them at a crystal mine in Arkansas for a fun weekend of crystal mining. We went, and went again and again. We couldn't get enough. A man I met at the crystal mine taught me how to wire wrap a crystal. One more reason to collect every little crystal I could find. Then one year my husband gave me a rock tumbler for Christmas. That gave me an excuse to pick up every broken piece of quartz I could find. Then all the roadside pebbles right here in Texas became fair game for collecting as well. It took me a long while to learn how to get a good polish on a rock, but with some wisdom from an expert I met at the rock shows, I finally got it. At one point I had 10 rock tumblers going at once. As you can imagine my collection of crystals and rocks began to grow. My husband and I joined the local Austin Gem and Mineral Society where we had opportunities to go on field trips both here in Texas and as far as New Mexico. Also in our own travels we have collected in Nevada, Utah and Maine. During a rock swap, I bought several crates full of small tumbling rough from a man who has a sphere making enterprise. From that I began buying the cut off bits of rock left over from his sphere making. I found that I could collect rocks and buy rocks a heck of a lot faster then I could tumble them or wire wrap them. I have more than enough material to keep me busy the rest of my life and I am still collecting. I think it is now time to share some of my collection with the world.