One viewer of this gallery, berated me with much profanity (the reason his comments removed) for being so stupid as not to know that rocks were for smoking, not collecting...sadly he was serious. Thankfully my 5th grade teacher (Mrs. George "Irene" Rosenthal) saw it differently and provided me an intresting hobby and path to my career in chemistry. The hobby has survived for over 60 years and many of the rocks & minerals shown here were collected during my grade and high school years. These photographs are mostly done for my grandsons to provide them some information on the specimens and the enjoyment and inspiration they have brought me over the years. All this and I didn't even have to smoke them. Many thanks, Mrs. Rosenthal!