Scripture of the Day - Paul (Corinthians 9:24)

Today after school as I was working my way off campus at Atascadero High School where I am student teaching full-time now, I noticed that there was a track & field meet going on here on campus involving many different local high schools. One race in particular grabbed my atttention as I watched from the top of the bleacher section on the home side of the stadium: the woman's race that involved at least four sprints around the football field all-weather track.

"Don't you know that all runners in a race, run, but only one person wins the race? You, too, should strive to win!" ~ (Kimicus ad Aburdum translation)

Picture of the Day - Amazing Afghan Aquamarine

This past weekend at the 26th Annual Rockhounds Roundup Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show at the Midstate Fairgrounds in Paso Robles, CA, I encountered this fabulous aquamarine specimen in the booth of Afghan dealer Saleem Rehman. I reminds me of an even larger specimen I once owned, having both purchased and later sold it for $4,500. At least I broke even! Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Earthquake Pyrite

A friend, brother in Christ, and fellow rock enthusiast, whom I first met way back in the late 2000s at a gun show at the Midstate Fairgrounds at which I was selling rocks (go figure, but it was worth it as I had no competition) told me about these stones at that time and showed me some images on his smartphone. I figured I'd never see him again but then later met him at Band of Brothers. He offered to share some of this material gratis. I countered that I'd give him a meteorite in exchange which I did (he got a Canyon Diablo specimen). This past weekend at the 26th Annual Rockhounds Roundup Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show at the very same Midstate Fairgrounds in the very same building, he dropped these off for me. They are pyrite pieces that broke off of an outcropping on this man's ranch along the inland margins of the Santa Lucia Range in northern San Luis Obispo County during the 2003 San Simeon Earthquake. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Muh Spoils

These are my spoils from the 26th Annual Rockhounds Roundup Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show.... I spent more than I intended but still stayed within my means and picked up killer deals in each case. See if you can spot each of these: Ocean Jasper (Madagascar), two lone red quarter crystals (Morocco), red quarter crystal cluster (Morocco), biconoid core (Templeton, CA), smokey quartz scepter (Hallelujah Junction, CA), three doubly-terminated quartz crystals (Tibet), petrified dinosaur bone (Utah), lapiz lazuli (Afghanistan), petrified coral (Florida), and Roman glass bottle fragment strand (Afghanistan). Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

26th Annual Rockhound Roundup Display Cases

Here are the competitive display case offering from the 26th Annual Rockhounds Roundup Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show hosted by the Santa Lucia Rockhounds at the Midstate Fairgrounds in Paso Robles, CA, this weekend. To see the dealers and other elements of the show go HERE.

Outer space gemstones..... olivine (peridot) inside slice of pallasite meteorite from Russia.... and behind it is a backlit chunk of Libyan Desert Glass.... this was in my favorite booth at the show.... it is also featured in the next two images below showing more of the booth.... but it did not win most popular.... there is no accounting for taste I suppose! Note: I am not sharing the name of the owner so as to protect his collection!

Jim Mills' fossilized pine cones are awesome!

I love collecting shark teeth like these from the very geologic deposit from which these came.... Bakersfield area northeast of town.

Nick Sherwin's agate beautiful slices.

This was the winning entry in the display case competition.... the Rock Mafia Dons won again!

David Nelson once again brought his florescent minerals to show off and they looked as great as ever.

I was shocked to learn today that Orcutt Mineral Society member Sandy Berthelot recently died.... I am so saddened by this.... what a sweet soul. RIP!

More amazing meteorites.... really BIG ones! Note the Widmanstatten pattern within the sliced specimen.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

26th Annual Rockhounds Roundup Show

Today was Day One of the 26th Annual Rockhounds Roundup Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show hosted by the Santa Lucia Rockhounds. I was the dealer chairman again this year, the third year this show has been held at the Mid-State Fairgrounds in Paso Robles, CA. This collection of images does not represent the entirety of our great dealer line-up as some images I took of our other dealers did not turn out well enough to do them service so they are not included here by no fault of their own. Check out our competitive display cases HERE. Check out what I purchased at the show HERE. Check out something I was given at the show HERE. Check out the coolest gemstone I saw at the show HERE.





My friend Keith Olivas of Art of Stone out front just as he requested.


We had a solid group of volunteers at the welcome table all weekend long.


Member Wayne Mills was our "Rock Doc" both days of the show.

My friend Pam Spears represented Sister Stones in their usual spot.

  Redstone was a new addition this year.

Janet Harrison as Miriam Medicine Woman was back again this year with her special vibe.

My Hafid Aboubker from Morocco was new to our show this year and a welcome addition.

Sandra Mendoza was back in our show this year after a one-year hiatus. Here, her husband Mark hams it up with my friends the Judds.

Scary Gary from Tulare hamming it up in the Gary's Jewelry and Lapidary Supplies booth.

Kirk Brock of Rock Solid Jade is always rock solid in any show.

Michael Santos brought his A-game StarStruck Meteorites extraterrestrial inventory again this year which topic was the theme of the show.

Jen and daughters represented the Rocks & Relics booth this year.

A spry Walt Lombardo brought the books and other goodies again this year.

Richard Sittinger brought his Wonderworks inventory to our show for the first time and we were blessed to have him here.

Mirwise Azam debuted his Afghan inventory this weekend and we hope to have him back.

My friend Mike Lyons was back this year and brought his beautiful inventory of gemstones and jade.

Greg Howell reconned our show last year and made a down payment on this spot a year in advance and occupied it this weekend sharing his splendid opal inventory.

Tom Demaris and granddaughter rocked their outdoor booth again this year... it was nice having him back after a one-year hiatus during which we had no outdoor show aspect.

We had a second Moroccan dealer this year whose name escapes me, but he was outdoors while Hafid was inside.

We were blessed to have Sal Ramirez represent Mexican minerals for us again this year.

Kaihua Wen of Nature Little Stone debuted this year outside and showed off his botryoidal prehnite pride and joy.

Barbara Grill was back with his gorgeous crystals and other goodies.... I picked up a killer Ocean Jasper polished stalactitic cluster for a great price in her booth.
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).