Betsy and I have been members of our local rock club since 1977. The Earth Science Club Of Northern Illinois, ESCONI, played a large role in our family’s lives as the older members shared their finds and their knowledge with Becky and Lisa as they grew into young ladies. So it should come as no surprise that we joined a club in Cape Town this year. The Cape Town Gem and Mineral Club has a narrower scope than ESCONI, focusing on minerals and lapidary. They are quite active, holding monthly sales, swaps, programs and barbeques as well as the occasional…

     There was certainly a back-to-school atmosphere at the General Meeting last Friday, with attending members full of stories and finds after the club’s summer recess. As people paraded into the classroom, many had cardboard trays, specimen cases or plastic bags carrying carefully split fossil concretions pertaining to that evening’s lecture topic. After some special announcements, Jack Wittry, author of the beautiful and informative book entitled, The Mason Creek Fossil Flora, presented a standing-room only talk on his specialty. Not only was his delivery and organization clear – making sense of the, often time, fragmented evidence of the fossil record…