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General Category => Welcome! => Topic started by: CanadianRockHoundGal on December 13, 2017, 12:33:57 PM

Title: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: CanadianRockHoundGal on December 13, 2017, 12:33:57 PM
Hello everyone, I'm new to rockhounding and I love it!  Spent most of the summer recovering from a brain aneurysm and getting out in nature was the best medicine.  I discovered my passion for rock hounding.  I've learned so much and the more I know, the more I realize I have so much more to learn.  I will try to post pics of my favourite specimens I found in the beautiful Canadian Shield of Ontario!

Cheers All,
Lisa
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: peruano on December 13, 2017, 02:09:00 PM
Welcome Lisa,  Its therapy for us all.  Finding beauty, enhancing it,  and sharing it, makes us all feel better.  Show us your stuff - you have a huge geological domain before you. 
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: CanadianRockHoundGal on December 13, 2017, 02:35:06 PM
Thank you!  You are so right 😁. I tried to post a pic but it said my file was too big?  I'm on my iPad and the pics were taken with my iPad so they're not that special.  Any thoughts?  Retired Zoologist?  Wow! 👍

Cheers,
Lisa
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: lithicbeads on December 13, 2017, 03:34:54 PM
 Welcome to the forum.Any pictures at all will give us an idea of what your local geology is about.Have fun .
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: CanadianRockHoundGal on December 13, 2017, 03:43:14 PM
Ok I'm trying to post a pic of one of my fave specimens I found.  Do you know what it is?
Lisa
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: CanadianRockHoundGal on December 13, 2017, 03:52:53 PM
Here is another...
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: lithicbeads on December 13, 2017, 03:55:22 PM
 are you finding these?
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: Jhon P on December 13, 2017, 03:58:41 PM
Looks like a kyanite crystal to me? Hard to tell from just a picture, do an internet search and find some pictures to compare it too. Maybe some one with more knowledge than I can give their guess
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: CanadianRockHoundGal on December 13, 2017, 04:08:31 PM
Some more...

And yes, I hunt and collect and study and everything myself.  Everyone thinks I'm a nerd but I'm fascinated!
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: CanadianRockHoundGal on December 13, 2017, 04:21:38 PM
This one is pretty...
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: CanadianRockHoundGal on December 13, 2017, 04:28:16 PM
Ok one more for now...
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: peruano on December 14, 2017, 05:40:14 AM
Your post made me jump to a geology overview to refresh what I thought I knew about the Canadian Shield, and . . .  yes its almost entirely Precambrian Rock and hence metamorphics some 2.5 billion years old.  I say big task because the Canadian Shield occupies nearly half of Canada, and is well exposed in many places due to the Pleistocene glaciation.  You will need to learn your crystals and yes the many forms of granite etc.  A couple of good guides to gems and minerals will be useful.   I hope someone can point you in the right direction with some of your id's. 
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: CanadianRockHoundGal on December 14, 2017, 06:14:16 AM
Thank you Peruano, yes I'm very excited about the possibilities.  I have been reading about Precambrian rock and it's really mind boggling stuff!  There are a couple of great rockhounders from Ontario on YouTube, (Caver, who has written some rockhounding books actually and quite brilliant, and "Tess" which is a really nice hacker kind of guy, but learning like me and shares his knowledge), but other than that I'm on my own!  I'd love to hook up its another rockhounding buddy, which brought me to this site. Maybe in the spring I will join a local club.  I don't see many members from Canada here.  I love to see what's happening everywhere though so this is great! 👍
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: peruano on December 14, 2017, 03:59:05 PM
Metamorphics are tough and confusing, but they can be sorted out.  Probably you should find the nearest geological/mineral museum or mineralogist who will confirm or deny some basic specimens once you have worked with them to try a preliminary id. 
Actually, I started seriously into rockhounding focused primarily on Precambrian rocks here in New Mexico where the Rio Grande valley is created by a major uplift of a fault on one side and induction of all more recent stuff from the west.  The result is a narrow band on totally Precambrian geological formations.  Lots of gneiss, granites, feldspars, serpentines, phylites, and ???? Collect the array of things and then make at trip to the closest authority, but do a considerable amount of homework, and reading before you go. 
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: CanadianRockHoundGal on December 14, 2017, 04:58:41 PM
gracias mi amigo, sounds like you have been at this a while and you're in a great spot!  I have done a lot of research already and still so much more to go.  I did visit a shop in Toronto, a gem and rock shop.  I brought my samples in and the sales lady there knew less than I did.  Expertise seems hard to come by.  Once a year they offer this service at the museum here though so I'd like to go to that.  Also there is a "Rock Gemboree " in Bancroft once a year so I will go to that in the summer too.  I just keep trying, I get to talk to some great people sometimes, like you so it's fun 😀

Salud, Cheers!
Lisa
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: peruano on December 14, 2017, 05:30:24 PM
A quickie search produced a link for central Canadian gem and mineral clubs and activities. 
http://www.ccfms.ca/Events/field_trips.html
It seems like the scarborough gem and mineral club is your closest source  of like minded folks.  Maybe you are already involved there. 
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: edgarscale on December 14, 2017, 10:54:34 PM
welcome lisa, from collingwood, ontario.  ccfms,ca is a great site to visit.  in april is the next rock gem and mineral  show in Paris, ontario.  it's the first show of the year and a great start too.  run by the nearby Brantford rock gem and mineral club.  north and near there is also Robert Hall Originals (rock store) in St. George (in the industrial area not in the town).  further north again, in Cambridge is Iguana Beads, a bead store.  in Fergus..you guessed it further north is The Gneiss Guy Minerals and Fossils store, by appointment only.  the next best rock show is in your area run by the Kawartha Peterborough rock gem and mineral club.  and a good show to visit is the Sudbury rock and mineral show.  but the very best is the Bancroft rock and mineral show run by the chamber of commerce.....but be cautious because the Bancroft rock and mineral club has a rock show the weekend before. people don't realize that Bancroft has two rock shows back to back.  if you were to go to either i'd choose the one held by the chamber of commerce on the august long weekend.  book 3 months in advance for hotel or campgrounds because they book up fast.  another nearby rock show is in Kingston you might want to check out.  good luck, mary..
Title: Re: Hello from Kawartha Lakes Ontario
Post by: irockhound on December 23, 2017, 10:28:17 AM
Hi and a late welcome, I was travelling from California to Florida and back the last 2 weeks for my wife's dog show in Orlando but wanted to welcome you.  In the pics I caught a hint of color I often see in a labradorite or spectrolite.  I didn't see in glancing at the other posts if anyone had given you a identification and there are a lot of way more qualified mineral collectors on the forums that can give you a good idea.  Glad you found the hobby and most importantly that you recovered or are recovering from such a deadly medical event.  Glad to have you with us and love to see your finds as you share.

Steve from Southern California