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Gail

Part 1. Wed. and Thursday.

Marty and Rose Zinn did a fine job of organizing this grassroots gem and mineral show located in W. Springfield, Massachusetts. The weather was precarious overall, but the crowds didn't slow down and the steady "drizzle" of people downplayed the steady "drizzle" of rain!

After my daughter dropped me off at the airport in Dallas I found myself in the good company of Marshall Sussman, a total surprise to see him on the same flight. During the flight he hand delivered me cookies from first class, as I was back in the economy section where no cookies could be found without paying a premium! ha ha! Marshall is a truly nice guy.

I arrived on Wed. afternoon, sans Jim, and I found the airport to be small and comfortable to navigate. My luggage was quickly found and I hopped on the Avis bus to find my rental car, all the while hoping my suitcase would not be a problem to fit into a tiny trunk. My fears were gone when I found they had biggie sized the vehicle to an Endeavour, a small but nice SUV.

Upon finding my hotel, thanks to my trusty packed TomTom GPS, I managed to run into Tom Nagin from Arkansas. He had a truck load of helpers and a trailer to rival one of our Texas horse trailers. He was in good spirits and we managed a quick chat before entering the hotel. After settling in, unpacking and making a home away from home, I called Dave Bunk to let him know I was in town.
I was flown in to see the set up on Thursday of the special exhibits section the Oboddas were putting in as we are the guest exhibitors there, next year.
Dave mentioned Lobster and that was like a gong going off inside my head, I grew up in the Boston area and ate lobster often. We downsized when moving to Texas, which is odd in itself as most everything in Texas is bigger, and settled for the tasty smaller crawfish. But lobster? Heaven!

I met up with Dave and the Oboddas, the Weinrichs and a friend of theirs, Dave ,as well as the team of Mike and Diana Hopkins. It was a fabulous meal and lots of fun talk and catching up. This is such a treat and a great deal of the fun of mineral shows...catching up and talking to friends.

Up early the next morning, Thursday, to find the big "E" as they call the location of the show. I came in and got my special exhibits badge and caught up with Herb and Moni as they had already set up a few of the exhibits and were, systematically, doing each case. They air conditioning is not on for the set up day as the big doors are open and cars and trucks are driving through the aisles and finding tight spaces to navigate, what a fiasco but not a single hitch!
I got a firsthand lesson in how to organize and deliver, set up 53 cases of exhibits. Wow! I saw some tools in a box that had been brought along, I photo'd everything in it as well as a photo of each case, storage of each case, etc. I measured the interior, exterior, height of the table they sit on, height of the top of the cabinet from the floor, etc. And I was blown away when Herb and Moni finished the whole thing in 5 1/2 hours!
They also took a high resolution digital photo of each display before sliding the thick glass in. Herb had a towel draped around his neck to keep dry due to the lack of A/C.
Moni looked as though she was "glowing"!

Dave Bunk, Scott Werschky, Mike Bergmann and I went out to dinner at a Cajun restaurant, which is funny because they are everywhere here in Texas, but it was a hoot..the name was Chef Wayne's Big Mamou. It was also not in a great area of Springfield, but we had no troubles...oh, and you have to bring your own booze, so we had a couple of bottles of wine. What fun! I had a grand time laughing and joking with the three fellows and was totally exhausted by the time I made it back to the hotel.
I still managed to sit up till 2 a.m. finalizing my power point for the talk I was giving on Friday afternoon.

( Willl add photos in the next box, I have to download them from my laptop to my external hard drive )

Gail

Some photos...

Gail

Herb and Moni were very focused on set up and were experts at making it flow well.

Gail

This is a small section of the 53 cases the annual guest exhibitor gets to fill. It is a huge honour and a huge task! Herb and Moni had incredible displays but you can see the work involved.

Gail

LAST CASE! You can see their delight in finishing up with the last case, it is the only one that is larger or different than all the other 52 cabinets.

Gail

Prof. Nancy Millard did a great presentation each day, this was Friday and it was a talk on Quartz. It was very educational, informative and interesting.

Gail

Backing up to set up day, Diana Hopkins helping the Weinrichs. This was a busy event, everyone was hustling to get things finished so they could leave and clean up, get something to eat and visit with friends.

Gail

Marty Zinn and me at the Springfield show. He is amazingly calm as compared to Denver or Tucson!

Gail

This is Herb Obodda giving a 6 1/2 hour private tour of their cabinets to Jim, my Father in Law Frank Spann, and me. I took the photo. The concrete floor is tough to stand on, but it was WELL worth it to get the tour!

Gail

One of my favourite pieces in the Obodda collection, a miner with a viewing area inside when you open his jacket. Herb and Moni found this at an antiques show and it was a long story of a seller who was a jerk to them, their leaving, Moni talking Herb into going back, and Herb buying it despite the nasty attitude of the seller who insisted it was NOT a miner figurine at all! Herb got the last laugh as, after all, it was indeed a miner!