The Essential Beachcomber

You might be a shelling   addict if.... You tricked-out your Lexus with a big Junonia on top You modified the earbuds to your iPhone This is your dream house This outfit is hanging in the same closet as your Lily Pulitzer's You spent your money on a tattoo instead of a pedicure This is in your bathroom You bring the beach home with you This is the shirt you wore to your anger management class You will only cook with shell macaroni This was your Christmas present.....wait, that was my Christmas present You hang around lots of nice people who love shelling as much as you do! (Pictured above  Debbie from Love of the Sea ,  Pam of i Love Shelling , Me, &  Rhonda of Shellbelle's Tiki Hut )

Remember the movie "Grumpy Old Men" where they go ice fishing?  Watching those old guys trudge out on the frozen lake to a little shack to go fishing makes you want to  start shivering.  What kind of nutcase goes fishing in zero degree temperatures? The same kinda of nutcase  enthusiastic person pursuing their passion of shelling that dones mittens, a hooded sweatshirt, winter windbreaker jacket, scarf wrapped around the neck to keep the  hood from filling with 20 degree wind & blowing back and heads out into the night with a flashlight to see what the NW winds blew up on the beach from the  late night low tide.  It is really cold for SW Florida but I'm not complaining. I don't have to dig my car out before I drive it. Heck, I had to cover up a few plants is all. I haven't even run the heat yet. I love this NW wind that is blowing up shell pile after shell pile on the beaches from Casey Key to the north all the way south to to Stump Pass. The co...

The dredging at Stump Pass starts up again on January 4 Word spreads fast among the beach combing community whenever there is any dredging going on. Some of the best sharks tooth hunting & shelling happen where you have a pass between two islands.  Due to wind, tides, & shifting sand these passes tend to close up from time to time. Stump Pass is the southern most tip of Manasota Key. It has become very tricky for boaters to navigate especially at low tide due to the sand bar that has built up over the last few years.  When a pass closes up it causes lots of environmental changes - some not so good. It can cause the quality of the water to plummet. So the contract has been approved & 3.76 million later the dredging of Stump Pass has begun. They take huge pipes and suck up the sand & shells that have clogged up the pass and spit it out on the beach through big pipes to renourish it. You can only imagine the treasures that big dredge can deposit on the bea...

If you have been following my blog for any length of time  you know that besides showing you my adventures at the local beaches, awesome shells and sharks teeth - I also from time to time  share the escapades of my family. After my father passed 10 years ago we invited my mother to sell her huge house & move in with us. My mom or GeeGee as she is called by her grandchildren downsized her life and moved from the town she grew up in, married in, raised her children in & buried her husband of 40 years in and moved 100 miles south to live with us.  We have a great time living  together and have learned to enjoy our new-style nuclear family which also includes 24 yo niece Pookie. GeeGee had not been feeling well for some time.  After some tests and a heart  catheterization  they took her immediately to the hospital for emergency open-heart surgery. So 5 bypasses, a new aortic valve and 2 years later she is doing pretty well. But now there are...

I really don't know what all the fuss is about. Word leaked out at my work that I motor down to Venice Beach and spend my lunch hour shelling. It's possible my wet shoes & trail of beach sand by my work locker gave me away too. The jokes & snickering from my co-workers is getting a little annoying. Funny, most of these people would go to a Bucc's football game and sit in the rain or cold and not give it a second thought. But the idea of hitting the beach in 40 degree temperatures to look for seashells - well the point eludes them.  I just love shelling. I love everything about it.   When the NW winds, low tides, & moon phase all co-operate it can be magic on the beach. I'll go shelling night or day - hot or cold if all those factors line up. Come on - I'm the person who shelled Blind Pass on Sanibel during Tropical Depression #5 this summer for crying out loud.  So lunch time on the beach again today but a little farther south. Becky of Beachsnaps  wa...

I hate it when work interrupts my beach combing. It seriously hurts me to miss a good low tide or to hear about the shells rolling up on the new Redfish Pass sand bar and dang it...I have to go make a living. But I have my ways to circumvent the circumstances. It requires timing, mental toughness, & a St. Arbuck's Caramel Brulee Latte.  As I lay in bed Sunday night listening to the wind howl all I could think about was -It's blowing NW. I'm checking my tide app and it is looking good for an early low tide. I was due to work at 8am...ratz! Not enough time to hit the beach before work. My work is 2 miles from Venice Beach - just over a bridge really - sooooo..... I skip eating lunch &  skeedaddle out to Venice Beach to take a peek at what the winds blew in. Venice Beach Monday afternoon A line of shells streched about 100 yards See the Lion's Paw up front - it's my first So many nice tulips Scotch Bonnet, Lion's Paw, & ABC Cone I ...

A girl's gotta get her holiday bling going on How are your holidays going so far?  With 12 shopping/baking/wrapping/decorating days left till Christmas most people especially women are starting to feel the crunch. Most of us don't have time in our schedule to fit one more party or shopping outing into our calender. I Know! That's why I am going to take you on a virtual road trip. Even though this is sunny Florida grab your coat & scarf because it is in the low 40's with wind & fog. We are going to the Placida Saturday Arts & Crafts Market located off of Gasparilla Rd (CR 771) just a tad south of the entrance to Boca Grande Causeway.  The market is located at the Historic Fishing Village of Placida . This is an array of little houses relocated from the local area and nestled right on the edge of Gasparilla Sound creating a wonderful place to experience old Southwest  Florida.  The village is the home of  Margaret Albritton Gallery  & T...