Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. - John Lennon

Right before the storm taken on my iPhone
The plan was throw a bathing suit on, grab a bottle of water, & my camera then head to the beach for a 6pm low tide.  It's been a long month of July.  First the hubbs was looking a little peaked.  The VA emergency room decided to keep him in the hospital just because he had a little heart attack - go figure.  I put 1,800 miles on my vehicle driving back & forth to the VA hospital which is 3 counties away for 9 days. Next, was a visit from my nephews (3 & 6) so their parents could cruise to Cozumel. GeeGee had not seen her grandsons in a year so it was decided to press on and not cancel.  It was a wonderful visit full of Thomas the Train & Cars 2 videos, swimming in the pool, & trying to figure out what we could beg the kids to eat that wasn't covered in chocolate or shaped like a nugget. So, I am bolting out the door for some much needed beach time to re-calibrate myself.


  It was looking a little stormy on my drive out across the causeway but I was in total denial. As I pulled into the parking lot I could hear & feel the rumble of thunder typical for a late afternoon July day in SWFL . Checking the weather app on my phone it showed a huge storm but it appeared to be moving over Manasota Key rather quickly. I decided to give it an hour and wait it out.  The best sharks teeth are always after a storm so I grabbed a bottle of water from my cooler, reclined my seat back, & prepared to wait the storm out. I had a front row seat to view all the beach-goers (who were also in denial about the storm because they waited way too long to leave) skeedaddling off the beach dragging umbrellas, coolers, & wailing kids to the safety of their cars. A cool wind  blew  shell dust up from the parking lot in curling mini-tornadoes announcing the pounding rain that was right behind it. As I sat in my truck watching the beauty of a summer storm & listening to the deluge hammer some crazy techno-reggae beat on the roof of my truck I thought to myself  "I couldn't have planned this". 


Forty-five minutes later the parking lot is empty except for me & a few other cars.  The rain is now just drizzling & the weather app shows all clear. I cross the parking lot to the beach which is now completely empty except for it's normal occupants of pelicans & gulls having a post-rain party over a school of bait fish.  I immediately started looking for sharks teeth.  The rain pounds the sand down and reveals some of the best sharks teeth on the surface of the sand. As I look up the beach I see not sharks teeth but a line of shells as far as the eye can see.  Manasota Key gets some shells but hardly ever like this.  My sharks tooth plan has just shifted to include shells.  As I walked about a mile out & back my cargo shorts became droopy drawers under the weight of my shell-stuffed pockets.  I hadn't planned for shells so I had not brought a bucket.  My camera had been left behind  as well so it's just another story I'll have to tell hoping folks don't think I'm exaggerating about my sharks tooth venture that mutated into a shelling bonanza.


I planned to collect sharks teeth but found shells as far as the eye could see instead. I went back the next day to take some pictures.


The surf line is loaded with the shell gravel that contains the sharks teeth






Chicoreus dilectus - lace murex
(A. Adams, 1855) 



Top left are fossil bones of some kind.
The storms always stirs things up & bring in the bigger teeth
After the storm
One plan you can count on - the sun will rise & set every day


"For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome." Jeremiah 29:11
   


Comments

  1. Wow! What treasure! I love looking for shark teeth when we visit Hilton Head, but you hit the mother lode! How fun!

    ciao

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  2. Can you hear me howling with envy? I am really yearning for a sharks teeth trip!

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  3. Florida girl here-displaced to the Midwest and longing to be walking those shores with you. Hubby won't let me...and then there's the grandkids. Can I just live vicariously through you? Don't ask me how I found you- I was just blog stumbling along and there you were/are. You will not be rid of me now as I am your newest follower- Hugs from WI- Diana

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  4. What a bonanza! Lucky you Karen. It was a special gift for the rough month you've had. I hope it brought a couple of smiles to your face. Hugs girl!!

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  5. Oh my that is a treasure trove of shellness. I have to get back over to the west coast!

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  6. What a great find of wonderful shells & sharks theeth, Karen!! I love the beautiful sunset foto... and the "before the storm" pic, it's great!! Have a nice {shelling} Sunday!!

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  7. Great finds and photos! Nice worm shell, I enjoyed the after the storm photo.

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  8. I am very tempted to be jealous!
    What a wonderful story and beautiful pictures! Tahnk you, agagin, for sharing :)

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  9. P.S. Praying your husband is doning well and completely healed! <3

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  10. Hi - hope your Hubby is 110 percent now - scary -

    love all the shells you got!

    Happy Sea and Sand Sunday!

    Linda
    beachside cottage

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  11. Wow Karen....how lucky were you!? I'm back down at Sanibel, going out tonight at the lowtide and see a thunderstorm looming out there.....maybe I'll have good luck too....Nothing (shells) on the beach down here all day!! Wish me luck!!

    ::Hugs::

    Cheri

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  12. Whoa baby.........what a score!! First off Karen...so sorry about hubby's scare. Hope all is well there. But SO happy to got to get out and enjoy your solitude.....I'm sitting here imagining how cool waiting out the storm must have been in your car .... I would have been writing in my journal like a madwoman!! Man, oh man......you found some good s***!!! Lots of so cool shells--I would have given anything to be by your side on that trip!!

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  13. The last two photos are absolutely beautiful!

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  14. I hope your hubby is feeling better, that must have been very scary. He must be a real go getter like my hubs...he never stops...it's just go go go.

    You found some great shells! and those shark teeth are BIG!Glad you found a chance to get away, and regroup!

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  15. Amazing...so many shells...her in the West we don't have those kinds of shells..just lots of sand on our beaches!!

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