The Essential Beachcomber

The Hubbs made the card to the front left One tradition that I never sway from is taking my birthday week off from work. I started taking a birthday vacation every year  7 years ago.   It just makes sense. Instead of squeezing all my festivities into one day - I spread them out over the entire week. I know, brilliant idea. I also have time to try the new age on and wear it a while to get comfortable.  Now, my mom - GeeGee still thinks I'm a kid. She really doesn't even know her own age. Just ask her. She will purse her lips and the eyes roll skyward  like a number is going to magically appear over her head.  Then she does "the calculation".  It's the same every time.  She asks me how old I am and adds 21 to that because she does remember she was 21 yo when she gave birth to her firstborn child. Then the shock of how old she is sets in and gets worse when she realizes I am old enough to now pick her nursing home.  (HeeHee...behave yoursel...

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...

Shell pile @ the North Jetty in Nokomis, Florida Has anyone been following  i Love Shelling blog?  Pam has been giving us the blow-by-blow of all the shells rolling in on Turner Beach a.k.a. Blind Pass.  For dedicated shell lovers the sight of that big honkin shell pile growing upward on Blind Pass makes you want to call in sick to work, grab your shell shovel, & head south or whatever  direction it may be for you to Sanibel.  For those of you that are a plane ride away in the cold & snow; looking at those shells has got to be painful & my heart does go out to you. I live 2 hours north of Sanibel via I-75 or about 40 miles as the crow flies.  I've sat at my computer for 3 days now looking, drooling,  enlarging the pictures, looking again at my work schedule.... ratz - I'm not off till Monday. Where I live in the Venice/Englewood area we have some spectacular beaches. Each has their own personality. Englewood's beaches are more...

North Jetty Park in Nokomis,Florida or as the locals say "no shirt, no shoes, No komis" - hey it's a fishing village Some things never change.  I have never been an early riser. I can do it but it is physically and mentally painful. I am definitely not a morning person. I'm not crabby just not really conscious.  I call it "climbing out of the cellar". As a kid my mom would have to drag me out of bed for school.  Now, if we were going somewhere good...... like Disney World.... I wouldn't even need an alarm clock. I'd be up, dressed, & sitting in the car ready to hit the road.  My work schedule rotates my days off.  Every once in a while I have to work 9 days straight.   The good news is - you have the week end off! The bad news is - your schedules bump together and you won't have a day off for 9 days . So, as I left work last night at 10:30pm and squealed out of the parking lot, I had every intention of going home and getting some much...