The Essential Beachcomber

The parking lot was recently  landscaped with washed shell fill Y'all know I'm just crazy about shelling.  I describe myself as being coastal but some folks might describe my behavior as being a little postal. I go shelling in the rain, at night, in the freezing cold, & during tropical storms. But I never wanted to be "that woman".....you know, the woman doing the Sanibel Stoop in the newly landscaped parking lot islands at Target.  Shell fill is an excellent choice of material for landscape beds. It's inexpensive & doesn't float away during the rain like a cypress mulch.  This washed shell fill comes from quarries & shell pits where it is dug up, washed, & sorted to DOT standards.  Shell fill is used  very commonly in Florida for driveways, walk ways, roads, & ground cover. It is also loaded with fossil shells. Due to our litigation-happy society most quarry owners have closed their properties to the public. Fear of being sued ha...

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 loo...

SSSHHHHH! It's a surprise party.... a mermaid birthday surprise party!  I'm linking up with  Mermaid Loui from Mountain Mermaid  to celebrate a milestone birthday for fellow mermaid blogger of all things coastal & beachy - Rhonda  of Shellbelle's Tiki Hut.  Wishing Shellbelle warm sandy hugs on her birthday.  60 is really 40 with 20 years experience. Karen & Rhonda (aka Shellbelle) on Sanibel 2010 If I would've been born 500 years ago I would have been perfectly fine being a hermit out in the boonies somewhere or a monk if it was an order that took a vow of silence.  I am perfectly happy all by myself.  I can go hours, even days just reading, walking the beach, or whatever introspection I can get myself into.  Then I remember....Oh crap, I have a husband that requires a relationship.  My family - mother, nieces, nephews, sisters, brothers, & in-laws, out-laws all need a word or two from me from time to time. I try to...

No "Baby on Board" sticker here.  This is how we roll in Englewood, Florida.

“Whether the weather be fine, Whether the weather be not, Whether the weather be cold, Whether the weather be hot, We'll weather the weather, Whatever the whether, Whether we like it or not” The good news is rain has arrived in SWFL. There is a huge sucking sound as the parched ground soaks in the late afternoon showers. The trees & landscaping are greening up again.  The grass is green & growing.  The bad news is any outdoor activity has to be accomplished early in the day to avoid the afternoon thunderstorms.  Lightning just takes all the fun out of the beach or open water.  Back to the good news - NW winds & summer storms bring in the shells! I am re-posting a shelling adventure from last summer where I took off for Sanibel without checking the weather forcast.  Duh! I did check the tide chart for the negative low tide but failed to see the tropical depression heading dead-on Sanibel. Kids - do not try this at home. I am a trained shelling ...

What do this and this                             and this box have in common?                         Do I have to state the obvious? One stormy beach day last December I picked up the curvaceous piece of coral and it was screaming mermaid mosaic to me. I am by no means an artist but I know enough about acrylic paints to be dangerous. I can hot glue with the best of them & I have the scars on my pinkies to prove it. I started getting a vision for my mermaid mosaic and as I found the right shells for her hair and tail I started throwing them in my old tin now known as "the mermaid box".  I've been yakking about this project for 9 months.  My creative energy works like that.  I have to verbalize it so I can mentally see it.  Well, it's time to either cut bait or fish so to speak.   So, I have the inspiration ...

Wishing you a safe, happy, & delicious 4th of July!

Florida has the typical  state bird & state flower The  State Shell is the Horse Conch .  I found this on on Sanibel Island back in January 2011 on the Captiva side of the newly-forming sand bar.   I guess it stands to reason that we would have a state stone also.  Any idea what it is? Obscure rocks on the beach that have really cool geodes in them for $200 Alex!    What is Agitized Coral?  ding, ding, ding.... Exactly.  What the heck is it.  According to www.GatorGirlRocks.com   "Coral is the outside skeleton of tiny ocean animals called polyps, which live in colonies attached to hard underwater surfaces. When alive, polyps combine their own carbon dioxide with the lime in warm seawater to form a limestone-like hard surface, or coral.   Agatized coral occurs when silica in the ocean water hardens, replacing the limy corals with a form of quartz known as chalcedony. This long process results in the formation of a "...