The Essential Beachcomber

My mom is the type of person that justs makes you want to do nice things for her. After my dad passed she lived alone in the huge house they shared for 35 years.  The upkeep and maintenance were overwhelming for her. I lived 120 miles south and couldn't just pop up every time there was a need.  Like the time her neighbor called and said "Hey, your mom is on the roof with a chainsaw".  A family meeting was held and it was mutually decided that mom just needed a base camp to operate out of. She & my dad became ministers late in life. Her heart was to continue working in the migrant camps outside of Tampa so we sold her house or the mini-storage as I call it. She only lived in half of the bottom floor. Most of the house was cram-full of the family's stuff.  That was a hard process for her. Going through her life and deciding what to keep, give away, or sell. So she moved the 120 miles south and has lived with us for 10 years now.  She had never felt well and the e

Buttprints in the Sand One night I had a wondrous dream, One set of footprints there was seen, The footprints of my precious Lord, But mine were not along the shore. But then some strange prints appeared, And I asked the Lord, "What have we here?" Those prints are large and round and neat, "But Lord, they are too big for feet." "My child," He said in somber tones, "For miles I carried you along. I challenged you to walk in faith, But you refused and made me wait." "You disobeyed, you would not grow, The walk of faith, you would not know, So I got tired, I got fed up, And there I dropped you on your butt." "Because in life, there comes a time, When one must fight, and one must climb, When one must rise and take a stand, Or leave their butt prints in the sand." -- author unknown It's just been one of those weeks. Lots of drama at work & lots of stuff to do at home. My mantra is "I'm too bles

The decisions have been made Big gull & baby gulls We are rolling up our money gift inside the treasure map The blue sand won . She was right. 

Let me introduce you to my mom. This is GeeGee .  We follow that long southern tradition of calling our grandmothers something odd. Her mother - my grandmother was called Other Mama.  My mother acquired her grandma- handle because the first born grandchild could not say Grandma Ginny and she would call for GeeGee .  Don't let the sweet smile fool you.  No one in our family calls her by her given name which is Virginia. She is known on her side of the family as Aunt Tootsie (pronounced Ain't Toooot-say). GeeGee comes from a long line of crafty women - crafty in a nice way (most of them) Her mother was a florist, tatted (not inked for you youngin's) and crocheted, and off the subject could out fish any man.    GeeGee's Aunt Annabelle was the first woman in Clearwater in the 1940's to have her paintings shown in a "real" gallery.  Aunt Annabelle was a shell  crafter as well. All my sisters either collect something, grow something, or make somethi

This was the vehicle in front of my parking space at the beach today Come on!  My finds from Manasota Key Beach tonight. (added 9/20/10) This is the jar I'm filling up with shark's teeth.  It's about an 1 1/2" deep. It took me a month the fill it this far.

Sophia & Vito I swore I'd never have a dog. Too much responsibility, too much money.  Well that all changed when the hubby came home with our first little fluffer -muffin. He was so tiny & it was love at first sight for me. I never had kids so  Vito was my little baby. He loved to play with his ballie . He loved to play hide & go seek with me. We'd sit together on the couch eating House Special Fried Rice. Vito would always wait his turn for his little nibble of pork.  He really didn't know he was a dog until after 3 years I found Sophia and brought her home.  Sophia loved her little food bowls Vito's favorite place - right next to the fridge A good little alpha-female, she taught Vito real quick who was boss and what dog life was all about. Those were the best 12 years of my life, even the last 2 while  we nursed them both through their heart problems. Sometimes the everyday trials of  life have a way of shutting our hearts down.  Those 2 p

This is a first for me. I never take the quizzes or questions that friends and family send me on my facebook. I have been known to rant about farmville, yoville, & whateverville from time to time. (It's not lost - It's not a real cow - get over it!)  Being new to the blogging community, it has been fun to follow all the interesting blogs and kind of get familiar with each of you and your creativeness.  Debbie from Love of the Sea  has been so nice to comment on my posts that I decided to go out of my comfort zone and try to answer her 8 questions. Hey Y'all #1 - Do you consider yourself a city girl or country girl?                                                                                         Well, I'll tell you what, I am a country girl but not a redneck. My people are from Tennessee & came to Florida in 1945. I love all things about country living but have no patience for small mindedness or intolerance. I'm not a hunter or fisherman altho

"I mean to lead a simple life, to choose a simple shell I can carry easily – like a hermit crab. But I do not. I find that my frame of life does not foster simplicity."  -  Anne Morrow Lindbergh ,  Gift from the Sea There are many different publishings of this book - This is my favorite cover Little gift books have never interested me. You know, those books that people buy  you for your birthday when they can't think of anything else to get you. That's why when I saw my first copy of "Gift From the Sea" I passed it by.  It just looked cheesy to me.  Sometime later  I was reading an article about The Lindbergh's - Charles & his wife Anne. Charles is the famous one you always hear about. Mention was made of Anne's amazing accomplishments for a woman living in a time long before the equality of woman was popular and that intrigued me.  Anne was college graduate, an aviator, a writer, and married to the most famous man on the planet and

It seems I have turned into a real beach bum these days. I am just loving the weather, it was mean low tide,  and I can get to Englewood Beach in 5 minutes from where I live.  I decided to try a part of the beach I usually stay away from. The reason I avoid this part of the beach is that all the teenagers hang out here. There is a big volley ball net.  All the kids here skim board so this part of the beach can be dangerous.  You either get beaned by a wayward ball or run over by a skim boarder in full run. But school's back in baby and it's safe again.  This part of the beach is bordered by condos and believe it or not a trailer park. That area of the beach  was basically deserted which as any good beach comber knows is less competition for any goodies laying around. The Round-a-bout at Englewood Beach I used my shell shovel on the surf line and was having some good results.  There was alot of this shell crush at the high surf line that caught my attention. I wal