The Essential Beachcomber

The shells stretch for miles on Tigertail Beach As an avid sheller I have a bucket list of places I would like to visit. Some of my shelling dreams like Costa Rica or Belize will require some planning but closer to home I can now cross Marco Island off my bucket list of places to go  shelling.  The shelling epicenter of Florida is Sanibel Island.  One of the fault lines runs about about 40 miles south to Marco Island.  Tuesday morning about 4am I loaded up the truck and my niece Shweekie & I headed to Tigertail Beach on Marco Island.  We intentionally arrived on Marco Island before dawn to go shelling on the beach with our flashlights. It was an early minus 1.10 foot low tide. That is a good thing for those of you that don't know.  What we discovered is that there are 2 beaches  open to the public on Marco Island but parking is limited. You can frequent any beach you like after they open the gates at 8am.  Until the park opens t...

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...

2 feet of snow My phone has been inundated with texts from snowbound relatives  and pictures of their houses buried beneath  all this white stuff...I think it's called snow. Well, it's cold here in Florida too. They don't want to hear it. I tell my sister up in Tennessee that  it's going to freeze tonight and that we have to cover the plants.... Like a poker game she sees my plants and raises me an ice-covered driveway. I guess everyone thinks that even when the mercury drops in Florida we are all still lolly gagging on the beach.Well, there is some truth to that. My lunch hour is usually spent at the local beach.  I can get there in 5 minutes so why not.  I just have to watch that the waves don't sneak attack me and send me back to work with wet shoes. So I bundled up with 2 coats, scarf, hood, & mittens and started up the beach for some power shelling when I spy this fella in a wet suit heading for the water. No way! It's 47 degrees with a 15 mph NW w...

I love books almost as much as I love sea shells. I have always been a reader.  As a young girl I learned early on that I could travel anywhere or I could be anybody as long as I had my nose in a book. So now on the sunny-side of middle age I find myself quite the frustrated librarian.  I have a huge entertainment/storage center that is the home to hubby's big honkin' tv and my books. I also have a bookshelf in my bedroom for all my special & collectible books. Most of what I collect is non-fiction.  My favorite being anything on shells, shell craft, or sea life particularly Florida. I especially love digging around in thrift stores and garage sales for a good buy. Who doesn't like paying .50 cents for a $19.95 book in the name of resourcing? The price says $1.50 but the copyright is 1970 when prices were a little cheaper. That same book would be at least $5.00 today brand new. $3.99 for a R. Tucker Abbott book that was originally $14.95 Anyone who has been ...

New moon, low tide - I'm there. Did I mention the low tide was at 6am? Those are the best. Even the most die-hard night owl can be convinced to forgo sleeping in and rise before the sun comes up once they experience the beauty of the beach as it wakes up.  I arrived at Blind Pass on Sanibel early Tuesday morning around 5am. It was pitch black because it was a new moon which means no moon. As I sat in my truck sipping my coffee and mentally preparing to get my shell on, my eyes gradually got used to the dark and the sky was full of stars. It was really dark because there is no enviromental lighting anywhere close.  It made the stars appear so near that I felt like I  could have reached out and touched one.  Then there was a shooting star that blasted across the sky. It reminded me of a chapter from my favorite book  "The Shack" where the main character Mac is laying on a dock on a lake at night watching the stars with Jesus. They were just hanging out and t...