The Essential Beachcomber

"Royal Palm Manatees" painted by Scott "Scooter" Thompson. My first home was a boat.  My birth father was a frustrated fisherman who worked for the phone company during the day but fished every other waking breathing moment of his life.  We lived on a small charter boat that he finagled a slip for at a small city-owned marina in Clearwater back in 1958.  I learned to swim before I could walk.  For reasons beyond my control I have always had an affinity for the smell of diesel fuel, bait buckets, & men that...shall we say.. have potential.  Between Jesus & Dr. Phil I pretty much have all those issues under control except I just can't pass by a marina full of boats without stopping and taking a look around.  Imagine my delight at stumbling upon this little treasure right in my own backyard.  I was told by an Englewood resident that the restaurant Zeke's had the best hamburgers in town.  You just have to find the darn place.  Zeke's...

(Credit:  www.manmadediy.com) My great-aunt Annabelle was a shell artist.  Her big apartment was right on the harbor overlooking Clearwater Beach back in the 1960's.  Whenever my mom would take us with her to visit Aunt Annabelle I knew I would have to be a very good little girl because her little-old-lady dwelling was crammed full of antiques that were breakable & tables full of shells in the process of being colored with dye & glued into flowers, critters, & other shell works of art. As we climbed the front steps to Aunt Ann's house your nose was always greeted by the distinctive whiff of glue fumes.   Back in the day the only glue available for shell craft  was the kind that would give off a vapor that would make you a little woozy  & it took a quite a while to dry.   My mother carried on the shell crafting tradition.  She had her little plate with a puddle of glue.  She would dip her toothpick in and dab a littl...

Keep close to nature's heart... and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean. - John Muir

Let it be known that TEB is now officially in the Christmas spirit!

The Hubbs was installing speakers in the living room for a surround sound so I figured  it would be a good time to make myself busy (quickly) before I got appointed the designated Gofer.  You know - Honey, can you go fer the speaker wire I forgot?  Honey, can you go fer a special screw diver I need from Home Depot?  Honey, can you go fer a Band-Aid? All the sudden despite poor tides & cool winds, it is looking like a really good shelling day.   I started the day on Bonita Springs & ended it with the sunset on Sanibel - Blind Pass to be exact.  The sand bar is back on the Captiva side with lots of shells.  There was also a nice shell pile on the jetty.  I got hit straight-away with a huge wave which soaked the better part of my levis & sweatshirt (I saved the camera & iPhone though) Oh well.  I'm not going home till I know that speaker project is finished. Little Hickory 10-spot Blind Pass on the Captiva Side ...

(Credit:  www.flickr.com/photos/getthebubbles/with/73962916) The turkey is eaten, the leaves have fallen, & baby, it's starting to get cold outside.  Don't pack up that bathing suit so fast.  If it's 5 o'clock somewhere then it's summer somewhere as well.  That somewhere would be on the opposite side of the globe from the US in the continent of  Australia.  As we here in the US start bundling up for winter the Aussies are heading to the beach.  I have always loved everything about Australia. Their sports teams play like warriors, the people have an authenticity about them, & their accent is really cool.  The diversity of the terrain & climate range from tropical regions in the north through the arid expanse of the interior to the temperate regions of the south. Australia is surrounded by water & has 1,600 miles of coastline. For a beachcomber such as myself that many possible miles of beaches could keep me occupied for a long l...

OMGoodness....is it the holidays already?  I still have a bag of Christmas wrapping paper in my closet that I was going to take to my storage closet from last year & never did.  Sometimes I watch Martha Stewart in all her holiday perfection, making homemade felt mice candy cane holders & recycled snowflake garland & I just want to punch her.  Really.  Seriously.  Who has the time or the extra money for this stuff? So, I'm off to the grocery store for my 2nd Thanksgiving shopping trip to buy all the stuff I forgot the 1st trip. The Salvation Army has gotten a jump on things & is already stationed at both doors ring ring ring ringing away. I got a text from someone who saw a line of people camped out in front of Best Buy for Black Friday.  Have we all just lost our minds?   I head back to the meat department to buy my turkey before my mother gets back from out-of-town where she is visiting friends.  If I buy it before she ge...

Please forgive me for bragging but I had a hot date on Friday night.  Well, at least at my age & being married and all.... it is what I consider a hot date.  There was no fancy restaurant or movie tickets involved.  I did dress up in my best Columbia long-sleeved tee.  My dates (yes dates plural.  I told you I was bragging) showed up dressed casual as well but they brought along a cast net, 2 long-handled bait nets, & a couple of fishing poles.  These fellas know how to show a girl a good time. This is Indian Mound Park on Lemon Bay in Englewood,  FL.  Mostly used for launching boats it's not a fancy county park but it's location on the bay is perfect for beachcombers & future marine biologists who love to walk the sea grass with their nets to see what they can find. In the early 1900's Lemon Bay was a prime spot for fishing, mainly mullet.  The stories go that the mullet were so thick your boat would be full by the time yo...