Sarah’s Seashell Chandelier
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Sarah's chandelier
Sarah is one of my best friends but she isn’t a sheller. She does her shelling in my garage when she comes to visit. Sarah is an artist and this shell chandelier is a spectacular piece that she just hung in her home in Virginia Beach this year. Unbelievable! She has such a detailed eye and it shows in every inch of it. She picked the perfect spot to show it off! Gorgeous!
Sarah's chandelier closeup
Stunning, huh?
Two years ago she came to visit for a week so she decided she wanted to make a shell mirror while she was visiting. We went thrift store shopping to find an old frame then I dragged her to the beach to figure out what kinds of shells she wanted to use. We found a few to start but that’s when she decided that picking through our shells in the garage was much easier. Clark teased her that she could only go in there for “supervised visits” so she wouldn’t take the best shells. LOL
Sarah's mirror
She wanted to use a few starfish and sea glass for accents so we went to a few shell shops to find her the perfect finishing touches.
Sarah's mirror closeup
Now you see why I’m so crazy about her…. it was so much fun to spend our time planning her project and to see her create this gorgeous piece before my eyes. Of course, this would be my favorite piece because of the great memory.
Speaking of memories, I will have another good memory from yesterday. I was a nominee for the 2010 Elaine McLaughlin Outstanding Hospitality Service Awards. I didn’t even know that there was such a thing until I got the notification that I was nominated for the category of “Other Services” for iLoveShelling.com. The winners are chosen by a committee with criteria such as satisfaction, work ethic, compassion, and familiarity with our community. Who knew? I didn’t! I didn’t win but it was such an honor to be included with such thoughtful people in our community.
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Manatee Grass and Hermit Crabs
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Manatee grass
It looks like julienned coconuts, parmesan cheese or some sort of spaghetti, doesn’t it? There are wash lines of MANATEE GRASS at the tip of the lighthouse beach. We finally had a beautiful day so I needed to get out on the beach whether there were shells or no shells. Unfortunately, not many keepers. There were clam shells and scallops and that’s about it for shells.
Tree roots at the lighthouse
And the SHARK’S TOOTH frenzy in Manasota Key continues! Our friends Joe and Manuela took a day trip down to Stump Pass and found their first shark’s teeth……83 of them.
Shark Tooth Joe (Ft Myers)
I have another video for you! I didn’t do fancy editing or add any music this time. It’s just a raw piece that shows exactly what I saw for 5 minutes. A hermit crab took a new home in a KING’S CROWN and was so happy that he was doing the happy dance …. Another crab in a MUREX shell peeking out .. .A pelican flying so low he was teasing the water…. the sky so rich. Enjoy.
Big, scary Hurricane Earl is headed toward the east coast and already stirring up the waters on our side so we are keeping a close eye on the weather and keeping our fingers crossed that he just fizzles out before any damage occurs.
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Dash To The Beach
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Roseate Spoonbill feather
We had a little window to dash to the beach last night before the rain came again ….. so we took the chance to run down to West Gulf Drive and parked at the local’s beach access #7. I found my first Roseate Spoonbill feather within the first 5 minutes! I’m lucky. I feel lucky I found the feather and I’m lucky I have a wonderful husband to share these experiences with in my life.
My dash
I was reminded today of just how fortunate we are while attending a funeral service of an island friend who lived a long life and enjoyed every minute. As the Reverend remembered some funny stories and all of the joy he gave to so many people, she pointed out that when a person is remembered you always see the date after their name like this …..1931-2010. Their birth date and the date they died. In between those dates is a dash. That dash represents their whole entire life…. birthdays, holidays, weddings, family reunions, trips to the beach, dinners with friends … everything. Our friend Bob had a very big dash.
Banded Tulip seashell in surf
I like my dash too.
Hermit crab in a Murex shell
We meet such nice people enjoying their dash.
Don (St Augustine, FL)
Our best shells last night
Every moment is a collection of treasures.
Indigo sky falling on aqua sea
Even if we only have a few minutes to dash to the beach, we like to take it. I hope you are enjoying your dash too.
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Manhattan Island… less than 1 mile from Sanibel Island
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Jeff (Manhattan)
In between rain showers this week, Jeff was finding some shells but most of the really good ones were alive like this big LIGHTNING WHELK he found in front of Island Inn.
Jeff with a live fighting conch
a photo of Jeff of a photo of conch
While I shot Jeff taking a photo of this conch, he told me he was from New York, New York. Manhattan Island. I shared a little fun fact with him.
Did you know that Manhattan is about the same size as Sanibel?
Manhattan
Sanibel
Manhattan is 13.4 miles long and 2.3 miles wide. Sanibel is around 12 miles long and 3 miles at its widest. Weird concept, huh?
Don’t forget…
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Day Trip For Shark’s Teeth
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Shark tooth enthusiast David (Canada)
Eleven year old David was the perfect guy to meet on the Blind Pass Park beach in Englewood to ask about finding SHARK’S TEETH. Clark and I took a day trip up to Manasota Key (about an hour and a half from Sanibel) to look for shark’s teeth yesterday and met David while we were searching (and finding!). He knew everything there was to know about the history of a shark’s tooth and how to find them. “Every time a shark bites something, he loses teeth. Then that tooth is replaced by another in the row right behind it…..like a vending machine!” He even saved $250 of his own money to be submerged in a cage surrounded by sharks in Orlando. Now that tells you how crazy David is about sharks!
David's shark's teeth
You can see how long David had been hanging out in the water….look at his finger tips! LOL But better yet, look at all the shark’s teeth!
Joanne (Port Charlotte)
This is David’s grandmother that he was visiting in Port Charlotte. She’s a collector too.
Shark's tooth on the beach
This is what the good “tooth piles” (I’m so used to saying “shell piles”!) look like. Did you find the tooth?
Shark's tooth screening
This shark’s tooth screen that blog buddy Karen gave me (see it on Shark’s Teeth Treasure post) was so easy to use. Clark’s pointing at two teeth in one scoop. It works great, thanks Karen!
So, can you guess how many teeth Clark and I found together in about one hour? No?
Our shark's teeth loot
One hundred and eighty three …. that’s 183! …and a fun little rock with a hole in it (top left) that Clark picked up.
Blind Pass Beach- Englewood
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The Cone Collector
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Clark's cones
Clark found 2 fantastic ALPHABET CONES and a pretty FLORIDA CONE to boot this afternoon at Gulf Side City Park (aka Algier’s Park) all within 20 yards of each other. “Nothing better than finding cones” Clark always says.
Clark, his shelling backhoe and his cones
He also found the TULIPS, OLIVES and MUREXES and found them all by using the backhoe at the surf’s edge……unlike me. I was up on the beach searching the shell lines but came up with a big goose egg, nada, zilch, zippo for shells but I did get a few nice shots of the the surf and sky.
Path to Paradise
Sea blues
Shells at the jetty
I stopped by Blind Pass this morning and saw shells in the surf, a brilliant blue sky with puffy white clouds and absolutely gorgeous water. Ahhhh.
Sea Shells and Sky
Don’t forget to sign up for the Write From The Beach GiveAway! Click on GiveAway !
Write From The Beach GiveAway!
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a Sand Dollar.... breathes through its feet
I have been combing the beaches all my life finding seashells and beach treasures, viewing sea life and beach birds. This summer I was so inspired by all of these beautiful beach creatures I photograph and blog about that I decided to pick up the paint brush again. One thing led to another and before I knew it, I had 16 designs that I packaged into notecard gift packs with FUN FACTS about each sea creature for a fun twist. Check a few out…..
a Horse Conch ... makes ocean sounds if it's next to your ear
a Dolphin ... sleeps with one eye open and one eye closed
They really do! Half of their brain sleeps while the other half is awake…. so the half that’s asleep- the eye closes.
a White Pelican ... has an average wingspan of 10 feet
They are HUGE!
Here’s what the front of the Sea Life box looks like…
a Seahorse ... has a single mate for life
There are 4 designs (2 each) in each 8-pack box of Seashells, Beach Treasures, Sea Life and Birds.
Back of the Beach Treasures box
So now you know what I’ve been up to when I’m not blogging. I am very excited that some of my favorite retailers already have them in their stores- check them out! Click on Store Locations .
AND now for the GIVEAWAY!……
Win 4 boxes of Write From The Beach notecards as a “thank you” for your inspiration….
- i Love Shelling Seashells
- Sea Life
- Hello, Birdies
- Beach Treasures
- Free Shipping in U.S. (outside U.S.?- We’ll work something out)
Here’s how to win……
Go to WriteFromTheBeach.com to look at all 4 boxed notecards and photos of each individual card, then come back here to make a comment HERE ON THIS POST (comments on Writefromthebeach.com will be disqualified-sorry!). Just tell me which ones you like best…or any comment will do because the pick will be random.
That’s it! Just make a comment HERE on or before Friday, September 3, 2010
If you don’t know how to make a comment- Click on the Title of this post (Write From The Beach GiveAway!) and scroll to the bottom then follow directions. Or you can click on the number in parenthesis (for example (1) or (0) ) after where it says “By pam – Comments” under the post title.
What is this Stuff on the Beach?
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Sea Pork surfing
This Sea Pork looks like tar
Is it an organ of a marine animal? Is it a tar ball? Is it the beginning of another attack of The Blob? Nope, it is Sea Pork. They are rubbery globs of cellulose that house tiny zooids that filter seawater as food. Wild! If you want more technical info visit http://www.mitchellspublications.com/guides/shells/articles/0084/ . For me? I just like to look at their weirdness. Have you seen them on the beach too?
This Sea Pork looks like a sponge
Sea Pork orange
Sea Pork curly
Sea pork brainy
Sea Pork black
Another Huge Horse Conch, Angel Wing Too
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Alphabet Cone, Shark's Eyes, Whelk, Angel Wing
These are just a few shells that were in Jonathan and Kelly’s shell bucket yesterday at the lighthouse beach. That ALPHABET CONE was about 2 1/2 inches long and the ANGEL WING was around 5 1/2 inches. Do you know how hard it is to find a whole angel wing so large at that beach? Actually, Jonathan said it wasn’t on the beach. He said they were out in the water waist to chest high digging around. Want to see what else they found there a few days earlier?
Jonathan's horse conch seashell 12 inches
Wow! It still has that dark color underneath those barnacles. He was hoping most of those barnacles would pop off with a little soaking when they get home to Kentucky. I’m hoping he’ll send an “after” picture when it gets cleaned up. This was the 2nd time shelling…… do you think they’re gonna be hooked? 
Shellers Jonathon and Kelly (Kentucky)
Kelly's shell bucket
There were all sorts of goodies washing in! Everybody was finding treasure.
Carolyn's (Iowa) lightning whelks and tulips
Garrett (Cape Coral) with Sanibel shells
And last but not least…. Dear friends Gabie and Grace from Miami with their hands filled with shells found on the beach at Sundial Resort. Aren’t they sooooo cute?
Gabbie and Grace with seashells
15 Inch Horse Conch and Cabrit’s Murex
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Kelly's 15 inch horse conch ..... Photo by Linda
Conch-A-Bunga!!! That’s a humongous HORSE CONCH!
I just got this note from Kelly…..
“Hi Pam, I found this 15 inch FL horse conch recently at Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin and 2 minutes later while jumping for joy my friend Linda found a 10 inch one. It was high times at low tide for sure. Kelly”
Linda's 10 inch horse conch ..... Photo by Kelly
OMG- What a day!!! I’m sure they are still celebrating. Congratulations on TWO awesome finds and thank you for sharing. HONEYMOON ISLAND STATE PARK
And that’s not all, folks! My friend Sherrill found a CABRIT’S MUREX at Blind Pass yesterday. Wowee!
Cabrit's Murex photo by Sherrill
This is a pretty rare shell to find on our islands (it’s still not on the Bailey Matthews Shell Museum website) especially since it still has some of those fabulous spines still intact. This is gorgeous! Don’t you think? Congratulations!
Cabrit's Murex 2 photo by Sherrill
Sherrill’s words about her new treasure-
“……couldn’t believe how fragile it is… almost like a paper fig in thickness, and it looked like it was made of spun sugar! Nature is absolutely amazing. I can’t believe it survived crashing waves and tons of people walking on that pile of shells.“
