The Last Hurrah

The Gulf was pretty angry this morning and it was very windy due to upcoming storms. It was obvious pretty quickly that one would need to be creative. But the sunrise never fails to impress!

The tidal pool offered very little this morning, but the live tulips and fighting conchs were still there...

You can see in the distance the salt spray, and the foam on the beach, this is a rarity here on the beach, the gulf is usually pretty calm...almost like a lake at times.

I ran into my new found Facebook friends, Cheri & Carol and told them goodbye, they weren't having much luck either.  We will meet again, soon I hope!

I did manage to find a place with pen shells to dig, but that didn't last very long as the tides were coming in very quickly. But, I got a few treasures!

...and I got another Alphabet cone, a nice paper fig and a tiny lace murex...

a tiny little keyhole limpet 

...and horse conch

Have I mentioned how much I love this beach?

Thanks so much for coming along with me on this trip, stay tuned, I have a few more stories to tell!

::Shelllady Hugs::

Buried Shelling

 It was pretty cloudy first thing, but the sunrise still gave us some beautiful color.

Shelling has slowed down quite a bit the last couple of days, but there is always something different to try. My Dad loved to dig, he would carefully look for a place that appeared to have buried pen shells, and he would sit right down, in the tidal pool or along the shoreline and dig. He would stay there for hours, and many times would go back to the same spot many days in a row.  It usually paid off for him too.

I thought about him today as I was doing a little bit of digging around the pen shells in the tidal pool.

 Most things in the tidal pool were live, like this BEAUTIFUL True Tulip, so I walked along the shoreline.

Sure enough, I walked on down the beach and found an area that looked like it might prove interesting....Do you see it? <You can click on the pic to make it larger>

The trick is, you have to get it between waves because the tide was coming in. Sometimes you'll miss some things as the waves pull them out and take them back into the gulf.

I found this pretty petite alphabet cone that way too!

Not too bad, Huh?  I think Daddy would be pretty proud!! :)

Love the spines on this jewel-box pair!

I even found this Cardita pair this way, first time I found both sides still together!

Will post tonight with today's finds!

::Shelllady Hugs::

Shelling is Spiritual

My time here is winding down, and as usual it has gone by much too quickly. My life here is very different from my 'real life', the beach is great therapy and God and I have many conversations along my early morning walks! My life up North is like everybody else, schedules, appointments, & daily routines. Here it is Shelling. I get up before the sun, go walking and shelling for a couple of hours... or more, get home, clean shells, take pictures of shells, take walks with my Hubby around the neighborhood and then blog about shells! I can't tell you how therapeutic that is, and I wouldn't change it for the world. I can only hope that I always appreciate it the way I do now, even if/when I get the opportunity to make this my full time home! 

I am a day behind....so this is Monday's post!

It was another beautiful sunset...

The Gulf was very calm, so I headed for the tidal pools....

It's always nice to find treasures in the tidal pools, but I enjoy seeing the live shells just as much! How beautiful is this?

Two of my favorite size horse conchs, both alive, and a sea star hanging out in a pen shell, a live banded tulip above and live fighting conch in the center....this is all under about 3 inches of water in the pool 

A congregation of live tulips and fighting conchs

My first live Keyhole Limpet!

and this tiny perfect little sea urchin, wearing a cross-barred venus shell!

I always manage to find some special things to bring home....today I picked up my first Crucifix...I told you Shelling is Spiritual!! In many ways!

I love it when I have to hit the books to find what a shell is, today I had to hit it twice, I don't believe I have ever found either of these shells before....
a Sunrise Tellin...

...and I believe this is a Purplish Semele...

Here are all my finds....

Notice, I did get two Alphabet Cones, not in very good shape, but I kept them, they have become difficult to find lately!

Nice size and color Apple Murex...

..and Horse Conchs

A couple of Lace Murex....

One of which I called a "Jekyll and Hyde" Lace Murex...one side is beautiful and lacy, and the other is very worn and ragged.

Maybe I will post today's adventure late tonight, then I will be on schedule!

Stay tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::

PS So sorry for the messy post....Blogger is having issues today!!

Night Shelling!

I have always wanted to try night shelling, especially during a low tide. Many years ago, my Dad and I went out late one evening, we had a good time, but didn't have much success. This week, I met a lady, in person, that I am facebook friends with, she wanted to go early also, and our Hubbys didn't want us to go alone, so we decided to try going out together....at 4:00 am! It was a beautiful night, and as you might imagine, I don't have a lot of pics since it was dark, but I did take a few with the help of flashlights and flashes! The tidal pools were full of all kinds of life....most of what you see is live!

That is a beautiful LIVE true tulip in the center of this pic! 

This is a middle sized Horse Conch filled with a HUGE hermit crab!

Many Large Horse Conchs still there!

This is my Favorite size Horse conch! But this one is alive!

We had a great time, a lot of good conversation and found out we have a lot in common, though the shelling wasn't great! It was fun though, and I would definitely do it again! I think our Hubbys are relieved, that gets them off the hook, at least sometimes! :) 
Ironically her name is CHERI also!!!

We managed to catch another beautiful sunrise!

I ended up doing pretty well! Here are my finds!

Lightning Whelks, Horse conchs, Paper figs, banded tulips, and even a couple of angel wings!

Another nice size lightning whelk

King's Crown and Olives

Lightning Whelks, Gaudy Nauticas and Sharks eyes

Stay tuned....more to come!

::Shelllady Hugs::