A Little Larger Mini adventure--"Shopping for Sea Whips!"

We all need empty hours in our lives or we will have no time to create or dream.  ~Robert Coles

The workers finished at the house around 3:00 so Hubby and I decided to grab the chance to go to Sanibel to do a little shelling, but first to the Sanibel Fish House for an early dinner. The service was slow and by the time we got to the beach it was after 4:30. The wind was still really blowing, and the water was very churned up.

We could tell that it had been blowing quite a bit by the 'beach bling' on the beach, pen shells, egg cases, sea whips and all kinds of interesting things.

They are Horse Conch egg cases! I hope they all got out there and will grow up!! :)

There must have been hundreds of these Ponderous Arks with sea whips attached!

Twins!!

How about this for Saddle bags!!

This was all perfect for me because I was actually looking for Sea Whips for an idea I have for a project! How many people that you know can just go out and 'shop' the beach for what they want? I think it is just awesome, and it felt like shopping.  I was looking specifically for minis of all kinds and sea whips! We only stayed a little less than 2 hours, but it was so nice to finally get to the beach.  We only have a couple of days left. 

....back to the adventure...

Hubby actually stumbled across several of these huge horse conchs when we first got out there....aren't they beautiful in an old crusty sort of way?

When we were heading back in, I ran across this little guy, he is called a pygmy octopus, he is a little smaller than the palm of your hand. He was well out of the water and obviously not at all happy about it.  I took the opportunity to snap a couple of quick pictures and then picked him up in a large shell and took him out a little deeper so maybe he could make it.  I wish I could have videoed him while I was carrying him, he was very active, it was so cool!

I have only found one skate case, or 'mermaids purse' in all the years we have been coming to Sanibel, and that was many years ago! Today I found 2 of them and they were quite large! I couldn't tell if they were still in there, but I put them back in the gulf just in case.

Here is a pic for you to do some cybershelling should you have the urge!

We didn't get a lot of shells, but we did still find some minis and a few other goodies...

I have some idea for these pen shells as well, they are very colorful! 

A tiny painted egg cockle (found 3 of them)and even tinier murex! 

if you look closely you will see a baby's ear! and dog whelks I believe

...and I did a good job "shopping" for sea whips!

I have always been fascinated by the sea whips and there must have been thousands of them on the beach, most were attached to live shells, but I did find many that weren't. I hope they keep their beautiful maroon color, I cleaned them well and tried to seal them, we'll see how they do.  Stay tuned, I have plans!

We decided to go out this afternoon instead of first thing this morning....Hubby is telecommuting....how about this for an office!!

::Hugs::

Cheri

Rain Day....Being resourceful...More to be done!

"I Know it is Wet and the Sun is not Sunny, But We Can have Lots of Good Fun That is Funny." ~Dr. Seuss

We got up to strong winds and threatening clouds yesterday morning so opted not to try to go to the beach especially since we still have lots to do at the house. (I was hoping to go again for a mini adventure after dinner!) We finished hanging the curtains down stairs....I know, I know it seems like we are working slowly.  We have to drill into stucco, which is essentially concrete, so we are still learning with our new hammer drill! Now we are experts 26 holes and anchors later! We like the new curtains and we can easily push them out of the way so we can see out our beautiful new windows! Today was a day of being resourceful, and making things work.

I finished refinishing the last 2 chairs of our dining room set and will install the seat cushions probably tonight....and take pics! They look awesome!

We wanted something light for lunch so I decided to get creative in the kitchen too!! I was going to make salsa for nachos with just what I had in the fridge...keep in mind, we don't live here full time, and I just grabbed some 'staples' from the Super Target when I got the curtain rods for upstairs. We were both very pleased with the salsa and I will be doing this again! It was great! I need to write it down so here is as good as any place and maybe you will try it and like it!

One tomato chopped, (they are fresh here!)
one baby yellow sweet pepper, 
half a clove of garlic mashed with sea salt into a paste, 
1 to 2 Tbsp sugar, 
dash of cumin, dash of pepper flakes, 
1/4 cup finely chopped sweet onion, 
~1/2-1 tbsp olive oil, 
freshly ground seasalt, pepper,
dash of parsley flakes

put all into saucepan and simmer ~ 10-15 minutes with lid on, stir well!

It was sweet and spicy!!

After lunch, I worked on our front porch and installed my homemade wreath and the 'palm trees' on the wall, I like them very much there, it feels more like home all the time!!

...I also installed my 2 new shadowboxes I made since last trip!

I brought my small bottles and will be attempting an idea I saw on pinterest, making a shadow box of sorts for the wall....I will show you hopefully tomorrow! I did bring some of my mini shells, part of my organizing that was done in the last couple of weeks! Isn't it funny, I got them here....took them all the way home, and now have brought them back!

Mini apple murex in the center and tulips on the left

One of my favorites, Mini horse conch

Mini lightning whelks 

Mini shark's eye 

Shark's teeth

And my Mini collection of wentletraps....gotta get me some more of these!

Even though we didn't make it to the beach, we still get to play with shells! We still couldn't go this morning...the final 2 windows going in now, I plan on hitting it whenever they are finally done! The storms yesterday brought dry cool air, and it is just gorgeous!! Hopefully my next post will be full of beach adventures!

::Hugs::

Cheri

Busy Day and a Mini Adventure!

“Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.” ~ Dr. Seuss

We have made it to Ft. Myers!! We intended on getting here on Saturday, but life got in the way for a little bit, so we got here Sunday afternoon! Most of the day today was spent working around the condo, (we had all new windows put in) hanging curtains, buying new curtain rods and supplies, changing locks, assembling new bedside tables etc... Funny, it doesn't seem like work, we work and shop together and it's just part of making our place more like home! 

Here are our new downstairs windows, they are so awesome, there are 2 sets, the center window of each set is a clear view window with no screens and there are sliding windows on either side. He had to rebuild a wall and stuccoed it so we will need to paint next trip, but it just looks amazing, and nearly the whole wall is glass!

We have a full glass door now so Lily can see out too! :)

And we were greeted with our bird of paradise bush blooming

I fixed an early dinner and decided to jump in the car and run to the beach for about an hour. How awesome is that, less than 10 minutes including traffic and lights and I'm at the beach! I decided to go to Bunche Beach here in Ft. Myers for just a mini adventure. Bunche Beach is just across from Sanibel and is mostly mud flats so you can expect to see some of my favorites, rose tellins, kings crowns, angel wings, oysters and all kinds of interesting things. So come along with me on a mini adventure....

We are supposed to have a cold front through tonight and possibly some storms so it was getting pretty windy. 

Sanibel Bridge 

Lots of rocks along the beach

Lots of oysters, and they are all so "frilly"

Kings Crowns are here...

Angel wings too....

A cow fish....how strange is this guy? My Dad and I used to catch them when we fished from an old bridge in Panama City when we lived there many years ago. See his 'horns'? (You can click the picture to enlarge it)

A little closer view of this guy....looks angry from this side! 

I believe this monster fish is a grouper!

Kings Crown eggs....

and last but not least.....a pirate ship, didn't expect that!

I couldn't resist taking a video of this little guy....he is called a marbled marsh crab

I picked up a few little minis on my mini adventure...

More tomorrow!

::Hugs::

Cheri

Update:Organizing and Installations complete...for now!

The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more. ~Jonas Salk

I completed my shell organizing and am now ready to add to my collection!! I was very surprised to find things that I had I didn't remember!! Like several winged oysters (mixed in here with mussels). I used 3 sets in the wreaths I made.

I also found this murex, I think it might be a well worn Cabrit's murex, but I am not really sure!!

I had no idea I had so many king's crowns either. I need to get some muratic acid and see if I can restore their beautiful color.

It was a lot of work, but I am very pleased with my shell organization in the garage.  It was very cold out there, but I was warm inside pretending I was at the beach! I don't know about you, but a lot of the shells I remember exactly where I found them, and it brought back lots of wonderful memories. How about this for being organized?

I made a trip to do some family business to Jess and Brad's and installed their new wreath on their door while they were at work.

I think it looks nice against their black door.  I think they were pleased with it, and I hope it brings back memories for them as well. It was supposed to be nearly spring like there last weekend, highs in the 60s, I was looking forward to some warm weather for a change.  Imagine my surprise when I got up Sunday morning to leave and it was snowing!! As I headed home, it snowed more and more and became a winter wonderland.  I thought it was supposed to be March!

How crazy is this?? As I got closer to home, the temperature rose to 45 and I ran out of the snow, thank goodness!

One of our favorite restaurants is a local little place in town, we go there at least once a week and have grown close to the manager.  She had a birthday last Friday so I decided to try my hand at making some jewelry. 

I was pleased with how they came out, and realized I need to concentrate on getting some more small shells...hmmmm is a trip to paradise in my near future??? I think I will make a list of things I need to 'pick up'. :)

I also installed the wreath on my Mom's door, along with a spring wreath I made her last year.

That just leaves one more wreath for installation......you got it, the one on our front door in Ft. Myers! Another thing to add to the list.....hmmmm maybe a trip is in our near future.  Actually, we were going to leave today, but I am working with making some arrangements for my Mom, so we had to delay a day, hopefully we will head down tomorrow.  We both are in need of some R&R (Rest and Relaxation). Also, I am anxious to see our new windows that were installed this week. Stay tuned hopefully my next post will be from paradise!

::Hugs::

Cheri