Archive for Christmas
Shellebrating The Season On Captiva Florida
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Santa brought seashells for Christmas on Captiva!
Blind Pass Captiva was still producing shells yesterday which always makes me happy because when the shells arrive, so do lots of shelling friends too. I met iLoveShelling Facebook friend Mike Ryan (Fort Myers) for the first time.
He found this perfect SEA WHIP with an ATLANTIC WING OYSTER and a ONE-TOOTH SIMNIAattached. Nice find Mike!
Connor, Natalie and Jim (aka Elvis!) from Virginia found Santa’s seashells stash!
They collected lots of the Sanibel Six but these were their faves…. lots of GIANT BITTERSWEETS, part of a JUNONIA, CONES, CANDY (HORSE CONCH), a FLAT SCALLOP, a CALICO SCALLOP and a WORMIE!
I introduced you to some of these girls on Friday, but I didn’t realize they were all together. They met in Sanibel while shelling 7 years ago and they have gotten together every year since to shell together. Isn’t that fabulous??? Shelling Sisters forever… Joan (TN), Dawn (NJ), Glenda (England) and Bonnie (NJ)….
It was nice to see another lucky family shellebrating the holidays on the beach collecting seashells- Travis, Jill, Keith and Aden (MI). Good to see you again, Jill!
Clark and I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and send lots of warm Florida sunshine and shells. Will cyber shelling warm you up, (Parker)??? Find all the shells you want by clicking on the next photo to enlarge…
Merry Christmas!
My Best Christmas Gift Is The Gift Of Seashell Knowledge
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Santa came early to my house this year! How did he know that I have been jonesing for the bivalve book Seashells of Southern Florida by Mikkelsen & Bieler for an entire year? It’s a very expensive book so I could never pull the trigger on buying it for myself. Well Santa must have known my dilemma and whispered the idea in the ear of thoughtful friends……. MurexKen and MurexAlice!
OMG! I still can’t believe it! Really, I can’t thank yall enough! They invited Clark and me over to their lovely gulf front condo (check it out! They rent it out throughout the year when they aren’t here- CLICK HERE) to present this incredibly thoughtful gift. I’ve already put the book to good use! And thanks to my brother Doug, for the beautiful Christmas flower arrangement we’ve gotten so much enjoyment already too- it makes for a gorgeous backdrop for photos, right?
Here’s a sneak peak of some of the shells I’ve collected but not identified…until now. I’ll post photos of the shells I learned tomorrow along with another special treat I received! It makes me so happy because now I will be able to share more information with you. It makes it so much more enjoyable to learn together. Merry Christmas!
Cutest Golf Cart Parade Ever
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This is yet another reason why I love living in paradise. We dress up for the holidays in shorts and flip flops and decorate golf carts as our floats for the Christmas parade. It’s cute, quirky and very Captiva.
John (AKA Elvis) and Denice Beggs of Royal Shell Real Estate celebrated with a “Blue Christmas”…
These gals were the fan favorites in their Naughty and Nice Pink Flamingo golf cart…
Can you believe there is a golf cart inside Kingfisher Vacations‘ Mighty Reindeer?
Look how adorable!
VIP Real Estate turned their whole golf cart into Santa himself…
Did you know that Rudolph The Red Nose Flamingo lives in Captiva?
…or did you know that snow flakes could get this big on Captiva?
I’m sure its no surprise there are mermaids on Captiva…
And Elves!
Captiva Kayak Company was one of the big winners of the best float. Cute!
For me, one of the best parts of the parade was before it even started. As we pulled the Junonia Jalopy into the lineup, we met iLoveShelling buddies Diane and Steve from Connecticut. It was so nice to meet yall! Hope you find lots of treasure this week.
The oh-so-cute Raccoon Captiva Critter Christmas float was on the move…
Les Pendleton of American Realty Of Captiva (they made the Raccoon float above!) filmed the whole parade. So you get to see it too! Happy Holidays from the Captiva Holiday Village Golf Cart Parade, thanks to Les!
While we were having all this fun at the parade, Donnie Benton was busy shelling Blind Pass and this is what he found.
Nice, huh? But look at this SCOTCH BONNET!
And he found this freakish FIGHTING CONCH. Very cool.
Over on West Gulf Drive, Gail and Alicia found a MacDaddy 12 inch HORSE CONCH. And it was Gail’s birthday…that’s a great birthday gift from the sea! What a weekend.
Shelling For The Holidays
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The holiday season is in full swing on Sanibel and Captiva islands so I have been a busy little elf! First of all, I’d like to introduce the brand new i Love Shelling 2012 Calendar chock full of beautiful Sanibel photos and of course our beloved seashells. Now you can enjoy shelling 12 months of the year!
Here’s a sneak peak of January’s sunset photo and CLICK HERE to see all 12 months and get one for yourself or as a gift for your shelling buddy.
We also hit the beaches this week to find a few shells and lots of Beach Bling. We found big old WHELK and CONCH pieces I love for yard shells along with a few SEA WHIPS, LONG SPINED SEA URCHINS, PURPLE SEA URCHINS, PEN SHELLS, CRAB SHELLS and this little BRITTLE STAR too.
There were lots of DOSINIAS mixed in with hundreds of SAILORS EARS and TRANSVERSE ARKS…
I even saw a few bones scattered along the beach. These are from bait in the crab traps in the gulf that get tossed around in rough surf.
STONE CRABS are what lots of those traps are made to catch. When fishermen bring in the traps, they only take one claw from a STONE CRAB since the claws have the best meat. They throw the crab back without killing it because they know the crab can eat and defend itself with only one claw until another claw grows back. Here is a STONE CRAB claw lying on the beach that could have been a good appetizer if it had been freshly caught. Darn!
There were HORSESHOE CRABS too …
And a BLUE CRAB…
I also saw this MOON SHELL (SHARK’S EYE) EGG COLLAR…
I met a wonderful local man Frank, who moved here in 1964 and still loves to walk the beaches and pick up shells especially with his daughter Connie. He told me he was 87 but he looks like he is no older than 72! Thank you Frank for your service for our country in WW2.
Here are some of the mini shells Frank and Connie collected when I saw them along Middle Gulf Drive.
I also have photos of the yesterday’s oh-so-fun Captiva Holiday Village golf cart parade. Here’s one picture of our Junonia Jalopy but I’ll have to show you the rest tomorrow. It was a blast! All of the other cart were so darn cute!
Check out my new tee shirt! I wore my new “Oh CONE All Ye Faithful” Christmas design v-neck tee. I got so many compliments- so much fun ! And don’t forget to check out the 2012 i Love Shelling Calendar too….. and the new online i Love Shelling Shop….. Or the fun faves at Shelling Shop. You see? I’ve been a little Santa’s helper for the good seashell loving girls and boys. Ho Ho Ho!
i Love Shelling Shop, Open For The Holidays!
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It’s gonna be a seashell Christmas!
The beaches have been quiet this past week so being inspired by all of you who have encouraged me to sell some of my designs and photos, I decided to open a new online shop. I started with my Christmas designs since the holidays are right around the corner!
You can have these designs on t-shirts, mugs, Christmas cards, ornaments, coasters and more.
These are great gift items for your favorite sheller or for yourself to brighten the holiday.
I also designed a new Sanibel Six logo since we’ve been talking about these great finds all year long. You can now have this design on tees, mugs, coasters too.
I will be adding a calendar, I.D. posters and a few other designs like my original i Love Shelling shirt but it will take a few more days. So I hope you are as excited about this as much as I am but I promise I will get back on the beach this weekend and give you an update. If you already haven’t clicked on one of the photos to take you to the i Love Shelling Shop, here’s the link to shellebrate the new shop.
Thank you for your support!!
