Archive for Calico
As Our Beach Paths Cross
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My high school friend Miyuki came to visit (!) so I had a blast showing her around the island on bikes, gabbing and giggling about old times. We hadn’t seen each other in probably 15 years so I wanted the whole day to be an adventure. So, of course, we had to start the day by getting to the beach…. at dawn…. with our lighted caps.
This was her first big find of the morning… a perfect ALPHABET CONE!
The she picked up a beautiful CALICO SCALLOP and said “This is my favorite shell of the trip because it seems sooooo Sanibel”. Awwww, so sweet, huh?
Miyuki has always been a photographer. In all of the years I’ve known her, she has always had a camera in her hand so I was so happy to see she hasn’t changed one bit. She always tries to capture beautiful moments in time.
I caught her switching from her 35 millimeter to her iPhone to share the moment immediately with her family back in Virginia. Don’t you love technology these days?
You know how it is after you get home from a trip. Everything is crazy trying to catch up with life and family. So I haven’t received any of her photos yet of this sunrise and her shell collection (I’ll add a link when I get them) ….. but this is my photo of those gorgeous sun beams shining through the clouds that morning…
I’m so thankful that our lives have crossed the same path again…
As adults, we get in the groove of our own lives and don’t often get to see our oldest friends. It’s always a treat to take a step back and remember our young selves and how many laughs we shared.
Glad you got to meet her! Take a look at some of Miyuki’s work at MiyukisPhotography.com.
i Love Shelling In A Pink Tutu
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I am so glad I didn’t wear my pink tutu to the beach shelling yesterday because I know I wouldn’t have looked this stinkin cute. Clare (CT) was workin her adorability showing us all how to look good picking up shells. Such a little cutie petutie! I’ll have to think twice before I break out my tutu again after seeing how well it can be worn…… and the fashion police might lock me up for good. 
So after seeing Clare, I had pink on the brain and fell in love with this pretty little pink SCALLOP shell.
And guess who else I saw…. Penny from Jupiter (in the pretty pink shorts) with her friend Faye.
Penny found this “pinkish” PURPLISH TAGELUS half….
I ran down to Blind Pass Captiva side today to see what kind of shells were there and to see if there were any changes since last week. Of course there were changes!
I’m not sure when all that seaweed floated it but it was nice to see that ledge wasn’t still there that I showed 2 weeks ago (to see click here).
I found sisters Cheryl (NJ) and Cindy (IL) sittin’ and siftin’ for shells in that pile that has come and gone a few times high on the beach. They were finding good shells! This was Cindy’s bucket filling up with OLIVES, CONCHS, pink SCALLOPS and yes, that’s a FLORIDA CONE right on top.
This was Cheryl’s shell bag with a perfect little pink FLAT SCALLOP, a NUTMEG, plenty of CALICO CLAMS, KITTEN’S PAWS and more pink CALICO SCALLOPS….
Okay yes, I had a short little affair with pink but you know what is my true love and gives me huge warm and fuzzies when I see it? Aqua! Especially when it’s an i Love Shelling tee shirt on some cutie Shelling Sistahs surrounded by aqua and seashells! Oh, can it get much better?
Jeri, Lori and Candy (Spokane, WA)
Sanibel Seashells In The Surf
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Ten minutes. This is how long it took to find these little minis in the surf line by Fulger Street yesterday evening. Yes, I have an advantage, Super Sheller Clark was with me ….but still, it’s a nice little assortment. There is a beautiful sand bar visible at low tide that collects miniatures shells and lots of the big FIGHTING CONCHS, WHELKS and basically the Sanibel Six right in between the bars.
Here’s a video to show you exactly where we were, what to look for and how to pick them out…
We found other goodies too yesterday …..
No, I didn’t find these three lovelies all together like this but I found all three in the shallow water half way buried within…oh, maybe 20 yards of each other. Then a walked along to find these….
A few other finds along the way…..
I call this the “sea cucumber sandwich”. Ha! I found this SEA CUCUMBER inside a double DOSINIA. A cuke in a blanket!
The CALICO SCALLOPS are so colorful!
Michelle and Aggie (MI) were collecting DOSINIAS, COCKLES and FIGHTING CONCHS.
Michelle found a few empty ATLANTIC GIANT COCKLES with both sides together.
Aggie was especially happy she found this little sweet PEAR WHELK.
Shallow water wonderland.
Lucky Shelling Scoop
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Clark's Scotch Bonnet
Clark found another SCOTCH BONNET!!!! This is crazy! We both found one in December for the first time and now he found another one within a couple of months.
Clark's Scotch bonnet aperture
Wow…. pretty, huh? He said finding it was pure luck. We went to Sanibel side of Blind Pass yesterday and Clark took his shelling backhoe scoop out to the exposed sand bar at low tide. He just kept scooping blindly on the gulf side of the bar and one scoop pulled up this perfectly beautiful SCOTCH BONNET.
Sanibel Turner Beach sand bar
Sanibel sand bar Sunset
There weren’t many shells on the Captiva side but, as always, the sunset was spectacular.
Sunset Bind Pass jetty
There were so many things to show you from the Sanibel Shell Fair and Show over last weekend I didn’t have a chance to even talk about the shelling. Let me catch you up on a few people I met and what they found….
Mary Jo and daughter Michelle
Awww! Look at Mary Jo and Michelle with their dressed up i Love Shelling totes packed with tees, cards and a shelling scoop to celebrate Michelle’s wedding engagement. Michelle is getting married in April so this was just the start of her shelling bachelorette party.
Michelle's shells
Bride to be Michelle collected over 1000 ARK SHELLS at the lighthouse beach on Sanibel as decorations for her beach themed wedding. Smart girl!
Frannie and Eddie (MA)
Frannie and Eddie walked over the Blind Pass bridge to the Sanibel side to discover all kinds of shells but I couldn’t get over how pretty the bright purple CALICO SCALLOPS were.
seashells in bag
Carol and Connie from Kalamazoo also found some pretty CALICO SCALLOPS at Bind Pass on the Captiva side and were lucky enough to find a dried up STARFISH ( or “sea star”… I grew up calling them starfish so they will always be starfish to me) up on the beach.
Carol and Connie (MI)
Connie's bucket with starfish
Just a few more pictures from sunset last night…..
Today A Bridesmaid, Forever A Sheller
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Dani (Columbus, Ohio)
It was a perfect evening for a wedding on the beach at Casa Ybel Resortwith cool breezes, no humidity and a clear colorful sky. I saw a beautiful small ceremony taking advantage of this gorgeous weather, then I got so tickled to see beautiful bridesmaid Dani make a bee line directly to the shell line on the beach right after the ceremony ended while still holding her flowers. She already had a hand full of CALICO SCALLOPS, a BANDED TULIP, and a few COQUINAS by the time I caught up with her. She told me the whole wedding party came to Sanibel from Columbus, Ohio to celebrate her sister’s wedding.
Dani's sister's wedding at Casa Ybel
So beautiful.
Fran and David's shells
I also met Fran and David who have been coming to Sanibel for years to shell but have gotten a little picky about the shells they keep. They were especially happy to find the PEAR WHELK (top right) and the BANDED TULIP (bottom left).
Fran and David (New Mexico)
Susie from MacIntosh Books found a pretty CONCH!
Susie (Sanibel)
Seashell Love Note
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Sunset on the east end of Sanibel
Sunsets are so romantic. You don’t get to see the actual sunset from the beach on the east end of Sanibel but the sky can be so colorful and breathtaking. I’m not even sure if it isn’t even better sometimes to see the reflection like this one last night because it seems to last forever.
Emily and her mom Carol (Rolla, MO)
It must have been in the air because Carol wrote a seashell love note to her husband in the the sand using SCALLOP shells while on a “girls only” vacation with her daughter Emily. She took a picture of her note (Bill + CM) and said she would email it to her husband when she got back to her hotel room. How sweet!
Scallop shell love note
Jim and Beth (Sanibel)
We ran into Sanibel friends, Jim and Beth, combing the shoreline for the mini shells. They found a few DRILLS, AUGERS, a teeny tiny CONE, an OLIVE and a funky chunk of CORAL.
Beth's minis and piece of coral
