Archive for Calico
Santa’s Seashell Good List
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We were shellebrating the season on the beach at Blind Pass Captiva today! We must have been on Santa’s “Good” list this year because he gave us the best gifts of all… gifts from the sea. Seashells!
Lots of seashells!
But wait… let me back up because the shells weren’t there all day so let me show you how quickly Mother Nature (maybe Santa too?) can do her/his magic.I arrived at Blind Pass this morning at 8 a.m. bundled in layers of clothes to ward of the 46 degree cold northwest winds. BRRRRR! That’s cold for us! I found a few scattered COCKLES, FLIGHTING CONCHS and PEN SHELLS along the high tide line and pocketed three beautiful shells… a KNOBLESS FIGHTING CONCH, GIANT BITTERSWEET and a funky orange CALICO SCALLOP…
There was nothing to speak of along the jetty rocks so I thought I’d amuse myself by waving to say hello to the camera since my shadow was the only thing in the picture (I know, I’m a dweeb). See? No real shells to write home about…
So I left around 9 a.m. (played tennis) and came back around 12:45 to find all of these shells piled up! In that short time span, thousands of shells rolled up along side those jetty rocks!
Probably only an hour after I left, Lucky lady Glenda from England plucked the king of shells, a JUNONIA, right out of all those shells! And you won’t believe it… her husband Richard found a rare QUEEN HELMET!
So you know what that means… the “KING” and “QUEEN” will find their way back to England soon. LOL Congratshellations, to the royal couple!
As soon as I walked onto that shell pile, Dawn snagged an ALPHABET CONE out of an incoming wave…
Then she showed me 3 HORSE CONCHS she just collected as well. Candy!!!
Michelle and Eric were on Santa’s Good list too!
I took this photo when I first saw them and I know they bucketed a few more ALPHIES, HORSIES and BITTERSWEETS but take a look at her JUNONIA (“cob”), part of a LION’S PAW and that gorgeous FLAT SCALLOP (lots of those found today!)…
I don’t think there is anything more fun than witnessing a pile of seashells being formed on the beach. It is mind boggling that within 4 hours, thousands of treasures can be washed up by the waves of the Gulf Of Mexico. More photos coming soon!
Shell Pile Rising, Sanibel Sun Setting
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Lovely. Last night at Bowman’s Beach was just that… lovely. There was a cool breeze… with peace and quite.
There were seashells strung all long the beach with flocks of birds here and there… and not one bug. Ahhhh.
There were quite a few members of the SANIBEL SIX (excluding the CONE) there for the picking but my fave shell of the evening was this calico scallop… which I named Saniberry Sorbet for the color name game.
I met Freddy, Jan, Fran and Mike from Atlanta who were enjoying the perfect weather as well and finding nice SAND DOLLARS!
Since we’ve had nice morning low tides this week, I checked to see if the Lighthouse Beach was producing goodies.
At the low tide line (which is right where the surf is lapping up on the beach- where you can see a Sanibel Stooper in the left corner of the next photo), I only found some SEA WEED, MANGROVE SEED PODS and other sorts of BEACH BLING, but up higher on the beach in the high tide wrack line I found BANDED TULIPS…
Apple Murexes…
And hundred of double DOSINIAS…
So remember… just because it’s a really low tide, check the rest of the beach for shells if you aren’t having luck at the low tide line. The high tide during the middle of the night could have left the best treasures!
PSSST Okay, one more thing… I have exciting news for y’all and you are gonna LOVE THIS!
My next post will be ….. a really nice….. a spectacsheller…. GiveAway!!
Stay Tuned!
Calico Scallop Color Name Game
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Each day I’ve been to the beach this week, I look down to see CALICO SCALLOPS. Every shell bag that I peeked into… I saw CALICO SCALLOPS in every color of the rainbow. So I started picking them up too only to get obsessed by analyzing the amazing colors and patterns… then naming each one like every crayon in a box of Crayolas or those cute names they come up with for nail polish colors these days.
Okay, like this one is…
Sanibel Sunburn. See? Haven’t you looked like this at least one time on Sanibel?
Remember I showed you what the sky looked like last week? This was an easy one… Sanibel Sky
Cold Captiva Creamsicle On A Hot Day…
I’m Plum Happy…
Sunset Serenade… ( okay this one needs some work)
Girl’s Night Red Wine
First Day Vacation Sunrise…
Summer Smoothie…
Fiesta Party Nachos…
I’m On Island Time…
Orange Juice With A Splash Of Cranberry On The Rocks
Beach Bon Fire (But since it’s illegal to have a bon fire on Sanibel I think we should call it the… Illegal Sanibel Beach Bon Fire. Ha!)
Now this last one really got me tickled. It’s seems like this SCALLOP started out with lots of color power to keep up with the Joneses…. and the First Day Vacation Sunrises…. and the Summer Smoothies but decided just regular old plain was good enough for him (or her). So I couldn’t decide on a name.
How about … Sleep Late. or Lazy Days. or I give up (No really, LOL the name “I give up”. or Uncle. Plain Yogurt?
You decide!
Precious Things Come With Small Shells
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I don’t find large WHELK or CONCH shells every day I go out shelling on Sanibel… but I always find something precious.
It’s always fun to share those precious treasures to see if anybody else might enjoy them as well.
Some times it’s the small things I see that makes my day… like these sweet little gems.
These precious kids inherited their love for shells from their awesome grandmother, Shelling Sister Betty Jo. Her son Spencer is getting married this week on Sanibel so she got to enjoy a beautiful day collecting seashells and memories with her whole family. From left to right… Spencer (the groom), Dallas, Katie (the bride!), Hunter, Suzanne, Sheila, Frank, Mary Jo (recognize that cutie shirt?) Addison,Dayton, Kelly and Stephen. Okay, precious things come in bigger sizes too… like this big beautiful shelling family.
I also met Gidget and Boyd (Tampa) collecting a few goodies.
I hope you are able to see how gorgeous the colors and the unusual patterns are in this photo of this LETTERED OLIVE Boyd found…
Gidget had her eye on finding CALICO CLAMS, SCALLOP shells and can never resist those sweet little juvenile FIGHTING CONCHS…
Since I wasn’t finding the big shells at Blind Pass today, I was happy with looking for the minis so I searched until I found my own precious candy (a juvenile HORSE CONCH).
…and this perfect summer CALICO SCALLOP in watermelon color.
Best wishes Spencer and Katie for your upcoming wedding. I couldn’t think of a better way to start your new life together by shellebrating the small wonders of the sea.
Oh and PS- the dredge at Blind Pass has been broken for few days (and not the first time) so we might be seeing this big machinery hanging around a little bit longer than expected. This also means that they haven’t opened up the beach to the public yet where the sand is being pumped (west of Bowman’s). I’m ready for this dredging to be over already. This isn’t so “precious”!
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)
