I started collecting WORM SHELLS on my first trip to Captiva in 1997 when Clark and I first met. We would comb the beach every morning and about every twenty steps or so I would find a WORM SHELL, pick it up, showed it to Clark and laugh at the crazy twists and turns it made in each curl. I didn’t care at all if it was broken or not, after giggling at it’s pattern, I put it right in my bag. After Hurricane Charley in 2004 those twisted shells got stirred up and showed up on the beaches by the handful so Clark and I kind of got obsessed with hunting for them. I think we were thought to be a little wacky by our friends after we came home one day with a bucket full of them. For some reason, the WORM SHELL got “no respect” in those days! The Shell Museum didn’t even have one on display at that time. 

I have plenty of WORM SHELLS  now that we’ve collected through the years and they still make me laugh. But today, I got JENNY CURL WORM SHELLS that have touched my heart very deeply….. in a piece of art by Melinda Henderson. This is what I saw on my front  porch….

Ooohhhh! I package for me!!!! Did I order something I forgot about? Hey, it was from Melinda! Clark and I met Melinda a year ago on the beach while she was collecting her beloved “Jenny Curls”. I introduced her to you on my post Jenny Curl Worm Shells and told you her story. If you didn’t read the original post, you should. Just click on the post title I just wrote.

The moment I opened it, I was astonished. She told me the picture inside is of the Jenny Curls she found on Sanibel last July and that one of the Jenny Curls with the curly tops in the picture was one that Clark gave her.

She did this amazing picture with digital photography. “I really enjoy this kind of art work…it’s call digital photography. I use the computer to manipulate and enhance a photo by applying different media art forms (water color, dry brush, palette knife, etc.), and then add color, shadowing, texture for added character and personality.”

It is so beautiful, I found the perfect home for it one top of a piece of furniture I painted years ago that has the same colors she used. Along with my new Jenny Curl picture, I have other treasures…. the QUEEN CONCH given to us by the shellacious MurexKen, this beautiful piece of PIPE ORGAN CORAL given to us by our dear Sanibel friend Phil (He used to have the shop “Ile Crocodile” on the island, remember that?) and seashells sent to me all the way from Australia by my blog friend Prux of Flotsam Friends.

I have to show you the close up of the Australian shells and “flotsam”. These are the kinds of pieces that Prux collects from her beaches to make her sweet Flotsam Friend dolls she blogs about. I should get the names of these shells and do a post on Australian shells this summer, right?

With all of the special treasures so close together, it warms my heart beyond words. Thank you all for the best gifts of all…… gifts of the sea.