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...a glimpse into life on Vancouver Island, needle felting, photography, food, gardening, etcetera...etcetera
"Happiness always looks small when you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and at once you learn how big and precious it is."
Maxim Gorky

Showing posts with label pussy willows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pussy willows. Show all posts

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Finding new purpose...

The other day I went to gather my annual bunch of pussy willows at the beach.
There's nothing that says spring
like the tender, fluffy buds of the willow...
...soft, sleek little harbingers of warmer days to come...
 They found a home in a pretty teapot that never poured very well...
 ...a place to mull over seed catalogues and dream of the gardening year ahead...
Two other finds made my day.
The first was half of a scallop shell...
 ...ready to use as a pendant or maybe an accent on a bag someday...
 I wonder if you can tell the age by the layers of shell?
 The pearl like finish created by tumbling around in the ocean..
 How pretty the light is when shining through...
The second find was an empty sea urchin shell...
 It's not very often you find these in one piece around here...
 ...rough, rocky shores are not kind to these delicate works of art...
 ...this one is a small one, about the size of a large golf ball.
The larger ones are a delicacy in Asian markets (the inside meaty bits)...
I had seen this idea on Pinterest and was hoping to try it one day.
One empty sea urchin shell plus one air plant and a little bit of fishing line and..
 Presto!
other worldly jelly fish!
 Have you ever had an air plant?
They're super easy to care for and just as the name suggests,
they don't need soil...
 ...they take their nutrients from particles in the air. 
all you need to do is soak them or spray them with water once a week...
 It was a good day on the beach and the rain held off for a few hours of treasure hunting.
Today its been pouring all day...more day dreaming ahead in the forecast.

Monday, March 11, 2013

The reward...

Today was a grey, wet March day but it didn't stop Norene and I
from taking the dogs to the beach...
It was one of those days where forever the lens on the camera
has raindrops on it and there's nothing you can do about it.
We have come for a ramble and the wet weather has made things shine in their own way.
The rain shows off the colours in the rocks beautifully...
...all sorts of treasures in fact are somehow more intense on this dull day..
Empty crab shells don vermilion coats...
...kelp all dressed in amber and ivory...
Whats left of the chiton mollusk shows off its robins egg blue interior and segmented outer shell...
 Lots of kelp anchored to rocks and shells...
Delicate pink kelp standing out on the pewter stones...
 The swirly grains on the driftwood, art in it's own right...
How about this odd little treasure that Norene spotted...
a rubber fish who had obviously been in the sea a while...
because it had a tiny shell attached to it's tail!
The seagulls didn't seem to mind the weather at all...
This giant log has been here forever it seems...ever since I can remember it's been
 anchored in the rocks...
But all of this hard walking for half an hour on big slippery rocks was not done for nothing.
You see, we came to get a reward .
Can you see them in the distance?
The big, wide low growing grey bush up ahead is full of...
Pussy willows!!
Big fat fuzzy ones!!!
We picked till we couldn't fit anymore in our hands...
All in all a most gratifying walk even on a miserable March day such as this.