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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 shells. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shells. 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.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

The small things...

Sometimes I go to the beach for the big things...
the crashing waves
the expanse of sandy shoreline
the glorious sky at sunrise and sunset.
But then there  are times I go to explore the details...
the tiny marvels of natures architecture.
All of these little things I found the other day were minuscule.
Found amongst the pebbles and beach glass and still intact.
After being rolled around in the waves, pummeled by storms, tumbled with stones, 
they are still perfect.
Not one of these things is more than an inch long.
Crab shell...outer bit...
Detail of inner bit...how fantastic is that?!
Senor Gaudy would have been inspired!
These shells are a mere 1/4 of an inch round...
...and the colours so delicately chosen to make it shimmer in the sun.
Then, I found this tiniest of scallop shells...
...paper thin.
This worn piece of an oyster shell, painted with time and waves...
Fat little marble sized shells, blending in with the pebble grey...
I brought them home in my pocket, amazingly enough they survived, forgotten for a week, when I reached my hand in, I was giddy with surprise that they were still in one piece.