...where ever she goes-- even in dry Arizona! Something like that. The fact is, I find them on my walks. And in people's homes (including my own.) A further fact: seashells were trade goods in these dry lands long before Arizona got its name.
This bit of folk art is hanging below a 2nd floor window overlooking one of the nearby alleys. Do take note of the mix of shells from the distant ocean with cactus bones.
The lady from the Valley who loves to garden made a little border with scallop shells the other day. Because I did almost all my shell collecting at Jacksonville Beach on Florida's Atlantic coast, I never found a single scallop shell, a major frustration. (But oh, how I loved those days following a storm, when all manner of interesting sea life was washed ashore, from jelly fish to sea urchins, not to forget the angel wings, sand dollars and, on rare occasions, a sizeable conch.)
Mom tells of how, as a young woman, she and her California crowd collected abalone from the rocks off LaJolla back in the early 20s, long before such activity became a conservation no-no. In fact, I was surprised when I travelled to New Zealand in the late 70s to find that all manner of small items -- buttons, earrings, jewelry -- were carved from abalone for the tourist trade. Our house always had a large shell on display; when Mom moved from Florida to Sun City, it was lost. I found the abalone above in a resale shop and bought it for her so that all would be right with my world!
Other material from seashells I've found locally -- these nacre beads at
Koldoff's. This was to have been to be the end point of my post about seashells in my Arizona...
...then I remembered the cache of shells up on a closet shelf. My late husband had a jackdaw's eye for the interesting little items one finds in the thrift shops. Including little plastic bags of seashells. A few samples:
I suspect my grandchildren are all going to get their own little plastic bags of interesting seashells one of these days Real Soon Now! And if you'd like your own collection, I found this site with
seashell wallpaper.
This bit of folk art is hanging below a 2nd floor window overlooking one of the nearby alleys. Do take note of the mix of shells from the distant ocean with cactus bones.
The lady from the Valley who loves to garden made a little border with scallop shells the other day. Because I did almost all my shell collecting at Jacksonville Beach on Florida's Atlantic coast, I never found a single scallop shell, a major frustration. (But oh, how I loved those days following a storm, when all manner of interesting sea life was washed ashore, from jelly fish to sea urchins, not to forget the angel wings, sand dollars and, on rare occasions, a sizeable conch.)
Mom tells of how, as a young woman, she and her California crowd collected abalone from the rocks off LaJolla back in the early 20s, long before such activity became a conservation no-no. In fact, I was surprised when I travelled to New Zealand in the late 70s to find that all manner of small items -- buttons, earrings, jewelry -- were carved from abalone for the tourist trade. Our house always had a large shell on display; when Mom moved from Florida to Sun City, it was lost. I found the abalone above in a resale shop and bought it for her so that all would be right with my world!
Other material from seashells I've found locally -- these nacre beads at Koldoff's. This was to have been to be the end point of my post about seashells in my Arizona...
...then I remembered the cache of shells up on a closet shelf. My late husband had a jackdaw's eye for the interesting little items one finds in the thrift shops. Including little plastic bags of seashells. A few samples:
I suspect my grandchildren are all going to get their own little plastic bags of interesting seashells one of these days Real Soon Now! And if you'd like your own collection, I found this site with seashell wallpaper.
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