New treasure from the sea

We couldn't stand the horribly hot weather here in the valley anymore and took off for a short trip to the coast on Saturday afternoon returning last night just in time for thunderstorms..........with dry lightning.........many new fires started to the east, 2 very close to friends of mine. Spotter planes will be flying these next few days looking for more. Not sure if there will be any in our area - we didn't get the brunt of the lightning but we did get some. I can't tell by the smell of smoke because it smells like smoke everywhere from the big fires in the region. More dry lightning forecast for today. (since writing this I looked at the lightning strike map - strikes just a few miles to the west of us, hopefully no fires will come out of those)

Not many treasures to be found on the beach this weekend but we did discover a new cockle shell.......well, at least new to us. Usually we see thousands like the few on the left side above. But look at all these very colorful shells we found this time - I looked them up in my shells of the northwest book and found they are Japanese littlenecks, also called Manilla Clams. They were introduced to the northwest from Japan in the 1930's and apparently are very tasty. I'm sure this isn't the first time they've been found on that beach but it's a first for us.  Several pieces of seaglass were found including 2 colors I rarely see - lavender and pale seaglass green. Sam found a fairly big yellow/gold agate - it's below the piece of lavender seaglass.

Re-entry is always tough........

Re-entry into the world here in the valley from the world on the coast is always tough. I won't go into the mundane details but it's a killer sometimes.....but we had a nice 5 days on the coast even with the torrential rains for 2 of those days. Bailey didn't have such a good time - the front steps 'bit' him - we're still not sure what happened but we think he dove off those 2 steps to rush over to the fence to see the neighbor dog and had a tumble. He's been pretty hurty but today is starting to feel a bit better, he either wrenched his back, pulled a muscle or sprained something.......and I have to say he's quite the weinie when he's hurting.

I brought my little cardweaving loom along and did get one warp on it and woven off on Monday. I chose a very simple pattern as I wanted the change in color to be the highlight rather than the patterning - I used 6 colors plus black. This is destined to become a strap for my camera which only has a wrist strap on it.

What I love about this pattern is that it looks like knit stitches - not sure if it's that noticeable in the photos or not - it's created by alternating Z twist and S twist threaded cards.

Shells from the first day's walk on the beach. This was a good haul of snail/hermit crab shells. We ran into Loren, my favorite old beach guy, he gave me some yellow agates and tidbits of info on all sorts of things beach related - I really enjoy him. We were to stop by his house at some point to see all his 'stuff' but after Bailey fell we decided we'd do it next time.

Overabundance......

So are there any ideas out there of what to do with an overabundance of cockle shells? We can't help but pick them up during beach walks but what to do with them all, I can't keep buying the antique blue ball jars for them. They range in size from 1/2" to 2 1/2". I will be making some garland for our holiday tree with some of them but I've got thousands, don't need that much garland. I've already stuffed tons in a small flat rate postage box and sent them off to friend Diane in Idaho to do whatever with, guess she didn't realize what she'd get right after saying in passing "pick me up a shell or two". We also collect the snail shells/hermit crab homes but those aren't as plentiful, only 2 jars full of those.  I'm open to any ideas on what to do with massive amounts of cockle shells - we'll have to quit collecting them otherwise - will have to narrow our search to the snail shells and seaglass........there are agates but those are tougher to find although a couple weeks ago I found a big one.

Now it's back to real life after 4 days on the coast - there is new merino/tussah roving to take photos of, package, label, put in inventory and list in the etsy shop, there are orders to box up and mail.....taxes we've been avoiding - goal to file this week...........sure am hoping there's time to warp up a loom.......

Usual position for Bailey when he's not walking the beach

 

Weekend on the coast

We took off Saturday morning for a 3 day weekend on the coast. We were worried about finding broken pipes knowing the temps there got pretty low while we were in freezing temps here in the valley - all was ok - phew.

It was a weekend of relaxing and walking on the beach - many small treasures to be found.....it was a big weekend for seaglass, probably 2 handfuls full, many sea snail shells which I find actually house little hermit crabs......picked up a handful of cockle shells..........although have to stop picking those up, they were on the beach by the thousands this weekend and we've already got way too many antique blue ball jars full of them.....but sometimes I just can't help myself. My goal this year is to find some fun project to use them for so I can gift them and continue to pick them up by the thousands...........

The top shell is a olive shell, this one a baetic olive shell as it's brown, I've also found olive purple shells that have a blue/purple tinge to them. These were once very valuable among the Indians to use in necklaces and to decorate clothing with. The other shell is a clam shell, I think, I couldn't narrow it down in my shell book but it looks to be some sort of clam.........it's the first I've found in these colors.

Driftwood on the beaches is very fun, from minuscule to gigantic tree trunks like this. This one caught my eye because of the incredible patterns on it....some close ups below.

Look at those swirls......

.....and these.......

.....and this neat knothole........

I did a little spinning while over there - went to the spinning group at The Wool Co and worked on some drop spindling I leave over there.....problem is that this project has been going on for so long that my spinning isn't real consistent.........too much time..........need to finish it up soon. It's some superwash merino I had dyed a while back. Not sure how many yards I'll end up with, am hoping for enough for a cowl......it's not a large amount of roving. Sad news we knew was coming - The Wool Co is closing by the end of January - from what I understand it's time for the two partners to move on after many years.......aging parents need help out of the area for one and the other is ready to retire.

I need to do some editing of pix for my festive post for tomorrow of where we went last night over on the coast....but right now back to preparing yummies for our family Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow evening.......

Beach Cottage is coming along......

The beach cottage is coming along....thought I'd post a few pix from this past weekend. More decorating to be done, much furniture to be painted, many pictures/prints need framing so they can be hung on the walls, and hopefully I will get sheer curtains with seashells & starfish ordered this week. We're furnishing it on a shoestring, most furniture was found at antique shops at good prices, only a few new pieces.

 Guest room bookcase - a small, not so subtle hint as to what guests should be doing at the beach cottage

Found this fun shelf and what are actually Christmas ornaments at a new shop in town

 Shells on a little table in our bedroom

 and more shells and seaglass on the lower shelf of the little table

 Found two of these shelves for the bathrooms - they will eventually be painted

 Great large glass dish that will eventually have some sand & shells displayed in it. Right now some glass ornaments I found are residing in it - they will hang in our bedroom window after I get the sheers up. Not sure where the cute little beaded copper otter ornament will reside - just loved him.....and all ornaments were on sale.

 Living room - really wanted the white couch but decided with Bailey the golden retriever it was best not to go with white, well, since the khaki couch is now covered with a quilt for Bailey I guess I could have gone with white......oh well. Love the Kathy Ireland area rugs we found.

 Here's another larger Kathy Ireland area rug. You can barely see the ugly chandelier because it's hung so high it doesn't show. Eventually we'll find the perfect chandelier and fix that problem at the same time. Both of these rooms will look much more comfy once the sheers are hung.

Tea cup collection that belonged to my Aunt Fran, a couple of my teapots on top and my miniature teapots mixed in with the teacups. These teacups were actually belonged to Fran's husband Dave's mother. His family didn't want them back after Fran passed away so my cousin Jim asked me if I'd like them - they're perfect at the beach for tea parties. Eventually this piece of furniture will be painted - maybe one color inside, another on the outside.

And one outside shot. We haven't brought our extra outdoor furniture to the beach cottage for the deck yet so Bailey and I were outside laying on the deck in the sun Saturday and spotted this little nest up high in the tree. It's really tiny, only a few inches across, up way too high for me to get a really good look. Can't wait to see what bird will be laying it's eggs in it this spring.....that is if I can see once the leaves are out. It was a beautiful weekend on the coast - fog and cold weather here at home, sunny and mild at the coast.