Happy Birthday, Matt!

It's funny how one "owns" an expression.  This one is yours for sure!  Just had to snag it from Bekah!

Happy Birthday, "Mamu"! 

Love ya bushels and bushels!

Aunt Crickett



Good Fences = Good Neighbors?

I've heard it said that "good fences make good neighbors".  I'm not so sure I a agree with that quote ~ totally.  I personally think good caring people make good neighbors.  Case in point below:

My next door  neighbor, Tim, gave me a ring on the horn yesterday to tell me he had cut some Camellias before frost gets them and left them at my back door.  I practically hung up on the man I was so excited!  They are simply gorgeous!  He has some of the loveliest flowers in his yard.  The girls and I just drool over them.  Sometimes he gives me cuttings of plants he's growing. Ahhhh, yes. THIS is one of many things that makes a good neighbor. Yep. 

Now if you know where I live you may ask:  "Pray tell, why do you have a six foot privacy fence surrounding your back yard then?"  Simple:  I don't want some little tyke eyeballing my pool in the middle of summer and simply be unable to resist the urge to take a dip.  There could be nothing worse than some Mama's baby drowning in said pool (any age is a "Mama's baby").  THIS is when good fences make good neighbors.  

Sea Glass and Other Such Treasures

Last weekend we drove down to Tyaskin Wharf to look for Indian artifacts, such as pipe bowls, pipe stems and arrow heads and "sea glass". Sea glass is essentially old pieces of broken glass that have been tossed into the sea and over a period of time the sharp edges have been worn down by the action of the water and sand and the surface of the glass is somewhat etched by the same process.

You can find some pretty pieces if you have a sharp eye.  This day would be nil for Indian paraphernalia, but other treasures would abound!

 

I was not initially thrilled by thought of going.  It was very windy and chilly as you can see by the way the girls are bundled.  Not pretty, but  they were warm.  It was crucial that we go earlier in the day ~ around 11:00am because that was when the tide was low.  And low it was ~ extremely low.  The winds and the moon held the water out and it was the lowest I've seen it there! 

On normal low tide the water level would be where Rease is standing.  Being as low as it was this day allowed for some interesting "digs" up and down the beach. And dig we did!

I love the patterns on the sand that the waves had made earlier.  Mother nature is so creative, don't you think?  I added my own little design in letters ~ with an ole wet stick.

This particular dock is usually only accessible by swimming during normal low or high tide.  This day we were able to walk right to it.  Two of the "treasures" we found were sitting right on this dock!  On the top of the first pole on the right sat the bottom to a clear salt/pepper shaker.  Waaay down further on the dock, someone had sat an old Ball canning jar.  That is what Goldilocks is retrieving.  Much to our dismay, it was barnacle clad on one side.  It will take some doing to get it clean, but we have high hopes!  The two bottles Reasy Piecy is inspecting were dug up by her Daddy and Pop-pop.

There were "little docks" scattered in the thrushes along the way.  Like little "Islands in the stream".

On the left is a box of some of the treasures we found ~ not much sea glass, though.  In that box is my favorite piece.  It is an emerald green glass jar with "Juice" embossed on one side and "Water" on the other.  The other two sides have the ounces measured out.  It was literally buried in the wet sand under a fallen tree. I love it! I shall show it to you some day.  On the right are goodies the girls found in the water ~ with the exception of the clear salt shaker ~ full pieces in tact. The green piece looks like a piece of depression glass ~ the bottom of a salt/pepper shaker.  If its not the real deal, it is a good reproduction.  The cool thing is, you rarely find whole pieces of anything along the beach.  This day we hit the "Mother Load".  We left a lot where it was ~ simply because it wasn't that old.  But ten years from now, if they aren't all broken and battered, some lucky duck will find the sea's cache of precious glass, and they will ponder it's meager purpose, and they will save it, and clean it, and admire it.  It will be their Treasure. 

A Gentle Reminder

Sometimes gentle reminders are needed.

Happy Birthday, Sarah Sponda!

~ today you are sixteen ~ you just got your driver's permit ~ you are practically grown ~

It wasn't that very long ago I visited you in the hospital, all naked and blindfolded, laying under a bright light.  You were so very tiny then, just a spit of a thing.  Where has the time gone?   You can slow down now ~ put a brick on your head or something ~ but ~ Just.   Slow.  Down!

Love you bushels!

MOM-MOM