Happy Thursdays!! (it is Thursday, ri iight??)

Goodness...I had to recheck my calendar to make sure it really is Thursday already. I would be sooo lost without my calendar. I would be even more lost if I didn't mark off each day on that calendar. Yes, Yes..I'm getting a tad bit forgetful...just ahhhhh...what were we talking about it? HeHe

I have been trying to recoup from walking on the beach this past Sunday. Now I LOVE to walk on the beach but I have to make sure that I don't take a 3 hour trek without resting in between again. Me old bones are letting me know that I seriously abused them AND now they are abusing me right back.

We did find some beautiful shells on that walk. Not any big ones but several small ones and lots of broken ones but ya'll know just how much I love the broken ones too.

Nice little lot Mother Nature gave, yes? There were several that had the natural holes in them and those make perfect earrings, IF I have matches to go with them in this bunch. I do believe I have one or two. Some great twisted broken ones that will look amazing in a glass jar or in the hermies (clay hermit crabs) habitats. You remember the lil hermies, ri iight? Well, here's a photo for those that haven't seen them or have forgotten. Geez!!! hehe

Now some of the shells that we found Sunday and some of the ones that most seem to walk on past are actually my favorite ones to find. The big broken ones that look like wings.....angel wings. I know that everyone can look at something and see something completely different but if you take a close look then I'm sure you will see the broken wing too. I helped a little bit so that you would see it.

I want to make a few of these and put them inside a shadow box frame. Two shells, one looking at the front side and the other painted on the inside with a few pretty white feathers. NO no, no angels or faeries were hurt in obtaining the feathers...they were a gift. I have a poem that I wrote that I will place in between the shells.

Tis short my stay

on this warm, sun soaked day.

To hear Mother Ocean's roar

and know that soon I must soar.

Soar up into the sky 

so calm and blue

but I'll leave

behind something

just for you.

You that gets to walk 

on the warm, white sand

A broken shell to be

placed in your hand.

Look closely 

and you will see

An angel wing tis

what it be.

Until next time..........Hugs,

Regi

Who stole my warm beach weather???

Good Golly Miss Molly....who stole my nice warm beach weather? It's 20 outside but feels like it's 11?? I truly think that some how Mother Nature has forgotten that this is the South and here it's suppose to stay warm enough to still walk on the beach. Ohhhhh, you could go for a walk today but ya might feel as though your skin was being peeled away from yer bones. Ok that might be an over exaggeration..hehe...but it's so NOT beach walking weather.

Since the weather is too cold to go outside and the Chazman is home sound asleep, (yes yes, the school board closed the schools today because of the cold weather...a first I think....shaking head) which means the house is quiet so I have been doodling. As I've told everyone before I call it doodling because well..that's what it is. Simply lines that create a doodle that hopefully looks like a drawing!!

Of course, living at the beach and the fact that it's cold outside and I can't take my walk today I figured I would doodle a few that could take that walk. Meet Charlie and Carey....two siblings that so enjoy life and the adventures it takes them on. I have been wanting to do a children's book (or two) and I believe I have come up with my two main characters. Brave lil souls aren't they? Braving the chilly morning air.

I'm also working on some of my beach themed jewelry pieces...two necklaces. My camera batteries went "POOF" before I could get a WIP shot of them but I will have one for you the next post as I have those batteries charging as we speak. Hmmmmm, wonder if my orbs are messing with me again (looking around) I guess I will snap a few shots to see when I can. If I have completely made you scratch your noggin about my orbs, just take a peek HERE and you will understand...I promise!! Ohhh and it's kinda a long post but read it anyway..^_^

So happy you dropped by today for a visit and I hope to see ya again real soon. Have a wonderful and WARM Tuesday!!

Until next time..........Hugs,
Regi

Back to routine again...

I hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend. Last week and the weekend seemed to go by to fast. I love having my Chazman at home with me and well...it's back to a routine again.

Those that have been following along here under the old Southern ooaks tree know that starting in the spring and all the way through to the end of summer, we clean condos and beach houses. I rather enjoy this part time job. I mean where else can you open up a sliding glass door and hear the ocean lapping onto the shore, or smell the salt air and even get to hear the seagulls "LAUGHING".  Oh yes...I'm sure they are laughing at us. Listen to them the next time you are walking on the beach. ^_^

Even with cleaning..we still found time to take one of our beach walkabouts. We actually took two this weekend. Saturday was a day just to walk and look for shells. Some very pretty ones found too like auger shells, moon shells, scallops (fan) shells, whelks and olives.  Since Sunday was Easter and we still had a house to clean we thought it would be nice to enjoy the afternoon sitting on the beach and watching all the crazy *ahem* people getting into the water. However, I never figured my son would be one of THOSE people...HAHA!! He tried to talk me into getting in...which most the time I do. (I'm such a water person) but there was no way once my feet got wet. Good Golly Miss Molly...that water was soooo COLD my heart actually skipped a beat. Chaz said that I would get use to it. Ohhh nooo I wouldn't!! I made it in as far as my knees and that was it. That was it mostly because my feet were frozen and wouldn't move. ^_^  So I stood were I was and watched him have a blast falling into the waves. My muse decided to take the opportunity of a captive audience and whisper in my eat. She had as I told you on an earlier visit found a small glass tub in my art stash. That's all it took....her to remind me of that and for me to feel just how cold the ocean was this time of year. Wouldn't a salt water WARM bath feel so good....even to a mermaid???

This is what I'm working on now. A mermaid and her bath!! This one will take a bit longer to complete than my tea cup faeres as I'm thinking that I'm going to use some of my vintage pearls as bubbles in her bath with parts of her underwater (so to speak). I think this little gal is going to love her bath so much that I might not ever get her out of the tub and back into the ocean..hehe

Until next time.............Hugs,
Regi

Happy Tuesday!! pssst..it is Tuesday, ri iight??

Happy Tuesday...the sun is shining...no wait...it's behind a cloud...ooohhhh there it is...it's shining. Nope...it's gone again..hehe  Seems Mother Nature can not make up her mind today. One of our "AWESOME" local photographers, Steve Jones, caught Mother Nature having one of her "I just can't decide" moments on his daily beach walk this morning. Steve has captured some amazing photos of our beautiful area and I think you would love to take a peek at them. Just visit HERE to see more of his work.

So you can see I'm not just making up this peek a boo game with the sun at the moment. Would I kid ya about something like that? Oh nooooo...not muah!!! Stop pointing that finger at me...ya know I wouldn't...well...not often anyways. HA!! Thank goodness the sun shone brightly this weekend for us but I have to admit it was a bit chilly. We didn't let that stop us from going on a beach walk though. HEY...that's what hoodies are made for and sweatpants and thermals and thick socks. Yes, yes..I told ya it was chilly!!! Our beach has been undergoing a sand restoration and if you take the time to sift through the sand they blew up on the shore then you can find some wonderful treasures the ocean gave up. The Chazman and I definitely took the time to sift through and here's some of the beautiful shells we found.

These are called Olives and I bet ya can guess why..hehe!! Do you see the sewing pin? I put that there in some of the photos to give you something to judge the size of some of the shells. Tiny little shell there and just think that most folks just walk over them or on them. It's the perfect little size to put inside one of my glass vials, don't ya think?

 These are called Whelks. You don't find the big ones complete very often but even the broken ones are so pretty and can be used to add to your beach decor. There's another tiny one!!!

These little beauties are in the Nautilus family. I would so love to find a BIG one of these. Wouldn't have to be as big as the one Dr Doolittle rode in (although that would be AWESOME) but a nice size one would be great.

This is a Canarium shell and probably the biggest one we found (The Chazman found this one while digging a hole in the sand..hehe) It's three inches long and the photo does not do the colors running through it any justice.

These are Moon shells and I love these. I see dragon snails coming out. How about you? We found one that was perfectly flat...you could see the spiral on top but I think that it just couldn't form itself into a shell. My camera wouldn't pick it up but it is a pretty little thing.

These are Auger shells and I have no clue as to why the photo came out a bit fuzzy. I know that my faerie muse said that these were not shells at all but (looking around) unicorn horns. Perhaps she was trying to keep anyone from seeing them. ^_^  She has given me some inspiration though...hmmmmm!!

These are wing oyster shells. I have been collecting these for a good while now. These in the photo we found this weekend though. Of course since my faerie muse jumped in about the auger shells my mermaid muse had to put her inspiration on these. They are really mermaid scales!! See where this might lead?

Of course no beach walk would be complete without finding some of these scalloped lovelies. Yes..these are called scallop shells or as the Chazman calls them 'FAN" shells.

Now all of the above are just a few of the shells we found. We love to find the broken ones that show all the beautiful twist and curves that are inside some. I found this one right when we were leaving and I'm so happy that I looked down.

Isn't this beautiful?  The twist inside....the perfect spots on the outside. I see a mermaid tail curled up and I'm hoping what I have envisioned....I can sculpt.

WOW....I'm writing a novel today aren't I and I'm not finished just yet either..hehe!!  I promised to show some photos of this month's Holiday tree. If you haven't been following me long, let me explain, in short version. The Chazman and I wanted to keep our Christmas tree up and decorate it for each Holiday during the year. Was that short enough? HAHA  Here's this month's....St Patrick's and Easter!!

Simple but pretty I think and the Chazman loves it. That's really what counts...making my little man happy. How do you like the Mardi Gras beads we twisted and used. Purple, blue and pink for Easter and green and gold for St Patrick's. Each year we will add more to our monthly trees but for now we will enjoy what we have.

I also worked on some cute clay charms to put on some hair twist for little girls. I have them sculpted out and am going to get them bakes and painted today. Wait....I think perhaps a little kittie got hold of the bear...his nose looks a little smushed. Ohh I need to resculpt him and hopefully, I will have them listed in my Etsy shop by tomorrow.

 I'm listing this cute little rabbit too. Come and shop...please and send friends...lots and lots of friends...hehe

Until next time..........Hugs,
Regi

Busy busy lil bee...that's ME!!!

Happy Monday to all!!! We are experiencing dark skies and rainy weather here today. I have to say thank you to Mother Nature though as she stopped long enough this morning for the Chazman and I to walk to school. She must have needed a laugh because she let me get all the way to my back gate and then dropped a bucket of rain on me head...hehe!!! At least she kept my lil man dry. He still is not feeling great but went to school...fingers crossed that he last all day. (the nurse has called once already but said to let him stay until at least 11:30 so the absence wouldn't be counted against him....double fingers crossed)

Yesterday he wanted to get out in the sunshine (yes..there was real sunshine yesterday...just not today) so we took a short beach walk. It was around noon so I really didn't think we would find many shells. BOY..was I wrong. We found some great shells. Inspiration was flying everywhere....for reals!!! We were greeted by one of the locals, Hank. He flew ahead of us to lead the way. Oh yeah..for those that don't know...Hank is one of the local Herons that LOVES to have his photo taken.

We of course followed him...I mean it would be rather rude if we hadn't. I sure am glad we did because he lead us to the shell honey pot.

Just look at all those shells. Hank was doing the "Happy Joy Joy" dance for us...hehe!! We thanked him and off he flew to go and lead others to the oceans treasures washed ashore.........that or he flew over to the ones fishing not to far down....hoping he could grab a snack. ^_^

Purty...aren't they? I just adore shells...really I do!! I even love the broken ones. There was quiet the assortment yesterday to be picked up. Twisted ones, fan shaped, spirals and even some mermaid scales.
I already see some sea dragons coming out of the spiral ones and some mermaids laying on the fan ones. I so LOVE our Salty Life!!

After the beach we headed back home and I started twisting again. Is there a macrame annoynomas? I might need to find a local support group. It's addicting....very addicting. Here's the latest Bohemian bracelet...I'm calling it "Pansy and Pearls". Why you ask? Ohh go on and ask!!  Well...it's because it has a metal pansy and vintage pearls on it. HAHA

I'm making all my bracelets to fit a small wrist up to a larger wrist. If you have the smaller wrist then you can cut the end knots and retie them. I have a larger wrist and so hate when I can't find a bracelet to fit so that's why I'm trying to make these for just about everyone's wrist size. Hey...I LUV ya all....really I do!!!

After finishing up the bracelet, I decided to make some of my mermaid head clay beads...which was a good thing because I had not baked the four little turtle charms from the other day. I still have to add the embellishments to these but here's a WIP photo.

Now...while those were baking I started on a new twisted square knot bracelet. I used white cording as the middle piece and white hemp rope as the tie pieces. It's going to have a dragon charm on it with a dangle of pearls and a dragon egg bead. (dragon egg beads are made from quartz)

I'm going to get this finished up today (in between doing laundry) and then start on a mermaid inspired bracelet. Like I said....I might need a MA (macrame annoynomas) support group!!  ^_^

Until next time............Hugs,
Regi

Slowly working....very S L O W L Y !!!

This is how I am feeling these days....S L O W...as a turtle!! I can not believe that I let yet another week get pass me without posting. Good Grief!!! On top of being slow my camera has decided to put itself in hibernation and not work. It had better enjoy it because I am going to figure out how to wake it up..oh..yes I am!!

My last birthday was Thursday. YES..I said, LAST one and I mean it, darn it. I'm getting very forgetful and I'm hoping that it will just go on by from now on without a care. I mean let's face it I'm not getting any younger (and I'm falling apart where my super glue won't hold me together anymore) and I sure can't say I'm 29 any longer. 29 + 25 is more like it and OMGOSH....that makes me ancient. So....starting next year, the 18th is just a happy for everyone day. GOT IT? GOOD!!! ^_^

My SIL and her family (nine of them all together) came for a visit this weekend. YES...to help celebrate my birthday. Geez Louise...no one would let me forget about it. They brought me a BIG cookie and sang to me and I loved it!!  Our niece came with her family and this was the first time that my two great nieces and nephew had ever seen the ocean. We thought that perhaps the 2 year old would be afraid but WOW...she is part mermaid. She loved it. I wish my camera had been working because she had me crying I was laughing so hard at her. The seagulls would walk close to her or fly over head and she would start squealing..then they would start their laughing sound they make and then she would start laughing and trying to chase them. So cute. We all had a blast going places and just being together. It was a great birthday gift having them all here.

The Chazman and I caught a bad tummy bug Sunday afternoon and spent Monday trying to coordinate bathroom time. We only have one bathroom and normally it's not a problem but Monday it was!! He felt better by Monday night and well...this ancient one is still feeling the effects. Thank goodness though I have the bathroom all to myself. ^_^

Today, I'm hoping to work on my Santa and Polar Bear piece. I have so many more I need to get done. Wish me luck...I'm going to need it.

Until next time..........HUGS,
Regi

Amazing Weekend..for reals!!!

I hope that YOU had at least half as a good of a weekend as we did. I mean if you did then you had one amazing weekend...for reals!!

Ours started out with one of our treasure hunting adventures Saturday morning and treasures we did find!! It's awesome that the Hubbikins and the Chazman both keep an eye out for items that I can use with my ooaks. (one of a kind sculpts)  We went to the Robin's Nest and found a few items that I can most definitely use. (thank you Hubbikins and Chazman) If you live in the area or are planning a trip down to the beach then you really should check this cute little thrifty chic Boutique out. It's located at 15885 B Highway 59, Foley, AL. The proprietor, Robin Ellis, really has some of the cutest items and all of them are true treasures. Here..just look for yourself.

Cute...ri iight? I told ya so. She has the building next door too and all along the outside are units just filled with all kinds of things. Some you have to go through carefully or you might just miss a treasure. That's where we find the things for my ooaks. I love to wander through the inside though...so many pretties!! Oh..OHH.. OHHH...the weekend of Thanksgiving Robin is going to have her Christmas open  house and some of my ooaks will be visiting. Just thought I might mention that little tid bit of information. ^_^  I hope you will make some time to stop by and visit.

Here are the goodies we found at the nest plus some we found just out and about. The burgundy linens, the tiny baskets and the amazing trunk are our nest finds. It seems that this was the weekend to find bases for the ooaks too. Bases I so needed!!

Isn't the trunk a beauty? I love that it is covered in leather. It's going to make a great prop for Santa or elves or antique toys or perhaps all three. ^_^

Saturday was also the Hubbikins and my 11th year anniversary!! Time sure has flown by...so hard to believe it's been 11 years already. He surprised us by taking us to eat at a new place....Felix's Fish Camp. Yes..I said US....the Chazman goes where we go...always!! I'm not sure who enjoyed it the most...HA!! I think it was me...no...the Chazman....no the Hubbikins...NOOOO..it was...all three of us. The place sits on the Mobile Bay and our table looked out over it....perfect dining view. The lights on the bridge going over the bay was just far enough away that it looked magical. The people there are AWESOME.....everyone smiling and our waiter was the BEST!! The food was AHHHHmazing!! They even gave us a certificate for free dessert the next time we go plus 10% off.  My birthday is next month...Honey...are you reading this? Hint hint..hehe!!

Sunday we decided to go on one of our beach walkabouts. We LOVE living so close to the ocean...it just recharges us to be near her. Getting to sit on her shore and listen to the song of her waves hitting the shore. I'm sure I have said that before....not rubbing it in...just stating facts..hehe.  The water was crystal clear and BOY...do I mean crystal!! The Chazman and I love to walk out and just let the waves lift us up and with the water being so clear we saw that we weren't the only ones enjoying the water. There must have been hundreds of fish swimming with us. Each time the small waves would come you could look and see even more fish coming in to enjoy the water. They would bump into us or swim in between our legs and that caused us both to start giggling. Soon though, those giggles turned into a AHHHH of pure delight because not even eight feet from us a devil ray jumped out of the water. Seems he was enjoying all the fish too.

This is not a photo I took but one I googled so you could see just what a devil ray coming out of the waves looks like. Can you picture this guy about eight feet from you? Scary but oh so thrilling at the same time. We saw him several more times during the day and each time was just as thrilling as the first time. He wasn't the only creature enjoying the overflowing of fish either. The dolphins were having a blast!! They were far off from us but close enough for us to watch....clap...and giggle our enjoyment. My little camera will not take far off shots worth a toot but one of our local photographers, Michelle Stancil, was blessed to have caught some of these comical characters playing Saturday morning. Michelle definitely has "the eye" as she gets some amazing shots of our area.

I could sit and watch these guys all day long. Thank you Michelle for letting me use your amazing shots. ^_^

It was a perfect day....blue skies...crystal clear water.....comical and amazing creatures galore and time spent together as a family. The Chazman and I walked the shore to find shells and you wouldn't believe what else we found. Can you guess? Ohh alright, I will tell you....a butterfly. I kid ya not....they were EVERYWHERE yesterday flying around. This little guy had flown to close to the waves and apparently gotten caught. He wasn't alive and I just couldn't leave him there now could I? Besides, my muse started singing about faerie wings.

Now...see what I meant about if your weekend was half as good. It was a super fabtabulous one here and I am so thankful and blessed.

Until  next time.............HUGS,
Regi

Salt Life for me!!!

It was a very interesting weekend and it was all due to living the Salt Life!!! Now that we live in a coastal town I can not imagine living any place else. So close to nature and all she has to offer. Mother Earth is amazing ^_^ Of course.....there are some man made times that get added into the mix as well. I mean...where else can you have a job and get to look out at an emerald green coast, smell the salt air and witness so many breathtaking things going on around you and know that as soon as your job is complete that you can walk down to the warm white sand and just sit and listen and watch!!

Saturday was nice....we only had one unit to clean and once finished we were going to go to the beach but the Hubbikins wanted to get home and see what in the world was going on with our old Betsy (that's our vehicle in case you are to young to know what that means..hehe) I won't go into detail because frankly my dears I have no clue as to what he did or what in the world Betsy is up to. That's his job!!  I pulled weeds in the flower beds that wrap around the house. I have some very interesting plants!!  Sunday's schedule had us down for cleaning two units and we decided that it had been long enough since we had gone to the beach and just sat and enjoyed it...so we did...after we cleaned the two units of course.

With it being a bit late in the afternoon after we finished cleaning, the beach we went to was not crowded at all. It wasn't just because of that but also that the water is still pretty dang cold. Not for the Chazman though and if he goes in then that means I go in. Brrrrrrrrrr.....I couldn't decide if my feet and legs actually got use to the water temp or if they just became numb from the cold. ^_^   The ocean was letting Chaz have a grand time as it rolled in and pushed him over (not under...just over and over he tumbled) This merboy loves the ocean. I do believe that his baby blues get even bluer with a hint of emerald in them when he is in her element. Several times he did get a bit choked up, coughing water out but that was only because he was giggling so much in all the fun he was having. While we were splashing and playing we looked up and to our surprise there were the Blue Angels flying overhead. We love going to the Pensacola Naval Museum where the angels are stationed at and to actually get to see this amazing squadron flying was awesome.

We thought our day was made by seeing them BUT Mother Earth/Ocean was not going to be outdone by any means. She decided to show us her flying squadron. Noooo...it wasn't fish jumping out of the water...HAHA...but a group of Manta rays catching the waves and coming close to shore. Have you ever seen a Manta ray? Beautiful dark angels gliding through the water or as the Chazman put it....giant water bats. It was AMAZING!! It was kinda eerie too that they showed up right after we saw the Blue Angels. The Angels fly in a team of six and we counted six Manta rays in the group. Makes you wonder, huh?  I can't believe that I didn't have my camera with me but I did find on youtube someone that did have a video camera handy on the day they saw some. (Manta Rays..click HERE)

See how great it is to live the Salt Life. Arrrggg me maties...I wouldn't a nare be a livin anywhere else.

Until next time...............Hugs,
Regi

I captured a mermaid!!!

Beach walkabouts are always so calming and most days, the ocean gives up plenty of treasures. The storm from the night before had washed up tons of seaweed and shells galore.. The afternoon was a lazy one, with a nice tropical breeze swaying the seagrass. The sand felt cool under my feet as I walked along the shore picking through the treasures. I noticed that one particular section of seaweed seemed to be slowly making it's way back to the waves rolling onshore. I cautiously made my way over and with a reed I had found earlier, started moving the seaweed back to see what was wanting to get back out to sea. Talk about someone jumping a foot up in the air......OMGOSH.....was I ever surprised to find a tiny mermaid staring up at me. I carefully picked her up. Poor thing was completely exhausted. I sat down on the sand to see if she was hurt, thankfully she was just tired. I politely told her my name and she replied in kind. Pearl. She asked if she could come home and spend a few days to rest up before I returned her to the ocean. You see....she had never met a human before and was just as curious about me as I was of her. Ri iight?? At least she knew that we actually existed!!!

Pearl is one of my fully sculpted clay ooaks. She has a strong wire armature underneath. She is a tiny 3 1/2 inches...that's of course from her curled tail to her crown. She is hand painted using fine Mica powders mixed with acrylic paints. Her hair is lambswool. (sheared) Tiny pearls adorn her wrist and are also attached to her clay shell top.

Pearl sitting in her temporary home away from home puts her at almost 6 inches. If you have been visiting then you know all about her glass base. If this is your first time just wander back a bit and you can read all about it.  Keep wandering around and you will find all kinds of whimsical characters that live here under the old Southern Ooaks tree.

Pearl wanted to say Hello and to ask that in the future on any beach walkabouts that you might go on, not to complain about the seaweed that washes ashore. Instead, carefully look through it as so many tiny creatures travel by it. Baby sea turtles, tiny little fish and even seahorses. She also asked that if you do find a seahorse, kindly ask him to wait a bit offshore so she can get a ride back out to her world in a few days.

Until next time..............Hugs,
Regi

Captured Mermaid....WIP

It's Friday....Friday the 13th....Does that scare you? Not me.....I call it Friday the 3th, the lucky day!! Perhaps if I think of it that way then it really will be a lucky day. LOL

As I stated in my last post, it seems that my muse is focused on mermaids for some reason. I love mermaids so I don't mind that she wants me to keep designing them. I thought I would share some WIP photos with you today on my next mermaid.....the "Captured Mermaid".

I'm using another one of the bases that I designed some time back. I found this cute little brandy sniffer at an estate sale several years ago and guess my muse decided it was time to use it.

It's filled with some of my sand base material (German glass, school glue and white paint...there..I gave you my secret sand potion...but...shhhhhh...don't tell anyone) Permanently attached are some of our treasures found on one of our beach walkabouts...some coral, fan shells and two tiny shells from the souvenir shop.

Ohhhh...I so wish that I could resculpt myself like I do my ooaks.  A tuck here...a nip there...nooo..no nips...chunks there...I would have to take out chunks...ROFL!!!  I'm hoping, if my muse doesn't change her mind, that this little mermaid will be peeking out the top of the glass.

I'm very happy with how her eyes turned out. Isn't she a cutie pie? I think I still have some tweeks to do with this but I'm liking her whimsical style.

Thank YOU for stopping by...I love my friends coming to visit. Have an awesome weekend and keep an eye out for all the inspiration that is shared with us each day!! Until next time............

Hugs,
Regi

Relaxing weekend with inspiration!!!

This was one of those....just sit back and relax....kinda weekends. Nothing planned (limited budget ya know) and not really anything happening around town. We decided that after the Chazman and I slept most the morning away HEY...it was a Saturday....AND....apparently we needed the extra sleep!!! So sweet to sleep in late every once in awhile. Now, where was I? Oh yes...our relaxing Saturday. We decided that we would go back down to the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge. I love this area...it's the way the beach and surrounding areas were before anything was built on the beach. I know that I have told you about our beach walkabouts there but I don't think that I have really told you about this amazing "natural" area.

I'm not talking about a small area either....well...if you look at our complete coastline then perhaps it would be. It covers 7,000 acres of natural beauty. It stretches from Hwy 180 (Ft. Morgan Road) in Gulf shores all the way down to the opening of the Fort Morgan Historical site. This stretch of road is a wonderful drive, since it is a peninsula....that means most the way down you can see the ocean.

See what I mean....surrounded by the ocean. At the very top or the end, however which away you look at it, is the historical site of Fort Morgan. I promise that we will go and visit there soon and take some photos to show you. It's a really awesome place and the last time we went we had someone following us around. Not someone that could be seen either. BUT...that's for another day.

The wildlife refuge not only has a wonderful beach area but it also has some amazing hiking trails. Trails that run through some amazing saw palmetto trees as well as magnolias and our famous big old oak trees. All are natural to the area and none were planted, although at times when looking at them you might think that someone did plan the trail out and plant them. Mother Nature was this trails designer. There are some raised wooden boardwalks along the way. These trails take you over marsh land and we all know what loves to live in the marshlands. Gators baby...gators!!! Seems we may have another photo trip to take....down to the trails.

Saturday though, we went to the beach area only. Walked for about 2 miles and found some shells and feathers and something that we aren't quite sure what it is. It's bone we know and I have to admit that it has my muse singing up a store to use it somehow.

Most of the shells we find are broken pieces but that's alright. I can always find a way to use even those. Tell me what YOU see with this one broken shell and then I'll tell you what I see!!

Well...what do you see? Just a shell or something else? I see an angel wing. I'm thinking of doing a clay sculpt and painting with this one. Perhaps a small angel (clay) kneeling down on that small piece at the bottom and her wings being painted inside the shell. I just love that I live where I have so much inspiration just laying around waiting to be picked up and seen.

We found several more broken shells that are already telling a tale themselves as well as some seagull feathers. The Chazman is collecting them and wanting us to make something together with them. Perhaps some dragon wings??

 I'm falling in love with the tiny odd shells or housing that is left behind by barnacles. We are getting quiet the lovely collection. I love these tiny ones attached to one of the shells we found Saturday. This shell would look pretty sitting in a bowl with sand and a few other small shells.

Now let's take a test...see who actually reads my post and who just looks at the pretty pictures...HAHA!! How far did I say we walked? No fair going back up to look. Of course I would have no way of knowing if you did...so go ahead!! ^_^  Yeepers....we walked 2 miles and me being the old ancient one that I am, we had to stop and rest a bit. The Chazman would tell you it was so he could play in the sand...such a sweet boy he is. So I think I will just go with that. We stopped to let the Chazman play in the sand...that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!! While we were sitting we took out the binoculars so get a better view of what was out in the water. Several oil rigs....I think the hubbikins counted seven in just one area. The lighthouse of course (I showed you that one in my last walkabout post) Pelicans, seagulls, sand pipers and those funny birds that look like big ducks that dive down and swim under water for at least a minute or two looking for a tasty fish or jellie.  OMGOSH....he came up with one. Thank goodness for binoculars. After getting up and walking on for awhile longer and turning around to come back we got to see the dolphins. First it was just three of them.....slowly swimming along. Then about 5 minutes after them came a pod of about 7. One of them flipping his tail each time he came up. It actually looked like he was trying to get the one in front of him wet. Well, ok they are already wet but ya know what I mean....looked like to siblings playing.  Each time we have gone on our walkabouts these characters have showed up about the same time. I could sit and watch these playful creatures all day. See why living on the coast is such a soul replenishing experience filled with inspiration.

Ohhh me...I almost forgot to tell you about another beach character that we had a bit of fun with. We were walking back to the opening to leave and I just happened to look down at a small indention in the sand. Remember, we are at a wildlife refuge so there is no telling what we might be blessed to see. I borrowed the Chazman's walking stick and gently poked at what I thought was a dead crab. OMGOSH...he so was NOT dead. He bounced up and up came those pinchers. I took the stick and gently started touching them and he would make this little chirping sound and "click click" at us. That was his indention and he was going to protect it. I would move and he would turn and follow me...the Chazman would move and he would turn and follow him. We started giggling and he started chirping again. We didn't bother him for long but it was amazing watching him....watch US!!

Until next time...Hugs, Regi