House Plants

My little collection of house plants has been keeping me going all winter.

I am slightly amazed that I have kept them alive this long.

I have grown quite attached to them and I hope that they last for many more seasons to come.

Presenting...My New Line Of Jewelry!

I am so happy to share these with you!!

My newest line of jewelry with, hopefully, lots more to come!

You can find them in my shop.

Pieces of the Sea

In response to a special request by Ms. Blueistheteacher, here are the souvenirs that we brought home from Tom's in St. Augustine, Florida.

All of these stray pieces remind me of a wonderful poem by Pablo Neruda called

Of Solitude And The Sand

On blue shores of silence

among the things the sea throws up,

let us hunt for the most petrified,

violet claws of crabs,

little skulls of dead fish,

smooth syllables of wood,

small countries of mother-of-pearl;

let us look for what the sea undid

insistently, carelessly,

what it broke up and abandoned,

and left behind for us...

Let us look for secret things

somewhere in the world,

on the blue shores of silence

or where the storm has passed

rampaging like a train.

There the faint signs are left,

coins of time and water,

debris, celestial ash

and the ireplaceable rapture

of sharing in the labor

of solitude and sand.

Ohio

Spring Is Here...

Spring has finally come to Ohio.

Oh, how I have missed it.

A trip to the park revealed Spring peeking out from all kinds of little hiding places.

A Few Films

I can't wait to see both of these movies.

I watched this one last night.

It's hard to imagine it from the trailer, but it was wonderful.

It's slow, strange and very sweet.

I loved it.

Please Hear Me Ohio

Souvenirs

While in St. Augustine we stumbled across a real treasure.

A bone fide seaside souvenir shop!
It isn't that souvenir shops are hard to find, but most of them, nowadays, sell more swimming trunks and flip flops than good old-fashioned souvenirs.
When I walked into Tom's I actually got weak in the knees.

Rows upon rows of turquoise and sea foam green shelves lined with nautical treasures.

Bins of glistening shells, knobby white coral, pale pink sea fans hanging from the ceiling.

There were tiny wooden ships and ridiculous little animals made out of glued-together shells.

I was in heaven.

I combed the place over three times before I settled on a few treasures to take home with us.

The boys each picked out a shell and a treasure map.

We left happy, clutching our bits of the sea to bring home with us.

Castles In The Sand

Temporary masterpieces

By The Sea

I am finally making good on my promise to show more vacation photos.

Our day at the beach was glorious.

The boys were overjoyed, as you can see.

We splashed our feet in the water even though it was absolutely freezing.

We collected shells, walked along the beach and built sandcastles (pictures coming soon!).

The seaside always feels like home to me.

I love it so.