sea shell fairies

While in Mexico, I picked up some iridescent shells to bring home. I turned them into small, ring holders by stacking an upside down one as a base and upright ones onto it, and adhering with glue.

Then, decorated them with some vintage blingy bits in oceany colors.  These two, I mailed to my sisses along with two heart shaped abalone heart pendants that I bought for them there too.

This makes  me want to go back to the beach to gather more shells to embellish!

We spent the week of Thanksgiving in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  I fell in love with the views on the beach, this area is a bay, with mountains ringing the sea.  It was very different from other seaside trips I've taken, complete with a warning to watch for crocodiles swimming in the waves.

Really???  

I was fascinated by the idea, but never saw one, till we took a ride around the golf course we were staying at and found some in the little ponds near the ocean.

Everyone says that these guys are not as aggressive as the gators in Florida, and will leave you alone if you don't mess with them.  I was just fine with not poking the crocs and making them angry.  So, I really wasn't worried, and was actually hoping to see some swimming by in the ocean.  Especially since I wasn't splashing around in the water myself. The beach was a little rough for me to go out on my own, and my husband isn't a salt water fan. We strolled up the sand throughout the day, swam in the pool, and read books in the shade by the water, waded along the shore, but didn't swim out into it. 

I do adore playing in waves, but not enough to swim without a "buddy" to watch my back.  Funny, most of the people I travel with are not fans of jumping the waves, so I don't get to swim much on my trips. 

But I am happy as a clam, just staring at the water and watching the swells.  

Shells were few and far between in this Marina beach area.  I noticed when I was on Coronado Island, the Pacific offered up very few shells during my stay there too.  Maybe it is where I am looking?  Or the time of day?  

But I was able to find a handful, and look, just enough to make a fairy! And while there weren't many, there were just enough, and they were iridescent and quite nice.  I found these small white blooms in the sand and gave them to her to hold.

Every time I visit a shore, whether a lake, river, or sea, I try to leave a fairy behind as a thank you. I often wonder if they are found, and picture the smile on a little girl's face if she comes across one.  Usually I create them on my last day, so I never know what happens.  But a couple of times, I've made them earlier, and have checked back.  My last Siesta Key fairy held a jade heart that I'd brought, and I thought that treasure would be scavenged quickly, but it was still there two days later, and the fairy was also still complete.  This little fae, didn't fare as well.  Within hours, she was stepped on and gone, her bits and pieces scattered.

 When I make them, I know they are ephemeral, and not long for the world.  Sometimes we create art hoping it will last forever, but honestly, it is the creating itself that means so much.  The process brings joy to me.  As do the beaches I leave these on.  I make them as thank you to nature for the beauty i've enjoyed by the water.

Our Siesta Key trip was, as always, just wonderful.  We were thrilled to see that the area was undamaged by Irma, and all of the people I talked to had survived with little or no damage.  Mostly some unpleasant heat and discomfort from the power outage, no lasting devastation or injuries.  

Every beach trip I make, I leave a little fairy made from gathered elements as a thank you.  This time, I brought along a jade heart to add to the sprite to say my heart was with them during the storm.

This gal was left at the edge of the grassy area along the shore and I made her mid week instead of as I was leaving.  I enjoyed visiting her for the next few days, and was surprised to see that she was still hanging out, with no issues other than her little dress blowing away.  Her itsy bitsy pinafore was a crab shell, and was light weight, so blew off in the breeze.

I gave her a more solid shell change of clothes, and that seemed to hold up better.

The jade heart was still there on our last day, and the fairy was still flitting about on the sand.  I wonder if the heart will be discovered soon, or if the stone will be buried in the sand to be found years from now as a treasure by some child building a sand castle?

Before heading back to Kansas, I left a big sister fairy on the sand next to the first little girl. 

What I needed was more time at the beach to make one more sister, so I'd have a trio like my sisses and myself!

As I love to do when I visit a beach, especially my beloved, Siesta Key, I leave behind a thank you fairy after collecting shells during my stay.  

I wonder if anyone ever sees them?  I always hope a small child finds her and feels the joy I put into her.

This week, I had a never ending slew of shells to chose from, and took advantage of that by making a second sprite.

Sugarwings loves this beach too. We got in too late on Saturday night to get out in the sand, but the minute we woke up, we were out to greet the day at our home away from home for the next week.

Have you ever flown a kite at the beach? This was a first for us, but will be a tradition from now on.

(This is the yard of our condo, perfect for its beautiful views, and for providing space to play in, far enough away from the Gulf that I don't have to worry about Sugarwings being tempted by the water)

The first day, I had my eye on this umbrella that the wind had taken up into the brush.  It was there all day, no one claimed it by dark,  so I sent my husband through the scrub and sticker plants to scoop it up for Sugarwings to play under.  It was slightly broken, I guess the original owners didn't want it. (We did leave it out in case someone was looking for it)

Their loss, our gain! It was just what we needed for her to stay in the shade to play in the sand.  We also purchased a couple of folding chairs, and that made the trip much more comfy, for sitting out by the water and reading.  I don't know why I've been too cheap to do that in the past.  Low beach chairs are about $10-15 at Walmart, and we could use them all week.

 It always seemed wasteful when I'd thought about buying one in the past, but isn't when I realized that when I go to other hotels that have chair rentals, I pay $25 for one afternoon to borrow them.   Silly that I hesitated to purchase a seat for less than I'd rent one. 

I might even buy an umbrella next time, since chances are we won't be lucky enough to have one blow our way again. And it made the trip so much better for my grand fairy.  

Sugarwings was as dedicated to shell finding as I was.  We bought her a boogie board, but the waves weren't cooperating.  She used it instead as a shell transport system, pulling it behind her as she searched for treasure in the shallow water and then placing them on the board to bring them back to shore.  

We didn't have Dewdrop with us by the water, she was spending the week with her mama who lives in Sarasota.  How lucky for me that I needed to deliver her on Spring break to my favorite city in the world?!

We had a very laid back week, with some chilly temperatures that required jackets on the beach a couple of days, and I picked up a slight illness that slowed me down, while my poor husband had a horrid bought of the flu with on and off fevers.  Still, if you aren't feeling your best, where better to rest up and take it easy?  We sat by the water in our folding chairs, watched the waves and our pretty grand fairy. 

 I'll miss you, Siesta Key! 

In October, I got to spend a few days at the world's prettiest beach, Siesta Key.  And in appreciation of my wonderful time there, I left a little fairy near the waves as a thank you.

Honestly, it is a beautiful, beautiful place to be, and not just in my mind, it is always winning America's top beach lists, like this one.

Of course, are there any BAD beaches on Florida's Gulf coast? I'd be surprised. There are grains of sand in every type, and as much as I love the powdery, cool sand of Siesta, I enjoy wiggling my toes along other shores too.  This fairy was made as a thank you to Turtle Beach, a little way south of where we stayed in Sarasota on Siesta Key.

We had more to be thankful for there than just a pleasurable stroll in the sand…. we were grateful to get home safely!

In the search for more shells than we'd been able to pick up where we were staying, I looked online and saw that there was a slightly deserted area at Midnight Pass, south of Turtle Beach where shells were abundant, if you didn't mind a bit of a walk.  So, we drove to the end of the road, and took off walking along the beach, down the sand to what looked like the end of civilization and filled our bags with pretty shells.  We also lost track of time, and realized it was getting late as we headed back.  So we trudged through the sand back the way we'd come.

And we trudged.

And trudged.

Then trudged some more. And I regretted my decision to not bring a water bottle thinking it was a pleasant day and we were only going on a short walk.  (Kind of like a 3 Hour Tour).

We hadn't picked a landmark when we left our car.  So we kept on a trudging and tried to find where we'd parked it.  We were getting a little worried, tired, hot, thirsty and bug bitten by then.

As the sun was setting, we came across a couple who told us we'd walked way, way too far past our car and needed to turn around.  They said the easiest way back was to follow the Yellow Brick Road.

?????

And then showed us the way through their condo complex, which was actually a side walk with yellow bricks that led to the road, which led us back a mile or more to our car. Much easier than walking through the sand.  And much better than walking the wrong direction.

(this is a preliminary sketch for my art journal, not done yet)

Here is the co-inky dink part- I live in Kansas, and if you've read my blog, you might have noticed that I'm a big fan of Yellow Brick Roads and all that goes along with them.  This guy who helped us lives in Florida, but was actually from a town nearby me in Kansas.  

And he told us that we'd walked by Stephen King's beach mansion down at the tip of the key.  Well, it was Halloween week, and we'd been totally immersed in "Fright Fest" on AMC, including a day long Stephen King marathon the day before! Here we were lost in the dark, practically trespassing in the yard of the king of horror.

But that wasn't the end, as we finally neared our car, and thought the saga was over, we heard a terrible fight and a woman screaming for help in the clump of  trees on the other side of the empty parking lot.  We were in a isolated area, at night, creeped out and tired.  But we called 911 and locked our doors, waiting for a policeman to come and save the poor screaming woman, whose cries stopped as a man drove off on a moped.  We didn't hear her after that, and hoped she was safe. The officer sent us on our way and went looking for her with a high powered flashlight. 

I hope she is okay.  I tried to look up Sarasota 911 reports but had no luck.  We went back to our happy, cozy, Siesta Key condo on the sand, hoping for the best for that poor woman who had screamed with such fright. And our own trek through the sand as we searched for our lost car in the dark for hours didn't seem as bad any more.  We were safe and I sure hope she is too.