I GO SHELLING (SORT OF)

It wasn't the sort of shelling I'm used to, nor was it as satisfying as shelling has been for me in the past, but the important thing to me was that I was shelling again after a 4 month forced break. Being stuck in a wheelchair really cramps a girl's shelling style. But on this particular day I was already in the car, having just visited the doctor (who'd told us I have a tumor on my spine), so I suggested to my husband that a drive out to Sanibel might be just what we needed.

It was a beautiful day and the beaches were fairly empty of people. We parked on the Captiva side of the bridge and watched the waves roll in while we absorbed my health situation. After a short while my husband got out of the car and walked to the water's edge, scooping up a double handful of shells that he brought back to me and laid on my towel-covered lap so I could sort through them, then went back to get a second scoop. I was immediately distracted from my problems and had a wonderful time picking through the shells to find and save lots of double kitten paws, a few wentletraps, a huge coquina, what I understand is being called a mac and cheese shell, a little venus clam pair, some button shells and others. That was really fun! On the drive home we were able to be more clear minded and came to agree that for various reasons we believe the tumor is probably benign. We'll know more after I have another MRI.

BEAUTIFUL BIG SEASHELLS

I've been collecting giant size seashells for decades ... the ones that are rarely found on the beach, like the 12" beauty that Pam of I Love Shelling found on April 4th. But, unlike that very lucky woman, I haven't yet found a single giant shell on the beach, and probably never will. Instead, I did my shelling for huge shells at garage sales, thrift stores and antiques shops. Whatever works, right? ;-)

The display pictured above on our enclosed deck is composed of helmet shells with pretty peachy color interiors that I found at garage sales in northern Illinois in the 1970's, huge whelks discovered at Florida garage sales and thrift stores, an "antique" Queen Conch from a local antiques shop and various other biggies from I-don't-remember-where. I piled them all in a 24" wide giant Pacific clam (which I'd first placed on a vintage rattan table base). The giant clam was given to me by a friend who felt it was cluttering up her garden, to my delight, and is my pride and joy. It weighs a ton! We used it as a bird bath for many years and just recently decided to give it a new life as a display piece. I like changing things around and this is a change that makes me smile every time I look at it.