Little Miss Grumpy Cheers Up

What, what?! Memorial Day? The pool is filled, the lifeguards are in their highchairs (oh you know what I mean, although they do seem younger every year!) High. chairs.
With a view.

[Because out of towners always manage to drown each summer, sigh.]*

It was hot, it was muggy, there was thunder and lightening. Many people appeared on my beach!!! Eeeew!

my pale winter feet
I don't know those people!

Summer is here? How is that possible? Did we not just buy pumpkins? X shopping days til Christmas? Snowstorm alert, better stock up!
I'm not ready! I didn't piece---or even cut out---my planned winter quilt project! Nor did I paint the living room....
I didn't buy a new swimsuit yet. Or flipflops!
I did get these awesome beads, to made a special summer necklace, just for me:

From Kristy at Seashaped: one is a grey beach pebble! The other is two slivers of seaglass!! Check out  Seashaped 's etsy shop, her pix are way better than mine! I want every single thing in her shop. Awesome, perfect....

Time seems to fly these days.

                      

So I must be having fun.

The good news is, lots of my hearts were sold! Yay! And thanks! Don't they look so adorable in their travel outfits and tags?

  

now back to my summertime rant:


*Please only swim near a lifeguard stand (with lifeguards on duty); pls don't let your kids wade in rough surf, especially at dusk. I think 22 people drowned on my area beaches last year!

*Please respect, and teach your kids to respect, our shorebirds and other marine creatures. An ancient horseshoe crab is not a football for drunken teens to hurl around. The birds have babies to protect and feed...it's not easy, is it, parents? Let's have some empathy here. And human intruders give seals panic attacks; then they get sick. The tadpoles in the swale are infant endangered spadefoot toads...let them stay and live; no neon buckets please.

*And stay off the dunes! They are a fragile ecosystem that protects the rest of this tiny island. Your kids don't need to climb them and build a fort.(And there are ticks! Lyme disease, so...please.)

*Take your garbage home with you.

                     

Try to be good guests. You're sitting, uninvited, in my usuallly pristine front yard!
 

[smile]

love


           lizzy


           gone to the beach
 

Foggy Summer

Oh dear....the fog rolled onto the beach, just as we set up our chairs and picnic. The airshow was invisible (but audible, lol!).

Now my BBQ is cancelled because the wind is howling off the water. And it's cold. Maybe a good thing, because I didn't get around to scrubbing the grill yet?

So instead of party food and handsome boys in boardshorts, drinking beer and flipping burgers (!?) I'll show you some recent treasure, culled from the tideline before the summer hordes arrive,

A very old intact beer bottle!
As found, full of sand:

and washed carefully:

c. 1905

Wonderfully weathered and iridescent.

Says Ruppert Brewery New York. The Ruppert family once owned the NY Yankees and the brewery in Manhattan produced beer from the early 1800s to the mid 1900s! A fun find.

And below is the bits and pieces of a c.1950s Coke bottle// Coco-Cola bottle. We've been finding the pieces all spring...photographed with another more intact bottle section, found years ago.

I think the Made in Newark base is very neat!

And a whole lot of sea glass!

My kids can sweep the beach clean! I went along a few minutes behind them and not a scrap to be found.

 I almost asked them to put some back. But that's not how the game is played. Finders/ keepers and all that.

And the next tide's passing brought more and more....

My daughter has even been finding rare blue and white china shards! The most precious find. I was so envious.

So...keep your eyes wide open! And never give up.

Happy Memorial Day, with thanks to all those brave Americans who served or are serving in our armed forces.

love

                lizzy

..................gone to the beach

ps I think the comments thing is fixed? Try it?

A little bloggy business....

Hi! To everyone who has read and can't comment here this week (I was so sad! No one wrote to me!)...it seems it is not us, it's Blogger.
[Why am I not surprised?]

Here is what they say in their Help page:

"We're investigating an issue which is preventing login and comment posting for some users, and hope to have a fix released shortly.

Thanks for your patience in the meantime. — latest update on Tuesday, May 24, 2011"


Labels: comments, login, outstanding

Soooo, don't give up!
my email is lizzzz.d@gmail.com  Be sure you put BLOGGER or something in the header so I know it is you all.

love

              lizzy

gone to the beach....



PS Here's a quick picture of the oystercatchers' baby...he's to the right of the mama, begging for food. :-)

White Linen Says "summer"

Hello! I've been having a bit of spring fever,

 ---walking on the beach looking for seaglass and baby birds instead of working.

Today I finally posted my newest collection white lavender hearts...

and other white linen treasures..up on my etsy site!  I made this group with 100% lavender buds filling, no polyfil. Because some of you prefer the all natural style...?

                      

Ebay listings later, or at least that 's the plan.

I got a little adventurous! White ring pillow, for a summer wedding?

A tiny pillow: "basketful of sweet dreams" to tuck in a special spot.

Lace hearts....

Hearts with vintage treasure finds:

Aqua beribboned hearts:

Perfectly faded, ivory & white quilt scrap hearts....with vintage Bakelite buttons! Cute!

Tiny tag hearts I make to tie on the orders' bags....

Come visit? Just for fun?

love

            lizzy

........gone to the beach

Flea Market

Hi!
My weekend was chilly and wet, how 'bout you guys?

I almost didn't bother to go to the flea market on Sunday. I was tired, it was drizzling....In fact,the weather was as rainy as the previous week (the three surly dealers, no treasure day?) only much colder. I figured it would be a waste of time. Or worse, annoying...

For a fun look at the dealer's POV, check out 52 Flea's Laura's venture this weekend into being a seller, lol. here Four AM wake-up! No wonder the dealers are grumpy! (Tho I am sure Laura was not!)

So I was on my way to the garden store for herbs for our planned herb garden. We've been collecting these neat, vintage, upcycled old silverware plant markers from Rita at Beach House Living here and now I need a wide planter and some herbs...

To my surprise, as I drove by, the flea market was busy and going strong. I parked quick and found this wonderful string quilt top immediately. $20.oo!

Extravagant, but so colorful and cheery in the gloom and fog of the train station parking lot.

The colors are so new and bright, it looks like it was made yesterday, but wonderful vintage prints and polka dots.

It is nicely made...I can see it backed with one of those wild Kaffe Fasset prints and just a few rows of machine stitching by me: a picnics/ beach blanket? [No batting.]Or I may  have it machine quilted because I think it is really pretty nice...

Another spark of color! A teeny tiny china shoe, made in Japan, a dollar! Orange. With polka dots!

I love the blue flower in the front and gilded ruffle. It looks like a Disney Snow White shoe, doesn't it!

It will make a cute pin cushion for a special gift maybe...

Then! In the freebie/ discards pile by the trash barrel, I found these neat glass jars!

I love the old label amd old glass, don't you? For seaglass collecting?

The tops are newer but nicely etched. And they fit. There were more of the label ones: "Candy", "Flour"---but I didn't want to be greedy. Now I wish I had them all...and the price was certainly right!
Right?
As in Free.

Had to stop at BJs (like Costco) on the way home, my kids insist on eating! so despite the Sunday crowds I stopped in, treated myself to orange tulips along with the mamoth bag of frozen chicken cutlets.

It was that kind of day. You know, an orange and red and pink day?

Pale sand-and-beach colors like white and grey and soft blue just couldn't combat the fog. Not like Orange can! Sometimes orange is---a necessity! And there is turquoise too, if you look closely. Perfect, just  perfect.

PS My birdwatching neighbor stopped me on the beach today, told me the oystercatchers' chickies have hatched! I can't wait to look tomorrow, they are tiny pompom balls of black fuzz, adorable!

love

          lizzy

             gone to the beach.....