What Was in My Pocket



waiting for spring cleaning

Hi everyone!

Hasn't this March seemed endless and grey and dismal! March is a horrid month, in my opinion. And this year I've been kept indoors all month with a rather severe ''respiratory'' infection". lol, NOT to be confused with a mundane cold, I understand. This thing that ''got'' me has involved large turquoise pills, codeine cough syrup, and an very expensive inhaler gadget. And tomorrow, a chest xray.

Good thing [no, not really, but...] the local hospital is still filled with sand and debris from Sandy because otherwise I fear I might be headed that way.
 [Google images photo]

The worst part is that the icy wind makes it hard for me to breathe and the doctor [who looked appalled by my daily winter walking regimen] has suggested I remain indoors or only take short local walks. I know I love the beach but I don't think I understood how much my creativity is linked to my long hours spent idly beachcombing---walking, searching, thinking. [and so if you also read my writing blog, you'll understand its lack of updates.]
Click to enlarge all photos

 However before the medical people got involved I did get out, searching for goodies left by winter storms.
 Look at this giant light bulb! Is it new---or old?

All my life I've yearned for the joy of finding an old glass fishing net float. So when I spied this glass thing buried in the sand, I crossed my fingers and dug it out.

Nope. Just an odd huge old light bulb! See its size!
 Keep in mind the plate is like the size of a large serving platter...

I also found this smaller light bulb. Imagine them surviving in the winter gale waves.  Odd items, but inspiring. They can, if they ever dry out, perhaps be tiny terrariums? ''Snow'' and sand filled Christmas ornaments? Something fun anyway.

Then a beautifully weathered, but not old bottle.

Its shape seems so familiar, what is it!?
 An old Perrier maybe?

And a pretty assortment of small junks, tossed into my favorite spongeware bowl.

 The large glass piece, below, front, is old, probably part of a canning jar. It has a dimple on the side where there must have been a wire bail attached.

And interesting 1/2" thick safety glass embedded with now-rusty wire mesh. [Airplane? boat, lighting device ? What is such glass used for, I wonder?]

My kids have perhaps done better than I at finding real treasures.

Note the gorgeous jewel-like lavender old bottle neck. 100 years old, spent washing in the tides.

 

A c.1900 barbershop shaker bottle-top...still has tiny cork ball.

 

 

This Seven-Up bottle piece, what was the slogan?
 Anyone recall? edit: Hunter found the slogan! Yay! "Seven-Up You like it, It likes you!" See the word likes? I couldn't imagine....The link is in her comment at the end.

And a very nice late 1800s bottle neck, pale aqua blue...

and sand dollars...again so fragile....yet they survive.

 

 

 

love

          lizzy

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

 

 

Shell strings rescued from the deck eaves during Sandy.

Haven't moved since!

And my collection of binoculars....

And interesting local images c. 1926, just a a nor'easter....[I apologize to the unknown source, for absence of attribution].

 

 

They're Back!

Hi everyone! Welcome spring!

When I was a little girl growing up in the Midwest we waited each spring for the first robin to return. On Cape Cod my dad always planted lots of holly bushes so the birds would find berries when they arrived in early March. Here at the beach we don't have many songbirds, so I watch for the return of the oystercatchers, my first harbingers of spring.

These funny colorful shorebirds arrive each year promptly by St. Patrick;s Day and this year, despite the icy weather, they are here!

I was so happy to see them.

They seem shy again, but healthy and energetic.

Look at their bright eyes! [click to enlarge all pix]

They were bathing and dancing and preening, their mating ritual.

I was a bit concerned that they would find their beach habitat too changed. Not so much this pair, the eastern pair, since their area is more or less as it was before H. Sandy.

But the pair that nests to the west will find no dunes or high ground for their nest this year.

They lay their eggs right in the sand, just slightly hollowed out, no real nests. I hope they move far enough above the new tideline to be safe.

But they seem to use their birdy GPS to lay their eggs in exactly the same spot each year, no matter how the winter storms have changed the sand and tides.

Even the water looks warmer, doesn't it?
So beautiful. So fresh.

And the beach is huge at low tide.

The only bit of color caught my eye...

A rarely seen bright orange scallop...

And look! Our boardwalk is going into place.

Its arrival makes me think of hot summer days and sultry nights. Summer will be here soon!?
Oh I hope so!

love

     lizzy

gone to the beach....

Searching for Spring....

Hi!  Another stormy day here at the beach. The rain must be blowing straight from the south off the beach, as it is pouring on my deck and dry in the front of the house.

Spring is not due to arrive for another week. And  if we're honest, it may not show up here for another two months at least.

I fought the 30 mph winds and got the back door open. Looked for the feral kitties, to give them their dinner. But no, the kitties want no part of this ugly wet day.

The other day I was reading an Internet debate about  ''when spring begins'' and there's a contingent out there that believes  meteorological spring, as opposed to astronomical spring [vernal equinox] begins March first! These people must live in the southern realms of the US because no spring here until May or even June. (And winter begins after Christmas, folks, not December first, when the leaves are finally changing. Yeesh!) Best to stick to the stars.


Anyway all that science stuff doesn't keep me from at least looking for spring! Are the oystercatchers back?? [not yet].

Are the snow drops in bloom?

I was thrilled that the tiny fragile bulbs survived the saltwater flooding of H. Sandy. Keep your fingers crossed for my hydrangeas!

Mostly I've been filling the house with  supermarket spring. Nothing says springtime like a Mason jar full of Cadbury eggs.

And I buy tulips, lots of tulips. How to choose each week, as I clutch my pennies metaphorically in my sweaty yearning hands. I adore parrot tulips...

These were  irresistable, creamy curly dense pearl white with green stripes.

Oooh la la!
Pennies well spent.

So special. I only see parrot tulips for a couple weeks each spring....

And who could pass up  a $1.99 pot of heavenly blue grape hyacinths?

The color is so...perfect, isn't it.

And I am not above  trotting out some absolute fakes, like this charming English porcelain find from the thrift shop.

Pansies...

I am sewing endless leaves on my Porch quilt, nursing an annoying case of the sniffles, and staying dry. I hope the rain clears soon so I can see the comet!

What are you guys up too? Enjoying the longer evenings, or hating to get up an hour early?
Any comets in your skies?

love


   lizzy

gone to the beach