Showing posts with label Sand dollar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sand dollar. Show all posts



§ Let's Go Surfing Now....


Up front, I am compelled to apologize for the heavy post filled with photos! I adjusted the viewing size to help this post's loading time! If you wish to view larger images, make use of the Blogger option of clicking on the pictures to embiggen with its Lightbox filter! This is the morning I sat on the shore of the Gulf watching the surfing activities and watching the sea crash into the jetty's boulders. After fighting for my balance and trying to hold my camera steady in the wind, I gave up and walked along the shoreline a while, finding a whole sand dollar partially buried...








§ A Driftwood Search...



Well, since I worked on the piece of wood shown in a previous post, I needed to find a 'base' that would keep the 'dragonbird' upright to sit on a shelf or table.   The beaches were closed last week to vehicle traffic, and I didn't want to climb the sand barricades, so I waited until our local news told us the beaches were open again [closed because of the threat of Hurricane Laura].  I, of course, wanted to walk and at least get a 3 mile walk in before the heat index made it unbearable.  I left before sunrise, arrived at the beach as the sun came up and when I parked to get out and walk and look for a piece of driftwood, a big tanker ship was going out to sea.  Of course, that, hopefully, meant that the dolphins were bidding the crew a safe journey.  I walked up to the jetty hurriedly to see if I could spot any action....


 

I watched for several minutes, until it got near the end of the channel to turn and go out into the Gulf. The jetty was crowded with fishermen at this hour, which didn't come as any surprise! 




Magee Beach was pretty well cleaned up of debris from the storm; hardly any wood was seen. There were plenty of shells; whole and broken bits, all over the shoreline. I continued walking along and finally came up on a very large piece of driftwood that I thought may be a good piece. Instead of carrying it while I continued to walk, I marked the spot so when I did my about face to return to the car, I would know where to pick it up and carry it the short distance back. Beach marker "J"! I saw many very small and whole sand dollars this morning! They even had the 'tentacles' attached, and still a purplish-brown, so they washed ashore very recently [probably at high tide just hours ago] and not long dead. They are supposed to be a good luck piece if whole.  I spotted 17 of them.  Plus two nice, whole, sundial shells and one whole saw-toothed pen shell [as fragile as the sand dollar and finding one in one piece is nearly miraculous!] While I walked this is what I saw. The piece of rusty iron [photo below] from most likely the oil rigs out at sea that washed ashore, reminded me of a chicken drumstick...


That was my morning on the beach. When I got back to the car and loaded the piece of driftwood into the trunk, a barge was being towed down the channel. I took pictures...



I then backed out of the parking spot, drove over the beach to the access road, and left to drive to a birding hotspot in the village and then head home.

In the news...I have a question pertaining to the riots and maybe you agree:   "how does it empower black lives when the same are destroying their own livelihoods and businesses?   Can they not see this, what they're thinking/doing"? addendum: And, I don't post my opinions for the sake of arguments...I will delete comments if I have to. If you have an opinion, publish it on your OWN blog!



§ By the Sea, by the sea...By the Beautiful Sea


I didn't get much bird watching done on Sunday this past week. Instead, I just took a leisurely walk along the shore...



Through the lens, this was a beautiful sight!!



Her parents were nearby fishing...and such a doll she was.


Castle in the sand...quite intricate and detailed.


No, Not Ramen Noodle soup!!  The seed is a tropical almond.


Underneath the sea slime lurks a whole sand dollar.  I just left it there for someone else...years ago, it would've been different, but now, no need to have any more in our home, I have literally hundreds!!!

read about the legend of the sand dollar here.


_ _ _ _



About a week ago, I ordered a book about the Queen of the Desert. A biography, in short, of a woman who became a go-between...in fact, creating some of the countries' boundaries in the middle east decades ago. It was quite interesting and took me a couple days reading it in its entirety. Thing is, ironically, my sister was in fact reading about the very same woman...her book? Gertrude Bell - Queen of the Desert!!! I swear, sometimes, the things she and I do can be quite eerie being so many miles apart. Anyway, the book she was reading, I couldn't find...the hardback [which I prefer] has been out of print for quite some time. The two book stores Bud and I frequent didn't have it in stock. So, I went to the used bookstore, and they did a computer search and found one hardback covered in stock at the Dallas store...they ordered it and it was shipped to our house in a couple of days. Before I start this book tho, I wanted to finish a 2nd book I've been reading...you remember? CLEMENTINE [Mrs. Winston Churchill]. I completed reading all the way through that one on Sunday...at first I thought oh my goodness, she is a neurotic!! Well, it turned out to be such a worthy book....EXCELLENT. The epilogue and opinions at the end were written by Churchills' granddaughter...the ending brought tears to my eyes...I highly recommend this to anyone faintly interested in English/American history!!! Or women's studies.



§ By the Sea Shore...In the Parks


South Texas is full of odd critters and cute critters, and mysterious critters. Here is a collection from my photo albums of days gone by...all critters of Texas; here in the Coastal Bend:

Sometimes, they're what I see along the many walking trails, water channels, along the beaches, and parks within a 30 mile radius from home....



Javelinas [pronounced Ha vah LEE nahs]



Mexican Ground Squirrel


Starfish and Sand Dollar


Fox Squirrel


Turtle...a Turtle MOUND.  lol


Blue Crab


The other day, when walking along the Naval Air Station highway, along the shoreline of both sides of the bay, I spotted a really FLAT shell, with some very gawdy-looking slime!  I hafta be honest, I was curious...the shell was black.  But the 'meat inside the shell' looked like the kind of artificial crab meat you can purchase at the grocery store, but slimy!!  I went "yuk" and kept on walking.  After i was finished with my walk, and back in the car heading home, I got to thinking "I bet that was a mussel!!  Ewww...and people eat that"?  When I got home, I got on Google, and sure 'nough it was a mussel.  Dang.  I didn't take a photo of it.  Now I wish I had.  Has anyone eaten mussels?


Does it taste like Chicken?

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