Wednesday, December 31, 2008

revelling in the setting sun, the close of an old year, the beginning of a new...

And, today, I give you the last of the Sunday beach adventure photos... these of the setting of the sun and ending of that day... to say 'goodbye' to the old year and to welcome with open arms and eager hearts the new year ahead...














(by the way, that's me in the photo below... or, at least, a shadow of me!)


I wish for each of you in the new year...

  • wonder at God's amazing creation
  • awe of God's incredible generosity, kindness, and love
  • a deep and lasting sense of God's presence
  • an awareness of His incomprehensible love for you
  • delightful companionship along life's way
  • joy in the journey
  • laughter
  • exciting adventures
  • and, eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand all the wonderful ways God touches your every day life...

Happy New Year!!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

colors and creatures...

I have posted far too many pictures today, so I shall keep mostly silent and let them speak for themselves.... (Blogger has been messing with the rotation of some of my photos, so a few of the bottom ones may seem sideways...because they are!)
Here's to a thousand (0r more) words about the beauty of the beach I reveled in Sunday...
Amazing colors....


...this photo below was the view if you looked away from the ocean for a moment or two...


....brilliant greens of sea moss on the rocks (low tide allowed them to be seen! and in my case, climbed upon!)...

...and look at the textures of this wavy green 'hair'...
...a wonderfully-colorful rock (some sort of green growth on it)
...and a lovely sample of sea weed...
...and now for the creatures...



I love the way this bird is splashing along...

...and now, my very favorites of the day... the anemones...
first a blue-tipped one...

and a greenish one...

look at the long body on this one below! It has tried to camoflage itself a bit by sticking shells to its body! and, if you look closely, you can see that it is bright green in the center with pink tips on its tentacles! talk about your preppy sea anemone! (double clicking on the blue and pink-tipped ones will open them up to see the details)

another blue-tipped one...

Here is one that has closed up because I just had to poke it with my finger! It, too, has tried to disguise itself with shells...

And, the piece de resistance...
my favorite of all--
green with pink tips!!
Let us end the colors and creatures tour with...
a man and his dog...
land creatures enjoying the beach...

Monday, December 29, 2008

treasures discovered...

After two hours of driving (hooray for low gas prices!!) and singing at almost-the-top-of-my-lungs, I arrived at my beach destination yesterday afternoon. The time at the beach was absolutely glorious! The day was beautiful--in the 60's with a crisp winter ocean breeze, a brilliant blue sky with not a wisp of a cloud, and sun, sun, sun! One could not ask for a better day of winter weather! And the colors of the rocks and sky and water and sand were all so amazingly bright and clear!

I took far, far too many photos in my three hours there. I am, however, having some uploading difficulty, so I must keep it relatively short today. I had wanted to share the whole day with you in photos, but will do a couple of days of posting to give you some of the best shots. Today I will share with you the special TREASURES God gave to me... (nothing live today... those will be later!) It was a bit difficult to sort out what were actually the "treasures," as the day itself was just so wonderfully delicious!

But here are a few of my favorites... starting with the incredible sparkles on the water!!


...a couple of lovely stripey treasures ...


Now, don't be frightened! This little jewel is not a scarab or a beetle carcass or any other such creepy thing... it is called a Mermaid's Purse... and it is (do you know?!?!)....

... a shark egg! (empty, of course) but isn't it wonderful!! and, yes, those are bird footprints around it, if you're wondering...

When my mom was out to visit a couple of years ago, we took a day trip up to this beach. It's such a great place--the mountains behind and the ocean before... and many times, nice shells to be found and taken home as souvenirs of a delightful day. I had found a few sand dollars here on a past visit, and I had hoped, perhaps, my mom would find one, too. I knew it would thrill her to find one. We had prayed even for some special treasure--if not a sand dollar, something else fun. And, she found not only one, but TWO sand dollars on that trip! God is so good! : )

So, while I was combing the beach yesterday, I called my mom to chat for a bit. I was exclaiming over some sea creatures I was examining and mentioned that it would be cool to find another sand dollar. Not too much longer after the comment, while I was still talking with her, I FOUND ONE!!! It was a baby one, no bigger than a dime... but beautiful!

Also while still on the phone with her, I stumbled across this wonderful bit of sandy love!!

(She's used to hanging out with me while I stop a million times for some photo opportunity or another--she's quite patient that way!--and the phone conversation was no exception!! I kept saying, "hold on a sec--gotta take a picture...")

Isn't this heart great?!

And last, but definitely not least, on the Treasures list was a heart rock... one I could NOT take home with me, as it really was a heart boulder!! (I probably should have taken a photo from further away for perspective, but trust me, this is too big to go in my pocket--about 3ft wide!) BIG LOVE. actually, big green mossy love! : )

And, I was especially thrilled to find this heart rock, as I was only able to see it due to the low, low tide! If the tide were up, the rock would have been under water, and I would never have seen the love!


Thank You, God, for these many treasures at the sea... I am grateful!!