Shelling Huntington Beach

After two days of waiting, I just couldn't take it anymore so I dragged Shannan to the beach. It was cold and windy, but I'm a smart little sheller (okay, maybe not little, but smart). We walked WITH the wind on the dry sand, so as not to get it in our eyes.  Going back we would have to walk against the wind so we dropped down closer to the water where the sand was wet and not blowing.  The waves were huge and bringing in lots of foam and cool specimens--so I made sure to return the next day.

Yup, lots and lots of shells. And not just little coquina shells either! There were scallops, shark eyes, California mussels and I think maybe a nice speckled Pismo clam (but I'm not positive on that one yet). Even Shannan was shelling with me! I'll make a sheller out of him yet, just let me get him to Sanibel Island!

I brought all of my little treasures home in a large ziplock bag.  They were still wet and needed to be air dried.  So I cut the back off of a cereal box, dumped them in, spread them around and placed them outside in the sun to dry.  They dried lickity-split and I brushed all the sand off of them and grabbed a few of my favorites.  When darling daughter got home we went through them.  I let her sort them and she kept the ones she wanted for her collection and we put the rest into my collection.

Oh what fun we had!

Sea Shells

Why do I collect shells?  Why does anyone collect anything really?  I live in the center of North America, far from any coast, and yet, I can't get enough of these beautiful jewels!

The first shell I ever received was from my mother.  She brought it home from some fancy restaurant in Bismarck.  It was greasy with butter and was from her supper!  In third grade the shell went to school with me for show and tell.  Later that day, it turned up missing.  A girl across the aisle from me opened her desk and there it was in her pencil tray.  She told the teacher it was hers and I never did get it back...Could this have been the beginning of my lifelong search for shells?  I guess we'll never know.

My nicer shells are kept in an under-the-bed box in the house.  My beach and junk and large shells are kept in a box in storage.  Sad they can't all be in the house, but this way my collection fits neatly under the bed.  Some shells I keep on display in my bedroom

These are Epitonium scalare Linnaeus-AKA Precious Wentletrap.  Wentletrap comes from the Dutch word for a winding staircase.  These are two of my favorite shells.  One I got as a surprise from Shannan!

 I found this case in the Jewelery aisle at Hobby Lobby and it works perfectly for small shell storage.  Each is labeled with a number and then I have identified most of them on a separate sheet of paper.  I wish I could find another case like it!

The other smaller and medium sized shells are stored in 4 of these divided craft boxes.  The big brown bean in the lower right corner is called a Sea Bean and is an actual bean.

This is a Janthina janthina Linnaeus AKA Purple Sea Snail that Shannan got for me off of Ebay!  It is the prettiest color of purple.

The white one is an Alabaster Murex that I bought at a shop in California and the spiny one is a Venus Comb Murex that my mother and father-in-law brought back with them from Florida. 

This is my favorite book for identifiaton.  It doesn't have everything but is still very good.  I've picked up a few others along the way, but this one is best for traveling with.

This is me on the beach in California.  Do I look happy?  I think so!!  I loved it there even though it was only about 60 degrees.  The beach was COVERED with little tiny Coquina shells that looked like little colorful butterflies

If any of you have one of these rolling around in a dresser drawer or box in the basement I'd be glad to take it off your hands :)  This is THE shell I'm hoping to find.   It is a Calliostoma annulatum and they are found around Oregon and Washington State up into Canada.  Would looooove to find one.  It is also the official shell of the Pacific Northwest Shell Club. 

Well, that's a start.  For those of you who couldn't care less about shells, just skip over this post LOL!  I'll hopefully post more shell picts in the future :)
Happy crafting everyone :)