August 17: Lucia Beach

Girls hum to snails.
I look for a heart,
find a pocketful of moons.

January 17: Beaches

Spent our last full day in Florida soaking up the seaside sun and warmth with a second hike at Stump Pass State Park and a visit to the beach at Blind Pass State Park on Manasota Key. So much to love: shorebirds at surf's edge, diving pelicans, sea grapes, crying ospreys, dolphins passing by offshore, colorful shells tumbled by waves, a gopher tortoise thoughtfully chewing on a blade of grass, anoles rustling among dry palm fronds, and always the ancient rush and rhythm of the waves...

 

Sand slows my steps.

I breathe

in time with waves.

 

Posted with Blogsy

January 12: Stump Pass Beach State Park

Finding sharks' teeth

among the shells--

childhood memory revived.

Here's my grandfather and I collecting sharks' teeth in 1980 at nearby Englewood Beach

Here's my mom collecting sharks' teeth today

March 22: Beach of shells

Spent a few hours at the beach on Sanibel today, one of the premiere shelling beaches. While Paul fished the turquoise waters, I waded, looked for shells, and watched turnstones and other shorebirds wander unafraid among the human visitors, the birds seeming just as interested in the ever-shifting mounds of shells as we were.

 

Each wave sweeps in

fresh shells for me

and sandpipers to pick through.

Posted with Blogsy

March 1: Captivated on Captiva

This afternoon Paul wanted to do some fishing, and a local fly-fishing guide recommended the beach on the Sanibel side of the bridge to Captiva. So while he froze his feet in the surf and caught nothing, I beachcombed on one of Florida's best shell beaches, then literally sat in the warm sand just a few yards away from resting groups of terns, gulls, and shorebirds. I couldn't stop snapping photos. The water was a brilliant turquoise, my feet were bare for the first time since last summer, and I got some great practice at identifying shorebirds as mixed flocks of willets, dunlins, knots, sanderlings, and Western sandpipers surrounded me. A Western sandpiper decided to curl up right next to me for a while, and later, while sorting through heaps of shells, turnstones practically walked over my hands while they too picked over the shells to find tiny crustaceans hiding underneath. Just before we left, a dolphin swam parallel to the beach, right past a guy on a boogie board. I think these few hours on the palm-lined beach were the most relaxed and happy I've been in months.

Here with sand, birds, shells,
roaring surf, passing dolphin,
I find perfect calm.