The studio has been a flurry of activity, getting me ready for my trip to the Gasparilla Inn. It's a particularly fun show for me, because I can concentrate on designs that are all about shells. My peeps will love them. You see, I know their sweet spot, for it is one we share. And I love visiting with so many regulars who by this point have become old friends. The show is this Friday to Sunday, so if you're in the area, please stop in and say hello. You can also get a preview of some of my new creations below.
These past few shell-forward weeks have gotten me wondering ... just what is it about seashells that keeps us utterly infatuated? From the smallest child to that elegant elderly beachcomber in the slightly cocked hat (you know the one), each of us is equally smitten with shells. Maybe it's because each specimen, from the humble coquina to the king's crown, feels like its own small miracle. We grasp it as a keepsake, a reminder that Mother Nature is indeed the best designer of all. When someone marvels at one of my modest shell creations, I like to remind them, "It was once someone's house". And then I get to stand back and watch as a wide smile erupts, beginning in the corners of their mouth, rising slowly into an allover glow which peaks in the outside corners of their eyes. (I think I just might sense a glow coming on in you?) READ MORE
Posts tagged: shells
Midsummer Nights 7/28/25
I am rather irked by the parade of brown prints and suede boots high-stepping their way into my Instagram feed this week. And so begins my annual lament: let the sultry magic of summer linger a bit longer.
Hellooooo. It's still July, people.
After all, the days are still long and the evenings still warm ... why break the enchantment?
Lounge in the sun with a good book.
Bite into a peach and let the juice drip down your chin.
Be still. Be here. In this one precious moment. READ MORE
Creatures of the Sea 7/14/25
In "Beautiful Swimmers", William Warner's small gem of a treatise on Chesapeake Bay sea life, he writes of blue crabs molting time and again - as many as 18 to 21 times after reaching maturity. Perhaps we humans are that way too: growing, renewing, always moving forward alongside our little community of ever evolving friends and family. Maybe our crab cousins are nature's reminder that significant growth may require vulnerability, as each new era is preceded by a tender, uncertain, sometimes even scary step. READ MORE
The Shell Seekers 5/12/25
I stumbled upon this curious shell tree during a March beach walk in Boca Grande, and got to wondering about its architect ... was he or she a he or she? Young or old? A local or a visitor like me?
Several decades ago, while I stumbled along towards an unpreventable divorce, a therapist told me I was "a searcher". Well I certainly was searching then - for a way to mend this enormously sad situation I was facing. But what else did she really mean?
I'm still searching for the answer. READ MORE
Shell yeah
Last Thursday, July 4th, I had the unique privilege of bearing witness to 74 individuals as they turned THEIR DREAMS into reality. On the West Lawn of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, these 74 men and women from 36 countries took the oath of citizenship to become our newest fellow Americans. READ MORE
- Prev
- Page 1 of 2
- Next