Not to be Missed - Josie Iselin and "Dr. Beachcomb" Book Event in Poulsbo!

I wish I was going to be home next week on the Kitsap Peninsula to have the opportunity to see my friend, author and photographer Josie Iselin, speak at Liberty Bay Books in downtown Poulsbo.  Josie will read and present images from her recently published Sea Glass Hearts,  and from her newest project: An Ocean Garden: The Hidden Romance of Seaweed.

"On rare occasions, sea glass takes the shape of a heart, the universal symbol of love. In Sea Glass Hearts, Iselin assembles an inspiring collection of these precious objects that are free for the taking—if you are lucky enough to find them!"

(As you probably can guess, I am a huge fan and do have my autographed copy!)

And lucky beach treasure hunters - Josie will be bringing Dr. Beachcomb, Deacon Ritterbush, with her! She will present her latest book, Connecting to Nature Through Beachcombing. She will discuss the relationship of beachcombing to “willing stewardship” and how it can serve as a portal into shoreline conservation, science and history.  (image courtesy of Dr. Beachcomb's Facebook page)

When: Monday, March 4, 2013

Where: Liberty Bay Books

18881 D Front St.

Poulsbo, WA   98370

Time: 6:30 PM

Contact the bookstore if you need directions or any other information.  

Phone: 360-779-5909

E-Mail: libertybaybooks@embarqmail.com

This should be a really fun event! Don't forget to bring your favorite beach treasures (sea glass, flotsam and jetsam) with you to share your adventures with Josie and Deacon Ritterbush.

(image courtesy of Josie Iselin)

Signed, autographed copies of Josie Iselin's and Dr. Beachcomb's books will be available for purchase at the event.  If you are not able to attend the book event,  Liberty Bay Books should still have some available copies available for purchase.  Just let them know!

In Search of a Secret Sea Glass Beach....

We have been searching for nearly a year for this secret sea glass beach. Narrowing it down to a rumor about a  specialty art glass factory near Davenport , we finally stopped on Sunday and we simply asked at the Davenport Gallery -  someone actually showed us where the trail down to the beach was!  (btw, great gallery)   Grabbed our picnic lunch, and headed down the steep trail, across the train tracks and then down to the sandy beach. Tom and I were so excited, we might actually find some awesome chunks of  colorful sea glass!  Well, it was not exactly that easy.  Got down to the beach and there were serious, very serious sea glass hunters on the beach. With shovels and wet suits!  The beach is totally sandy, no shells, no rocks and no sea glass - unless you have a shovel and are willing to dig down a foot or so.. Oh mi - was not prepared to dig for gold! Not a great day for beachcoming, so decided to simply walk on the beach, play in the tidepools, enjoy the sun,  sit in the sand and eat our ham and cheese sandwiches, gooey brownies, and share a diet coke. Not such a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon in May...(Especially with my cute boyfriend!) P.S. We have lots of fully-outfitted picnic baskets for your coastal adventures! Check them out in the "Outdoor Fun at the Beach" category - these also make wonderful wedding gifts!

The Search for Beach Glass at Monterey Bay

Last Sunday (April 11) Tom and I packed our lunch - lovely leftover bbq'd chicken pizza - jumped in the car and headed down the coast for another adventure in beach glass collecting! Read a great blog the week before, giving me the idea for our latest Sunday drive. I highly recommend checking out this blog out if you are headed in the Monterey Bay, Carmel, Pacific Grove direction...wonderful advice about where to go and what do to.

BlogMonterey.com: http://www.blogmonterey.com/

I met the author of the Monterey Blog on Twitter (for Twitter fans - http://twitter.com/SeeMonterey) and she gave me some great advice about where to find sea glass in Monterey, especially helpful since we had no clue where to start.  Followed her directions and ended up at just where we needed to be. At the park across the street from McDonald's on Del Monte, south of Fisherman's Wharf!


Beautiful day, and the beach was littered with tons of sea glass, just waiting for us to scoop it up! It's a little hard to tell in the photo, but I was trying to show you how much glass was there, and how easy it was to find. Even if we had not found any glass, it was simply a great place to walk and enjoy the calm, mesmerizing sound of the gentle deep turquoise surf, sea birds, all while meeting other beachcombers out for a Sunday walk on the shore.

Here's just a few of my favorite pieces to show off!

Collection of all kinds of green pieces. I like the really pitted worn ones the best, and the light green pieces.

Amber and brown tones - love it when you can still feel and see the ridges from old bottles...

Wish I made jewelry!  Love love love my aqua and turquoise pieces of sea-tumbled glass

This cool rounded, cupped piece was Tom's big find for the day! Kind of an avocado-lime green, with little bubbles in the glass, about an inch in diameter, can't imagine what it might have come from..

This unique piece of sea glass was my favorite find! Looks like chicken wire

 embedded into an aqua chunk of glass; 

almost 2 inches long  x 1 inch at the widest section. 

I find it so interesting that every beach that I go to, I find different shapes, colors, textures....  

Would love to hear from you, what are some of your favorite haunts for sea glass? 

Introducing Guest Blogger Jody of ShabbyNChic on Etsy! Spring Break on the Oregon Coast

Jody was kind enough to let me share her blog post about Spring Break on the Oregon Coast! Enjoy the photos and the journey,  and make sure to visit her Etsy shop for great ShabbyNChic beach cottage ideas..
Jody's Etsy shop: http://www.shabbynchic.etsy.com

Spring Break at the Oregon Coast

If you follow me on Twitter, then you may have seen some of the pictures from our recent trip to the Oregon Coast for Spring break.  What an amazing time.  We went to Newport Oregon which is considered part of Oregon's Central Coast.  There is so much to do there and we took full advantage of that!

On our 3 day trip we enjoyed the food, antique shops, museums, beaches, lighthouse, state parks, and more!

The priority was for our young children to play on the beach and go to the variety of museums available there.  Upon arriving, we ate at Mo's World Famous Restaurant - famous for their clam chowder.  That is a requirement for my husband everytime we go to the coast.  The restaurant in Lincoln City (just North of Newport) sits right on the beach, so we were able to go onto the beach so the kids could have some fun digging in the sand.

It was cold and windy, which the Oregon coast is known for, but that doesn't seem to stop kids.  Later they both said that was one of their favorite parts of the trip.

Upon arriving at the hotel condo where we would be staying, we were more than pleased with the beautiful view of the bridge that connects both parts of Newport.  It was an amazing view in the morning when the sun was coming up and again at night with the sun setting behind the bridge.

We finished the day roasting marshmallows at Beverly Beach with family who was at the coast that night as well.  The kids were out quick that night, so we were able to get an early start the next morning for all of the museums we had planned to visit.

We started the morning by beachcombing for shells and agates, then it was off to Hatfield Marine Science Center which is a research museum and visitors are allowed to touch many sea creatures.  We saw: sea stars, an octopus, jelly fish, sea urchin, sea anemone, and of course all kinds of fish!

Then it was down to the docks which is a major tourist attraction in Newport.  My favorite is the sea lions.  There is a spot where they can always be seen and the crowd is always there to enjoy their barks.  I'm pretty sure this one was posing for me.

Down on the waterfront we went to: Ripley's Believe It or Not, Wax Works museum, and Underwater Sea Gardens.  I believe the latter was my kids' favorite since they were scared of the other two.  We finished the day eating ice cream cones, listening to a woman playing guitar and singing on the boardwalk.
Over our few days at the beach, the weather got better and better. Determined to make the most of our time there, we had a filled last day.  The morning started with my favorite - antique shopping!  We probably visited 6 different antique shops and I found a lot of great items - some I bought, some I just admired. 

Our final stop before heading home was the Yaquina Head Lighthouse - the tallest lighthouse in Oregon and a major attraction in the area.  I came away with a lot of great pictures and hope you enjoy all of them.

Don't forget to visit Jody's Etsy shop!
Here's the link: http://www.shabbynchic.etsy.com  Here's a cute Beach Cottage Crate that you might like featured in her shop - 

Meet the Elephant Seals at Año Nuevo State Reserve -

Going to the Año Nuevo State Reserve was absolutely the highlight of my trip last week to the Bay Area- so totally unexpected! On Wednesday when I went to visit the Marine Mammal Center in the Marin Headlands, I met an interesting gal in the gift shop who told me about the annual elephant seal event at Año Nuevo State Park. I had no idea how fascinating these creatures were until I was able to actually see them up close and personal - I wasn't even sure what an elephant seal was, except that they are HUGE!



So on Thursday, I hopped in the car with my brown-bag lunch (pb and j + fuji apple), and headed south down Hwy 1 towards Santa Cruz. The reserve is south of Half Moon Bay on Hwy 1, but before Santa Cruz. 



This is one of my favorite drives - doesn't matter if it's rain or shine, I always find something to stop and look at. Pigeon Point Lighthouse was my first stop; a vintage, tumbling down lighthouse perched on a cliff surrounded by pounding waves. There's a cat-walk the runs in front of the lighthouse out across the rocks, a little rickety, be very careful if you decide to walk out to the edge. Priceless view of surf pouring in-between the rocks and pelicans dodging waves, playing in the wind!

Not too much father down the road is the State Reserve at Ano Nuevo. This reserve is set up to protect marine mammals and marine plants on the California Coast - and is possibly the largest breeding colony for elephant seals. The breeding season begins in December and goes through March; we were told that at the height of the season there can be as many as 4000-6000 elephant seals on the beaches at the Reserve!



The only way to see the elephant seals is by guided volunteer tours down to the beach. If you do plan on visiting, I would recommend calling ahead of time to schedule your free tour - sometimes booked up for months in advance! (I just got lucky!) As the walk is over 3 miles round-trip, I would also recommend that you dress in layers, bring binoculars,a good camera, and wear good shoes. The walk is not difficult, you just might have to walk in mud puddles and sand.



Male elephant seals can weigh as much a 4000 pounds - females around 1400 pounds, babies begin their life at 75 pounds, but will grow up to 600 pounds just in the first few months! The day that I was at the Reserve there were 1400 + females, 600 males and countless babies - more being born every minute. We actually got to see a few babies being born!


Fascinating to learn about these incredible animals - although they are mammals, they can stay underwater for up to an hour, and migrate approximately 8000 miles per year!

Breeding season is really the only time that they come ashore for any length of time, spending most of the year at sea . Elephant seals do not eat during this period of time, resulting in a weight loss for the males of up to 50% of their total body weight.

Females group in "harems" with one large bull male protecting and impregnating them... wild to watch! Bull males fight over the females, most of the time the leader is able to scare off other males by simply making a lot of noise. Amazed at how fast they could move on the sand when they were challenged - also a good reminder that they really are wild animals, and can be dangerous.

In December when the females begin arriving, they start having their pups almost as soon as they arrive on the beach, feeding them until March. Then the moms return to sea leaving the pups to fend for themselves. Nature seems sort of cruel, but the babies are weaned by that time, they somehow figure out how to start swimming and finding food for themselves. The males are the last to leave - hoping to impregnate every last female that they can. Isn't nature grand?

This big male was enjoying a bit of sunshine and a nap! Our guide told us that these males that were laying back in the dunes were the "losers", the girl seals weren't interested... I thought he was kinda cute!

This mom found herself with 3 pups - 2 that were not hers,

they were just greedy!

Weaner pups back in the dunes - way too cute for words!

I am not the greatest video person on the planet, but at least you can get an idea of how many elephant seals were on the beach and how noisy they are!

I really hope that you get a chance to experience this opportunity to walk among the elephant seals at Ano Nuevo. This is an incredible reminder of how precious the life in our seas is, and how little we really know about our oceans.

Rodeo Lagoon at Marin Headlands

Today was not a great day for photography.  Too windy, too gray, the sky was too flat, but such an awesome day to actually experience being out at the Marin Headlands!  Rodeo Beach was closed due to high surf and very dangerous coastal conditions, but I could still walk around Rodeo Lagoon.

The Lagoon was filled to the brim with seawater from the Pacific Ocean, and these shore birds did not seem to mind one bit!  Actually, I was rather shocked that they let me get so close.  Usually when I try to catch a grey heron, they are off and running as soon as I get the camera out.

Hope you enjoy these sea birds from the Marin Headlands in Sausalito!

Sea Glass Collecting at Half Moon Bay

For now, my little collection is resting inside a sea grass etched martini glass.  Might see if I can find some fabulous bowl this week - time to go haunting some antique or vintage stores in the Bay Area for just the right thing! I like the juxtaposition of using a beautiful, perfect display piece filled with my bits of sea glass and shells worn smooth by the tide. Easy way to show off  your precious finds in any kind of setting - formal or casual, who can deny that sea glass is almost like finding buried treasure?  Mix up the colors - or use one color to fit your personal decorating scheme. Only limited by your imagination!

Went for a sunny walk yesterday at Poplar Beach at Half Moon Bay (Poplar Beach story!), and came home with  my pockets full  with tiny, sand-washed and tumbled pieces of beach glass! The sea glass on Half Moon Bay reminds me of the glass that I find in Port Townsend, but worn almost flat, whereas the glass in Port Townsend is like little round pebbles.  Walking on Poplar Beach can be a little bit of a challenge - the sand is soft, deep, and very grainy, and you don't dare take your eyes off of the surf!  Unlike Washington beaches, this beach sand color is like soft butterscotch or caramel - littered with shells that have been literally pounded into submission by the Pacific Ocean.

Will let the remaining images of a walk on the beach at Half Moon Bay speak for themselves!

Will let the remaining images of a walk on the beach at Half Moon Bay speak for themselves!

January in the Pacific Northwest

Feel a little bad complaining about our gray and wet winters when there is so much of the country buried deep in snow.  After 45 (almost 46) years, I think maybe I am entitled to whine a little.  REALLY hoping that this will be my last January in Washington. For those of you that know me, also know how much I struggle with the rain and gray, and also how hard I have to work at overcoming the annual onset of the blahs...

When I first opened "Caron's" in Poulsbo, that was one of my goals - not only for myself, but for especially for our customers.  It seemed to have worked. Cannot tell you the number of people that would come into our light-filled store, painted in the colors of a summer sea,  filled to the brim with beach and coastal reminders, to simply walk around, smell the candles, listen to some jazz,  and would always leave feeling better.

Now, that I am creating a new kind of business, (online, not brick and mortar) I am using those lessons to help me make it through another January, February, March, April and possibly part of May...   Always making sure that I work in a light filled space,  taking breaks to look out at the sound and the ever changing water-landscape, and talking to friends to help beat the Northwest Blues.  Many days, the water is so quiet, hardly a ripple is reflected, all the easier to see the surprise of a sea lion trolling for salmon, or the darting of a bald eagle in search of prey.

Walking helps tremendously, even if it is raining! Here's some photos from a very gray morning today, there's very little color, but brilliant color when I could catch it in the dripping rain. There's also something very beautiful about nature hiding, waiting patiently, silently sleeping, storing up energy to wake up with the coming of spring.