I’m just in the mood for seashells this morning. I have them everywhere in my house so I thought I would write about them. Come with me, to the sea . . . Musica (must click today!)
Sea shells are one of nature’s wonders . . . bleached white, scrubbed by salt and sand, or hot pink, or translucent yellow, or baby pink, they are wonderful to look for, find, collect and display ~
Way out there is where Joe and I go clamming, when the tide is low, because what’s inside these seashells is a wonder of nature too! We stand in salt water to our knees, we dig around with clam forks and bring a bucket of fresh clams home to steam up for dinner.
Here’s where we walk, next to the water, listening to the waves and the gulls, we scan the water’s edge for shells, sea glass, any beautiful thing that comes our way. It’s how we “busy” ourselves so we don’t hurry home too soon. I’m sure, even if you don’t live near the ocean, you have been there and know what I’m talking about. ♥
They are so beautiful it is tempting to bring them all home.
There are so many things to do with them: display them on windowsills, fill glass lamp bases, spread them in baskets, scatter them on the picnic table, line them up on bookshelves . . .
You can use the bigger ones as serving bowls for summer dinner parties . . .
Our porch fountain is much prettier and even seems to gurgle better with a few shells in the water . . .
The perfect place to display tiny shells is in a glass hurricane lamp with beach sand in the bottom. And it won’t blow out on breezy summer nights and it brings memories of carefree beach days to the table ♥.
Or just pile them in wild disarray, colors shapes and sizes mixed together in all their natural glory . . . like little miracles, every single one of them.
A small saucer of shells on the porch is a nice way to greet visitors in the summer…
You can make little flower arrangements for your table.
And even write on them . . . with a special memory of a day at the sea or a quote, or . . .
. . . you can do what my girlfriend Siobhan did and dip the edges in glitter and send a dated Christmas message to your friends and family. This is one of my all time favorite ornaments, it’s got my two favorite things: nature, and people I love. Perhaps you’d like to make these yourself, but you have no access to clam shells. I can fix that, I’ll bring the ocean to you!
And if you call Louie, you might need some delicious clam recipes! This I can do for you too! These two recipes are from my first book, HEART of the HOME.
You might look at that recipe and say, YUM, but “I can’t open clams.” If so, but you’re feeling adventurous, you can learn, here’s a video by an expert clam shucker. But if not, then I need to give you a couple of recipes where the clams open themselves. You can make this . . . my dad’s favorite, and probably mine too! We love it with garlic bread!
Or make Steamers, from my AUTUMN book, just wonderful!
If seafood has always “tasted fishy” to you, please try again, life is short, you can’t go through the whole thing believing that seafood doesn’t taste good . . . a hundred million people can’t be wrong. You know it’s good for you, and I promise, fresh seafood 
never ever ever tastes fishy. That’s the hallmark of fresh fish. And if you don’t need the shells, but still want to try something wonderful . . . choose another of my favorites: fresh Codfish ~ it’s sweet, mild, and delicious, with lemon juice or tartar sauce . . . I promise, you are in for a treat. And if you already love seafood, but you’re too far inland to find it very fresh, let me remind you . . . lobster dinners and ice cold oysters on the half shell! You can get them too. And have a taste of the sea no matter where you are.♥
Or, just make cucumber sandwiches and dream a summer day at the beach with your book and your best friend.♥
Happy Day Girlfriends, xoxo, your pal for life, Susan
I wanted to give you our lucky winner for the bookmark right now, but Vanna wanted a bubble bath! And whatever Vanna wants, Vanna gets! So we are going to have to wait a bit longer until she comes down. Until then, I’ll give you a little more of our local weather report . . . That’s my garden up there, we haven’t had to water it once this year!
A couple hours later we drove out to our favorite place to moon watch on East Chop where we get an unrestricted view over the water. But, this picture says it all, blowing clouds were racing the moonrise and the clouds were winning.
And this too, the ferry coming out of Oak Bluffs crossing just where the moon should have been. Nice but not quite what we were expecting. Picture a huge yellow ball right behind it. That’s what we should have seen.
And then around the bend we went and over Lagoon Pond we saw this. STOP THE CAR! This was the only peek we got of the moon until early the next morning when I saw it going down from the bedroom window.
But it’s not dreary. It’s making the island more beautiful than ever. It feels just like England! I’m sure if you’ve rented a beach house on the island, this isn’t what you were expecting, but business at the bookstore is very brisk, and the restaurants are full!
The winner is our girlfriend 
