A Love Note......

One day as I was looking out over the water.... I began contemplating my feelings for my husband. How I used to do little things to surprise him with the expressions of my deep love and appreciation. Romance is not contrived, nor is it something we can copy from the pages of someone else's life. It used to be such a simple gesture....yes....a note...but not a card without my words. A love note that said something touching from me that would make his smoldering green eyes soften and just melt! Yet it could not be given lightly, a surprise would be more meaningful. I wrote my love note to him on a pretty piece of paper as I loaded the coffee maker. He takes a great deal of pleasure out of pushing a button, and coming back to his fresh strong steaming coffee in solitude while I am still asleep in the early morning. I set the note carefully in front of the coffee maker. The very last words on the note said, "Wake your loving bride with a kiss!" As I awoke that next morning to a soft kiss and a very surprised husband....I realized I needed to post this. The little things in life mean the very most! I was a bride about 24 years ago and I still see my husband like the day we first met!

Valentine's Day....

There will be Red Hearts in every store, jewelry store ads promoting the glittering diamonds...what every lady wants? The endless boxes of chocolates everywhere we go..... Is it romance we are craving, that special touch that causes the little goosebumps and shivers of pure ecstasy? Oh the soft kisses and snuggling, warm fires and a fragrant bottle of wine....candles.....a decadent dinner or perhaps dinner brought in..... Valentine's day is for love...the absolute appreciation that you do indeed love someone... The expression of which is as varied as the person....

I have created a little something special to commemorate the day... Seashell Roses! These can be placed on a dresser, jewelry box, centerpiece, wreath, or with a nautical display.... For those about to propose...a ring placed in the center of a Seashell Rose? Well you can imagine the reaction! Placed on tables at a wedding....Valentine's Day is a wonderful day for one!

As I walk along the beaches searching for the shells for the roses, the sunsets overhead and the waves softly carry them in, scattering them across the sand.

Each "petal" or shell has a shimmering silvery glitter applied by hand. The rim of each one is also rimmed in a high gloss red glitter. The base shell securely holds each "petal" in rows.

Happy Valentines Day! A lovely Rose for a lady to treasure for years!

If you would like one...write me directly at....romysrealm@gmail.com

Rough Waters Ahead....

There will always be bumps in the road, sharp curves, steep grades, plunging cliffs, rough waters, sinking boats and life is full of the ups and downs of uncertainty in all things. Would that predictability govern life, does that make the blessings seem less? To have nothing to compare the good to but good, would not that lose the luster? For all storms, there is calm and for all sunsets, there comes the darkness, perhaps softened by the glistening of stars not unlike our memories carrying our way through the years. There are paths we will take, right or wrong we travel them, but without the assurance that there will not be.....bumps in the road.

The New Year

Where did the time go.....wonder of it all, it did! A year filled with new beginnings, some goodbyes and many memories to last a lifetime. What is around the corner? I never know and my life is always interesting this way! The constant is my haven, the little portion of paradise I lovingly call home may be just borrowed for a time and yet.....coming with a simpler existence, an embrace of all that is beautiful. I have embarked on new paths, always with a nervous excitement. Only to find that the travel was more rewarding than the destination! I have rekindled relationships with friends spanning decades and the most unexpected surprises that have followed. Sometimes I have to sit still to let it all sink in..... A man with the soul of a mariner had said to me...."I know what it is about you!" "You are happy!" He said this with such emotion, a sweet smile and sparkling blue eyes in his rugged face......this touched me with pure honesty. There can be no value placed on a treasure such as this. Yes, in the new year, I am happy......content......at peace and...always in awe of life......

Christmas

We left the island haven that is our home. We traveled to our daughters area. We found a lovely place to stay with a water view. The decor becomes simple but the things most meaningful. This helps ease the feeling you are left with when you leave the island. With me came the velvet stockings...made years ago.....Handmade with red velvet, white velvet cuffs, beaded "icicles hang off the edge, an iridescent snowflake is hand beaded on each one and my cursive writing done in a flourish of embroidery. Our tree is adorned with mainly seashell ornaments and few others. A lovely gilded ribbon, silver and gold is wrapped around the tree going down from the top around and around to the bottom.....colored lights this year bring it all to a brilliant sparkle. A large silk pine wreath is entwined with this silver and gold gilded ribbon ending in a big bow.... The gifts were carefully selected to be personal, many handmade..... Great food, family, friends and the love of time well spent together..... To all who celebrate the birth of Christ....that is how I experience this day....grateful for the gift of life to give to others. Faith is the chain that keeps you ashore in every storm, we cherish every moment in life.

Sparkling Seashell Ornaments!

Hat Island Seashells and Christmas Ornaments!

Our first Island Christmas, we didn't have our ornaments in our cabin home. We cut down an island tree and made the ornaments out of seashells we gathered. The result was a nautical tree that had such deep meaning. The tree smelling so fragrant, the sparkling shells and lights shimmering off of them. It was a lovely tradition we do to this day!

As we walk the beaches on the island where we live, we look for these sought after shells. The elusive Moon Snail finds a delectable clam and drills a perfect hole in it's shell to harvest it. With searching among all the others, we find these clam shells with the holes in the upper part. We take them home, brush the sand away to reveal their natural beauty. We adorn natures perfect treasures first with glitter and then we draw a lovely ribbon doubled through the hole, carefully knotting the back and drawing the ribbon back through the front. We tie a nice bow and you instantly have a secure loop to hang the lovely shell on your tree. We adorn each shell with silver and gold glitter in fine lines, some golden threads.

The Spiral Shell is found on the beaches above. The sea snails leave their shells as they grow larger leaving the shells to be tossed and lightly smoothed by the waves. We select only the complete spiral shells. We gently turn them to add one color of glitter in fine lines on the curves. They sit overnight before we add the second set of lines. After they set a second night, we select gold, silver, red, blue and other varieties of satin ribbon with metallic edges or simply lavish metallic ribbon with loops to hang them from and secure it to the back of the shell.

The Cockle Shells, the lovely lines engraved down their shells, so very pretty to collect make the larger ornaments we cherish. These shells are the ideal gifts adorning a package or hung on the side of a stocking. They become a focal point on a Christmas tree!

The sweet Steamer Shells have the curves and the contours that once decorated are the traditional ornament to hang on your tree, or a wrapped gift as an elegant decor!

The Horse Clam Shells are the big shells we seek to make our soap dishes, that special little nautical touch for the holidays. Always a favorite of the kids who visit.....

Below is a pic.... just a hint.....like a whisper of things to come!

Shell ornaments you may desire.....simply write....I answer every email from my island home!

romysrealm@gmail.com

Island Bonfire!

It began as a favor to help someone with a very big job. The charming home sits on the beach, the deck clear to the water's edge and the job...... There was a lot of shingles and construction materials left over from the renovation to repair the damage done by a flood. Yes it had been a high tide, ripping currents. waves washing over the backs of the beach homes and this one....the water came in the first floor and washed away the lovely condition of the home. They transformed the home into a modern beach home with some of the rustic remnants from before. A massive fireplace with a miners ax embedded in the rock. A ships porthole made into a mirror from a ship wreck long ago...... We spent hours and hours clearing and arranging the bonfire supplies from the non burnables. What an amazing sunset saluted our bonfire as we finished the job smiling at the soft breezes, calm waves deceptively so and the solitude we felt. The island drums were silent but we were back in time on the beach with the smoke and fire.......not a sound but the soft waves touching the shores......