sea shuffle...

last week at this time sam & i spent two nights at the beach.

Neptune Beach (FL).

going to the coast reminds me how much i'd rather be in the woods.

OH, i like the ocean.  the waves.  the breeze.  the shells.

the sand in my mouth...and undies. (oh yeah, i don't wear any...)

ok, well, the sand just seems to work its way everywhere

you don't want it to go!

give me a small cabin by a stream in the middle of the woods...

and i really wouldn't miss the coast all that much.

anyway, my Reiki II  class was awesome.

we woke up sunday morn in time to head down to the beach...

and wait for the sunrise.

there were a few others squatted on the sand who had the same idea.

and a couple of saltwater fishermen  casting their nets for bait.

so here are some pictures for your seaside enjoyment!

yes, even forest dwellers may easily morph into beachcombers

when the situation calls for such a transformation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 (oops...looks like he lost his tail...but it's growing back)

 

(...we all live in a yellow submarine...)

along the main drag in Neptune Beach

 

 oOo

before i sign off...i want to say THANKS to

Karen @ 21 Wits

for passing along the Irresistibly Sweet blog award!

i REALLY appreciate it...but as you might know...i'm not big on the award thing.

mainly because i think everyone deserves an award...recognition...

a 'good job' pat on the back...a thumbs up.

i've talked all about it before.

if i could pass it along to all the bloggers i follow...i would...

it's just too hard to CHOOSE...

and so i choose not to.

blah blah blah.

 

ok, enough said!  check out 21 Wits!!!  you'll be glad you did!  :)

oOo

one last thing before i go.

Reiki II - energy healing across some  distance.

yesterday our power went out...it does that a lot. for no apparent reason.

it always has.

after about 40 minutes with no electricity...

i did Reiki on our electric box...

then went on to beam healing energy to the electric company.

a few minutes later, the power came back on!

hmmmmm...

not that i'm really all that surprised, i'm not. 

it feels good.

=O=

have a safe journey. enjoy the ride.

 (my thoughts are with all who are in hurricane Irene's path. be safe.)

laura

"I think that I shall never see, a billboard lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,
I'll never see a tree at all."
Ogden Nash

21, 184 days...

 508,416 hours ago...

30,504,960  minutes ago...

1,830,297,600  seconds ago...
i was born.

i'm 58. today.

so i googled  'i am 58 years old'...and ALL that popped up were things like:

hello, i am 58 years old, i have a cataract in my left eye.

Hi-it was horrible when my sister who is 55 was diagnosed  w/ Alzheimers.

WELCOME. I'm 58 years old also and have approx. 140 lbs. still to lose.

I am 58 and so disappointed on how I am looking these days.

I am 58 years old male. Since the last 15 days I am suffering from burning sensation in the eyes.

 I am 58 years old.  I get very painful leg and foot cramps at night.

I'm a 58 year old muslim man in love with my cousin of 11. What should i do?
 I'm 58 and I have to get up to go several times a night.

and so on and so on...yikes!  

i don't FEEL my age.   well, what am i supposed to feel like at 58?

if all i had to go by...was what i read by googling my age...

uh-oh!

anyway...

usually, every august at this time, sam & i are on vacation...camping...

a road trip somewhere...for about two weeks.

not this year though, because sam started a new job about 3 months ago.

i know...it's the HOTTEST time of the year! 

the mosquitoes are out in full force.

BUT...the campgrounds are usually empty!  

we don't have to worry about not being able to find a spot to stay in.

and if we want to use the campground's facilities to take a shower...

we don't have to wait in line.

the hiking trails are  usually empty too...

with spiderwebs running across the trails...from tree to tree.

who wants to go for a hike when it's a hundred degrees out?

uh...we do.

we started this tradition of camping this time of year

because our anniversary is the 16th, my b-day the 19th and sam's b-day the 21st!

anyway...knowing we wouldn't be able to do our usual august get-away...

i signed up for a continuing education class for my massage license.

Reiki 2.  

not too far a drive from home. over by the beach, near jacksonville, on aug 20th.

so we decided to make a weekend of it.

and instead of camping...we reserved a motel room!

now THAT will be weird.

it's been YEARS since we slept in anyone else's bed!

we're heading over there today, and we'll be home sunday.

it'll be a nice few days away.

OH, what about milo?

she's a cat. she'll enjoy the time alone. she'll sit by the back door

and watch the crows...the squirrels...the lizards...

and MAYBE wish she was out there to give chase...

but on second thought, she doesn't mind just relaxing...

and not getting too overheated!

after all, she does have a litter box...she has food & water...

she has her toys. and it's only for two nights!

(but my mother-in-law insisted on stopping by a couple

of times to check on milo.)

 hopefully i'll get some good pic's this weekend.

i leave you now with a few  in the meantime. 

just some assorted pic's taken over the past couple of weeks.

enjoy.

 

dragonfly

Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment 

of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone.  

~Jim Fiebig

 

little baby lizard...'anole'.

(we had these little 'chameleons' as kids...they always escaped their tanks...

only to be found weeks later...all dried up...behind the couch...)  :(

 grasshopper youngster on a hibiscus bud!

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.  

~Chili Davis

little Fence Lizard

a hummer...

 a communal gathering of little clouded skippers feeding on a hibiscus flower.

 

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?  

~Satchel Paige

  

a Gulf Fritillary. the underside of their wings looks white. 

but it's an iridescent silver!

 

these little mushrooms obviously aren't paying any mind to the

weather reports.  they're waiting for a cold spell. they have their sweaters on.

 

maybe this is why the mushrooms aren't listening to the weather reporters.

if they can't spell PRESSURE...maybe they can't predict the weather correctly!

only the mushrooms know for sure...

have a nice relaxing weekend...

and a safe journey.  enjoy the ride.

laura

want to know how many days, minutes, seconds...you've been around?

http://www.convertunits.com/dates/

want to know where i got the little yin-yang  'flavicon' from?

http://www.freefavicon.com/

cool clock widgets like the steam-punk clock on my side bar?

http://www.clockwidgets.net/

other cool widgets...like weather or music...just about anything u can think of.

http://www.widgetbox.com/tag/blogs

moon, moths & spiders...

i

  

Follow your inner moonlight; don't hide the madness.

 ~Allen Ginsberg 

 ((if i had a music widget on here...there might be some 

'dark side of the moon/pink floyd' playing...or maybe something a little more

subtle & mysterious,  like 'midnight by golana'.))

  oOo

i always have so many pictures...it's hard to decide which ones to post.

this time...the moon helped me to make the decision.

moths and spiders!

one night last week, 

this BIG beautiful moth was hanging on the porch...for hours.

 

Polyphemus moth (giant silk moth)

  that was  the second  Polyphemus i've seen, 

although i see their cocoons on the ground all the time...

having fallen out of the oak trees.

 

OH, i found another pretty cool BUG site...with good pic's.

North American Insects & Spiders

when ever i see a crawling/flying/slithering/slinking critter...

if i'm not sure what it is...i search...

trying to ID it, but as you know, it's not always  easy to be SURE...

because even with pictures...each one is a little different.

so, please...if anyone reading this, is ever certain as to the identification

of ANYthing you see here...please let the rest of us know! :)

 

an Orb Weaver.

...still trying to get better at these night shots...

Tulip Tree moth  (?)

 

another moth on front porch...

these next few photos...are of a spider. the first night i saw it,

i thought it was a shedding...but it was gone in the morning.

ok, so another bug ate it...but then it was back that next night...

just kind of hanging there...suspended...

 

look closer (enlarge)...is that his MOUTH open??

i'm pretty sure he's a Long Jawed Orb Weaver/Tetragnathid.

they don't weave big elaborate webs. they just kind of hang out

and wait for something to dine on.

during the day...like all nocturnal orb weavers...

they find a good hiding place. well...his hiding place was not THAT good...

he had aligned himself along the string of a small wind chime! 

 see him? 

 

 pretty cool...huh?

he must've gotten sick and tired of my picture taking...because the next day

he found a new hiding place. a better hiding place. i couldn't find him.

 

male Tussock moth

 

 another Orb Weaver. 

this one doesn't seem to have the markings on its back

like the first one up there. does that mean it's young? male or female?

look at the web!! 

to watch them spin their webs is amazing!

they go round and round...in circles...F A S T !

 

kind of sad...they put so much effort into their webs...

and look what can happen in one night! 

looks like he has some late night snack stashed off to the side there.

here's an awesome moth!  on my car.

 

like cracked glass...

...and another moth of unknown species...

(shawn of Stokes Animal  Library thinks this one might be a

Barberry Geometer Moth. thanks shawn!)

 

this next one...i had no idea WHAT it was...

it was just LUCK that i spotted a picture of it while looking through

online moth pictures!

 Meal Moth/Pyralis Farinalis

not the best picture for sure. this weird little guy can be seen during the day. 

ok...one more little spider and that's it! 

the perfect spider for a FULL MOON!

 

 a Wolf spider.

oOo

i

  

No man should go through life without once experiencing healthy, 

even bored solitude in the wilderness, 

finding himself depending solely on himself 

and thereby learning his true and hidden strength.  

~Jack Kerouac

have a safe journey & enjoy the ride.

stay cool. 

laura

squeezing...

in a quickie this morning.

this is the front of our home...

the big front window to the left of the porch, faces west.

the setting afternoon sun

streams through the crystals hanging in this window.

10 of them. all shapes & sizes.

filling the room with shimmering rainbows.

 

 

colorful prismatic beams moving about the room as the sun sets. 

color. light energy. healing. balancing. tranquility. magical.

oOo

the other day sam noticed this odd looking *egg sack* ?  *cocoon* ?

dangling in a spider web.

 

so i took a picture & then tried to find out what it was.

turns out to be the eggcase of the Basilica Orb Weaver spider.

next day, i spotted another one on the other side of the house.

oOo

...and here's the abundant Golden Silk Orb Weaver...

(aka: banana spider)

 

abundant, because they're all over the place!

 they always seem to weave their webs between two trees...

while hiking (since i'm usually looking at the ground for treasures)

i'm forever  walking right into them!

oOo

last week i received a couple of SURPRISES in the mail!

yeah! REALLY cool stuff!

cindy @ bug safari   

had a bunch of butterfly wings that she'd been hanging on to 

for a long time.  she couldn't toss them out...

but didn't know what to do with them either.

so she sent  them to me!  wow!!

 THANKS cindy!!  i feel some creative energy starting to flow!

in the works...

 one window art coming up...which will be heading across the country to CA!  :)

 ===

and then another amazing package...(a gift xchange)...

loaded with gorgeous handmade textile card creations!

(and a couple of XTRAS!  fossils!! wow!)

 

THANKS  lorna @ Artymess

oOo

speaking of art...i'm working on something new...with a deer jawbone.

 something from the 'fractal forest'?? 

oOo

before i squeeze my way out of here...

i'll leave you with a couple of yard visitors!

 a little hummer...

barred owl.  catching some daytime ZZzzzzz's.

stay cool. journey safe.

laura

I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, 

which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.  

~Henry David Thoreau