Fort Bragg

We took a little family trip to Fort Bragg to see Glass Beach. Luckily we visited at low tide and at sunset the first day we drove into town (even before we went to the hotel). It was cold but lovely! And not many people and the glass.... really it was so cool to see it everywhere. Mostly white and browns, with some greens and small blues. I was hoping to find some red or orange but no such luck! Here are a few photos from the day:

 

 

This is Glass Beach in the stormy morning. It was super windy. We stayed about 15 minutes and then got breakfast at Denny's!

 

 

 These little bitty ones are from my beach! When we returned home from our trip there was about 20 minutes left before the sunset. I ran down to see what I could find and while it wasn't much, it was my beach!

I am thankful for sea glass! Happy Thanksgiving. Kirstin

Lighthouse Time

We just returned from a fun outing to the Pigeon Point Lighthouse. My favorite part was the cute craft the children made. This is NOT my idea but I just had to post it to remind myself how creative, cute and fun this craft was to make. See below:

Start with a small paper plate as the base. Paper coffee cup for the house, the coffee lid is the balcony (with a hole cut out), a little electric light is the light, plastic cocktail cup as the glass with a little black roof cut out of black construction paper. I love the red tip which was red paper carefully rolled to create a long stick and then cut into about 1/2 an inch and poked through the top.

 

 Partially assembled - none of this is glued, it all comes apart which my kids really liked rebuilding it.

 

This is a circle of black construction paper with a straight cut to the center. The edges overlapped slightly to create a peak and the red roll of paper (1/2 inch) was poked through. It was then glued on a plastic cocktail glass.

So creative!

 

 

Here is the real lighthouse at dusk (photo by Child #1)

 



 

It was a nice evening. Not much whining, the kids came home took a bath and ate dinner and put themselves to bed. Lucky me!!
Kirstin

Pumpkin Time

Halloween is over - the pumpkins are now being cooked to make pumpkin puree. I caught these photos about a month ago before the pumpkin craziness started. They really are a lovely fruit!

I live in a beautiful place. And right around the time I took these photos I was able to snap this one as I was heading up to get the kids at school. Look closely at what is weighing this car down:

HA! Pumpkins!! It made my day. Happy November!
Kirstin

Rainbows

Yesterday, it was so cool to see little bursts of rainbow forming in the spray as the waves curled up and at the same time, the wind blew droplets of water into the sun filled air. It was like watching magic as I ran up the beach. I also found a few spots that offered some sea glass. I couldn't help but create a different kind of rainbow and take a photo!

 Have a great day!
 Kirstin

The flats

This is really old. For some reason it was saved as a draft. Here is is.... months over due.

There is a section of our beach that I don't often visit. It is flat, away from the surf and often full of footprints (which makes it harder to see the sea glass). But in the last week the waves have been washing up higher and leaving this area smooth and clean. The waves leave behind small patches of sand and occasional pieces of glass. This is what I have been finding the last little while. And last week I found these beauties!

This is a staged photo. I liked how the two colors looked on the white piece of shell.

My collection from "the flats". Mostly small but some nice pieces.

Again, I staged this but I liked the various shades of green.

Fantastic color found in it's natural habitat!

 Today, Child #3 and I headed out for a beach walk. The beach looked so fresh and clean the only trash on the beach were all the birds. I think they like the smooth sand too! There are a lot of birds hanging out. Porpoises were out and I loved that they were close enough for Child #3 to see them. She was sure that it was a Mama, Papa and Baby! We only got a small pocket full, but I came home with a heart full of love for where I live and my darling baby, even if she is growing up so big (as she often reminds me!)

Little pieces I found on my beach walk today with Child #3.

Hope you do something today to fill your heart! Kirstin

A Photo Essay of my Life

I'll check us all up using photos - sorry, not one of them has sea glass!! I keep checking the beach on my runs but nothing... Here is how I have been using my time.

Took a vacation and "camped". Here is s'more time!

Morro Bay. Chopping wood for another fire.

This is what we camped in!!

Yes, we took the kids out of school for 4 days and drove up the CA coast. I have never done RV camping and I quite liked it! Plus, I drove our van behind the RV while the kids rode with Papa. It was nice quiet time for me.

Here is a part of a Sunday School lesson I taught a few weeks ago. It is from 1 Corinthians 13. A really great list if you ask me. I also taught about Chastity. Chastity and Charity - two intense topics:)

Less intense - I have been doing some canning. Check out the latest and greatest!

Strawberry jam

Marinara sauce from tons of tomatoes! I learned how to easily peel tomatoes.

Bread and Butter Pickles. I made these for my husband's birthday. They taste good - even with the sugar substitute.

We've been having some beautiful sunsets lately!

This is "pink time" when the sun is setting and everything is a lovely shade of pink.

More pink sky

 And if those photos weren't random enough, here are the last few to round everything out...

Finally, after 8 years of growing tomatoes - we have this! Thanks to lots and lots of sunny days!

Preparing for Halloween. I thought they were so cute!

Selfie in the kitchen!

Happy October!

Running with the Whales

On Monday, I went out for a run on the beach. It was a quiet day with only a lone fisherman. I was surprised to hear him call out to me, as I turned back he pointed to the ocean and there were whales! Lots of them! We watched for a while as they swam around and then I thanked the man and continued my run. One of the whales was swimming in the same direction as I was running and close enough that I could easily see him. It was such a treat!

Then on my run home (I was gathering up bits of plastic because the beach had been really busy the day before), I stopped to catch my breath and there in front of me was an whale coming up for air. I borrowed this picture from Google images but it looked just like this:

 

It was really a wonderful sight - a fantastic way to start the day. I came home made the kids get dressed and hurried them down to the beach. I also brought big trash bags and we collected a lot of trash! And some fun sand toys, towels, sweatshirt, flip flops and good shoes. They went to the lost and found and I will collect them in November if their owners don't come. And the bag of trash was huge! It was a great day.

 

The rest of the week has been beautiful and with a report that more whales were out - we went to the beach again yesterday. No crowds, but warm sun and lots of whales. This is what I was able to see from my beach chair at the surf line.

 

Can you see the tiny blowhole spout?

Playing in the waves!

Local whale swimming back and forth

 And the next two photos are documenting my life full of sand and silliness:

Sand logged clothes from the beach

Child #2 project - pounding bottle tops in the dirt with a hammer and nail.

Summer is done, kids are in school, maybe I'll find time to blog more?

Stay tuned :) Kirstin

 

 





Summer Glass

I love all these tiny pieces! From one of my favorite beaches!

 Sharing my beach with a dear friend in town. We found a ton of glass! I tried to be nice and let her gather it all but after a while I realized there was plenty for both of us to gather.

This was my collection at the end. She had much more - which I was happy about!

 

 

This collection was a random Saturday when I pulled the kids out to the beach Not huge but worth it.


The following photos were from a collection sometime this summer. I love how Child #2 sorted out all the colors! You can tell it was breakfast time when I brought them home.

Not much glass on the beaches as of late but these photos remind me that it does come!!

Kirstin