Beachcombers R Us

We spent last week at Monterey, California and God blessed us with unbelievable weather for April on the coast!  Sunny and gorgeous!  My friend, Connie, got our whole family hooked on searching for sea glass…. I’m not quite sure why it is so addicting.  Possibly because it is FREE and the colors of glass are so amazing.  We found this little cove, after much climbing and crawling over large rocks, where the waves were bringing new pieces of glass with each crash and roll.  After my entire tennis shoe went under the water, in pursuit of a huge green treasure, even I joined the freezing barefoot ranks and took the plunge.  Usually I prefer to view the water, not feel the water.

The majority of our discoveries were green and brown….. 7-Up and beer bottles in past lives.  But we did find some rare gems in PINK!, red, yellow, white and royal blue.  My 15-year-old son saw a shining royal blue bottle in a thrift store and asked if we could buy it and throw it in the ocean…. for our next visit in three months!  GREAT idea!

What do we do with the sea litter, you ask?  There are mini jars at the beach house that have sorted-by-color sea glass…. so I added my finds to that happy color display.  For homeschooling we count this as math…. sorting.  :o)  It could also be categorized as history, science and social studies.  Whatever we call it, it was the BEST kind of schooling, in my humble opinion.  The rest of the family brought home their glass pieces …. I’m not sure why.  Possibly because they were FREE and the colors of glass are so amazing!

And no, we didn’t color coordinate our clothes with the ocean… it simply worked out that way.  It was a matchy-matchy sort of day all the way around.

Fall is Here – Part 3

These are the signs of Fall in Phoenix, Arizona:  The dog is lounging on the sun-mutilated swing… and her tongue is not hanging out of her mouth.  Trixie’s enjoying the sunshine with her eyes closed and happy doggy dreams floating through her head.  It’s obviously below 110 degrees.  Fall has arrived.

Sign number two:  I had to put on LONG pants…. with my new hot pink bling-bling leather flip flops.  Obviously another sign that Fall has descended upon us and wrapped its chilly tendrils around our legs.  Brrrr.  In the 70s today. 

We resorted to turning on the furnace two days ago.  It was only 45 degrees outside and 61 in the house.  I called my husband and asked him to bring home a pumpkin latte for me from Starbucks.  I told him I was freezing and needed a warm drink… and I LOVE that Fall brings pumpkin lattes to the drive-thru window menu.  Rick told me to leave the heater off and put on a sweatshirt.  Whatever.  I already had 2 shirts and a sweatshirt on… jeans, socks and slippers.  My nose was cold.  I needed a pumpkin latte because it’s FALL!  We compromised.  He brought the pumpkin delicacy to me and I didn’t turn the heater on until bedtime.  Fall has officially arrived.