We do live in a glorious world -- when you pay attention to your surroundings, even something like a seed can be beautiful. An example is drift seeds, or sea beans, which are shown in the above photo. The two larger specimens are from the species entada and are commonly called "sea hearts" since they can often be found in the shape of a heart. The one on the right has not been polished -- its counterpart on the left has lovingly been hand-sanded by Vince. Many folks make these beautiful beans into pendants, or just pile them in bowls as a decoration.
The smaller sea bean, leaning on its side on the sea heart, is also known as a "hamburger" and I think you can see why! Both hamburgers and sea hearts occasionally wash up on the shore, tangled in wrack (seaweed debris) -- and it is great fun to go beach combing and be lucky enough to find them. There are numerous kinds of sea beans -- most of them originate from trees and vines in the tropics, and get carried by rivers into the ocean, where they can bob around in the water for a long time (up to 35 years as estimated by one specialist).
Tell us how you really feel, Fergus! (click on the photo to enlarge)
Switching subjects, the local Girl Scout troop had a dog wash this past weekend and a friend of mine asked if we would let the girls wash Fergus -- for a donation, of course! Fergus doesn't really like water, unless it's dirty creek water and he's following a pack of other dogs through it. So, we were interested to see how he would react to a bunch of little girls hovering over him. He tolerated the washing with patience.
Ferns love this hot, humid climate -- we purchased one at a garage sale last fall, and it was just about the size of the skimpy plant on the right. Now, it's a gorgeous full fern, and I've been able to dig up some roots for new plants, like the skimpy one. I've not had the same good fortune with ferns in Nebraska, so I had better enjoy these while I can.
And, finally, just a very Happy Birthday to Justin -- I can't believe he is 31!
2 comments:
I'm with you...Justin cannot be 31!
Love the sea beans and am so impressed with your 'discovery' of GTMO. A friend that was in GTMO when we were commented that she did not recall the pretty birds and some of the things you have called attention to. I think that may be because we were in our 20's while there...we were having crab races, and playing crack the whip on roller skates behind a motor cycle.
Well, what you were doing certainly sounds like fun! I'm sure that if I were in my 20's right now, I'd be doing things a little differently -- I don't think birds registered on my awareness scale until I was in my 30's.
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