Sea Turtle Tracks- it’s nesting season!

St.George Island, Florida.

The enormous sea turtles crawl out of the water at night and make their way over the sand to dig a hole and lay their eggs. Keep your porch lights off so the baby turtles  aren’t attracted to the lights and travel in the wrong direction.IMG_2477 2 If you see an actual sea turtle, you shouldn’t get closer than fifty feet. Their nests are called a clutch.

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You can see the tracks- their shell making the flat middle and the side tracks from their flippers.    Sea Turtles

IMG_2483IMG_2452St. George Island Sea Turtlers are volunteers who make  the rounds at dawn, checking turtle activity. Marking the nests so people don’t disturb them. Seaturtle.org says

“St. George Island is one of three barrier islands near the mouth of the Apalachicola River. It often hosts the largest nesting population of Loggerhead Turtles in the northern Gulf of Mexico.”

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Information sheet at the rental house about keeping the beach clear of your personal items chairs, toys, tents, rafts etc.from 9 PM – 7 AM.

A tag on items left out overnight.

 

IMG_2473Dogs and humans walk along the water’s edge.

 

Charlie’s UNO Birthday Party

IMG_0699                                                                 Happy Parents Laura and James holding the birthday boy!

 

 

 

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Cousin Maura helped Charlie blow out his candle.

 

Cousins and friend Oliver help Charles Celebrate   Grandma and Grandpa Weaver    Aunt Brenda holds the mini UNO cards

 

IMG_0872Playing UNO

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A new litttle piggy to hold

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IMG_5110Playing outside after a walk, enjoying the beautiful summer day. iPhone shot  Happy First Birthday.

Yes, There’s a Mushroom Club

Right here in Western Pennsylvania. A Mushroom Club.

“A club is an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal.”There are all sorts of clubs in the community.  But I’d never heard of this one/ have you?  Maybe you belong to a club, but I bet not too many readers belong to a Mushroom Club. 

There is a Club Species Life List available with photographs on their web page. I had no idea there were so many varieties of fungi.

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Excuse me sir, but might I photograph your t-shirt? (click)  Thank you.

Here is the link to the Western Pennsylvania Mushroom Club webpage.

“The Western Pennsylvania Mushroom Club was created to promote the enjoyment, study, and exchange of information about wild mushrooms.  Everyone who has an interest in wild mushrooms is welcome to become a member.”

If you live in the area, there is a list of upcoming events.

A Charm Bracelet Started in the Sixties

Now I’m in my sixties! 

Do you have one of these in a drawer or a jewelry box somewhere? I hardly wear jewelry nowadays.  These were popular when I was in 7, 8th grade- freshman in high school. (1966-67).  Charm bracelet definition and history

Maybe  you’re sporting one of those trendy cable types with the bead charms? Each one a carefully chosen gift by someone who knows you or a gift to self, to commemorate an interest, travel or person in your life. 

Funny, I have a guitar and a grand piano on mine but am not skilled at either. I taught myself on a Sears guitar the summer of 1964 and could strum Michael, Row the Boat Ashore but a charm to signify guitar playing is funny. And I took piano lessons, unsuccessfully.

I’ve seen gold charm bracelets in antique stores for a lot of money. You wonder about the owner and the significance of the charms collected. And a full charm bracelets can make way too much annoying noise, jingling in the theatre. 

Wednesday afternoon, I was out with a couple of friends and admired one’s bracelet with holiday charms, a charm a month bracelet. I told her about mine. She asked me if it still fit! Hmmmm, how much bigger is my wrist now? It has enough links so  yes it still does fit but I didn’t know until I got home, dug it out and tried it on. Ha!

The one charm is a typewriter with a tiny carriage that moves back and forth. Fancied myself a writer? 

I think I remember which friend gifted me the Forget-Me-Not.  There’s an enameled disk from a 1965 field trip to the UN. 

When I came home and found my old charm bracelet and went to photograph it, I mistakenly pulled out a crystal dish I thought would look good under it. The dish towel was a better solution. No reflection.

It’s silver and unpolished. I remember you could have the charms sodered on so they wouldn’t come off. If I were to add a charm for my interests today it would have to be a skein of yarn and knitting needles and places visited would fill it up and then some. Charms for my life now could be so different.

Photographing jewelry is tricky, I forgot.

One aspect I wasn’t really aware of or considering is this- “The wearing of charms may have begun as a form of amulet or talisman to ward off evil spirits or bad luck.[1]”.          

 Of course…….lucky charms! Duh!

Feel free to send a photo of your charm bracelet or a write about a specific charm. Initial pins were the rage in the late sixties, too. 


The dish towel for a backdrop 


…compared to my first thought of using a the crystal dish as a backdrop to photograph the bracelet 


The shadows from the dish looked better than the jewelry.

Plastic charm necklace from the 80’s blogpost you might remember.