Santa Barbara Tide Pool Treasures

It seems my jewelry career has been put on hold lately with so many school activities, household obligations and making plans for summer activities.  It's all good and my creative juices will just have to be bottle up for awhile to age like fine wine. I am enjoying this time with my little guy and I'm  goin' with the flow.

This last Tuesday, a caravan of parents, first graders and teachers journeyed up to Hope Ranch beach in Santa Barbara to enjoy the beautiful weather and explore the tide pools.  We were fortunate to go to this private beach as one of our teachers just moved there and will sadly not be returning to our little Ojai school next year.  The kids had a surprise waiting for them at the shore....they each were given a beach bucket filled with a sand shovel, flower lei (and real grass skirts for the girls), seaweed snacks, goldfish snacks and a beverage.  Thank you Mrs. Stovesand!  We had a fun day of exploration and treasure hunting.  The kids saw shore crabs, hermit crabs, sand crabs, star fish, sea anemones, limpets, mussels, lots of seagulls and a few other creatures which names escape my memory at the moment.  During lunch we even spotted some dolphins! We came home with a nice collection of sea glass and shells as souvenirs along with tar covered feet. And I found a bunch of rocks with holes in them... my favorite.  I love to use them to tie onto gifts with ribbons or hang with leather cord for necklaces.  I might even play with aboriginal type dot art on them for wearable art. The adults had as much fun beach combing as the children. Below you can see some of the bootie we brought home... and made a little art display for daddy. 

The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea.  

~Isak Dinesen~