Fossil Hunting On the Jersey Shore?

Yep! As crazy as that sounds, that's exactly what I've been doing... The past four years we have vacationed in Cape May, New Jersey, as a family. One week in July, every year. And the first two years, my daughter was so little and required so much attention, that I didn't really even collect any seashells, which as many of my friends know, is my big weakness. I am an avid shell collector. 

Well, last year, E was 2-1/2, and finally playing with Nana on her own two legs. And I had a chance to sift through the pebbles and shells along the shore... a couple of things caught my trained eye as possibly organic in origin, though they were currently stones. So I picked them up and put them in my little pile of goodies, consisting mainly of Cape May Diamonds (quartz crystals worn smooth by the sea,) pretty colored stones, jingle shells, scallop shells, other bivalves, and a growing number of "interesting looking" stones. One of them turned out to be a fossilized marine mammal tooth! A mosasaur, to be exact!! I identified it by comparing it to Fossil Guy's photos and descriptions of his less-worn fossils found in New Jersey. So exciting!! (Edit: after putting my finds to The Fossil Forum, I was called out on my "mosasaur tooth" and must bow to the pros on their consensus: It's actually a Rugosa Coral, aka Horn Coral. Thanks, guys!)

Rugosa Coral at right

After I got home, I got out my daughter's little stereoscope to view my finds more closely. That's actually when I realized that I had a lot more fossils than I'd thought... mostly fossilized sea sponges, corals, and bryozoans. But a few other things that I had to research on the web, and discovered were possibly dinosaur vertebrae, based on the pattern of the mineral replacement.  (Edit: the two pieces on the bottom left are oolites.)

Coral fossils and possibly bryozoans

Dinosaur vertebra? (Edit: or honeycomb coral)

So this year, with my daughter actively playing in the water with her Nana, her great aunt, and her dad, I sat an "excavated" the beach for more fossils... and I found a few...

I think these are rugosa corals, or "horn corals" from the Permian Era

No idea what this was!

The photos above are a few of my favorite finds, though I actually have a small container full of what I have determined to be fossils of one kind or another. A lot of sea sponges and corals, for the most part. I also found lovely agates, and a few semi-precious gems, but they are so small and worn, that I just put them all into a little clear bottle, grouped by colors. So pretty! 

I will have to post soon about the other fossils I've found here in Pennsylvania, while hiking near creeks and rivers.... but that's for another day!

I hope you're all well. I know it's been ages since I've posted, and you might not even be out there listening anymore. If you are, Hello! If you're not, I hope to have you visit soon.

Blessings

An Early Fall Walk

I had some time today to take a little walk... I haven't visited my cemetery in a while, and thought I'd pay a visit to see if there was anything exciting going on. (Ha ha) Well, as it turns out, there was!


As I walked into the cemetery, I saw a great bird swooping below the branches of the old trees... it was a hawk! She was on the prowl for prey...

I tried to get a photo of her flying, but none of them turned out. So I finally caught up with her while she was perched in a tree. See above.


Most of the trees are still green, but a few oaks are starting to turn.

I collected a few acorns to use as decorations in the house. I love the acorns from the pin oaks. They are small and have little stripes!

I noticed this little bunch of fur while I was acorn-collecting. I think it's from a squirrel's tail. Could be that there was a scuffle, or maybe the hawk got a little too close to one of the little nut collectors?

I saw some cool flowers along the way, too...

Also, there are a few trees that have truly started turning... one stood out from a distance, as it's amid its greener brethren!

Almost looked like it was on fire, right? And I almost missed this monarch while looking up at this golden tree...

It was a very lovely walk that I'll be taking again later today, after a couple hours at work. K is excited to go for a walk together... the weather has been warm, yet not humid, and is perfect for leisurely strolls. I am loving this autumn!

Santa Cruz, CA - Day 2

My favorite no-name beach

Okay, technically, the photo at left is not in Santa Cruz. It's actually a bit north, closer to Halfmoon Bay. I suppose the reason I've always counted this as part of Santa Cruz is because I access it by driving up Highway 1 from Santa Cruz. I have rarely driven past this idyllic spot to Halfmoon Bay. When I spend time here, it's with the intent of returning to Santa Cruz, and probably having dinner at Ristorante Avanti, my favorite little restaurant in Santa Cruz. This was the plan for the day with K, when we came her last Wednesday.

Photo by K (see below where I captured him taking this)

I first discovered this beach after spending many days at Pebble Beach, which is connected to it. (Not the Pebble Beach in Carmel, associated with the golf course, but a state park called Pebble Beach due to the pebbles that make up the shore.) My grandparents first took me here when I was about six or seven. My family has been returning here for years, and on one of my trips, I chose to walk across the expanse of rocks to the north of the beach, and found a little special spot that rarely sees more than one or two people/couples at a time. It's very remote and beautiful for that.

Me on Pebble Beach

K on Pebble Beach

When we arrived this time, first to Pebble Beach, there were a busload of school kids here. We took a few photos and then got back into the car to drive north a little ways, as I knew of another place to access the beach. It takes you to a sandy beach, also with no name, that's part of the California State Park system. It's also lovely, with its amazing rock formations, and I love the beach home that sits perched on one end.

Me walking back to the sandy beach

You can just make out the beach house in the photo above. Those rock formations are what you have to traverse to get to and from my secret beach. The ancient lava floes created anamorphic shapes, so you can sometimes make out a whale, dolphin, seal or even a puppy's face and an elephant head in the rocks.

  
I love the smooth, colorful pebbles that make up the shore at my secret beach... they're lovely, and you can't help but lay close to them so that you can see the individual colors and shapes of the stones. We collected some seashells for K's school kids, to connect them to this amazing beach. We took videos of the creatures we saw in the tide pools... hermit crabs, anemones and a starfish!

An open anemone

We were pretty lucky, actually. I didn't have my tide log, and had forgotten to check my tide log app before we arrived. It was high tide, but it was going out. So we only had to wait a bit for the waves to recede, and then we were able to view the sea life up close! We were very careful not to tread on the live snails living on the rocks. It wasn't easy!

Some seashells for the kids, some rocks & driftwood for us

We had a truly lovely time here... having the beach to ourselves was wonderful, and the sun was out and it wasn't too windy. As I wasn't feeling that great, having come down with a cold, it was nice to just relax on the straw mat when I felt tired. Something about the ocean air is very healing, though, and I found that I was able to stay longer than I had expected. Also, we planned a dinner at Ristorante, and I wasn't going to skip out on that!

The drive back into town is just lovely, too. The fog was starting to roll in just a bit... wisps, really, nothing too heavy... making the golden grasses off the sides of the highway just glow. Then we arrived in town, and got seated at little table for two, tucked away in a corner.

Mmm... yummy food!

K eating some calamari

We had their calamari fritti (so crispy and delicious!) served with a light mignonette, and we both got the grilled sea bass served on Israeli cous cous with locally grown tomatoes and cucumbers in a light citrus sauce. It was absolutely fantastic! The veggies were so fresh and sweet (a commitment that the restaurant has made is to use only locally grown veggies and humanely raised livestock and produce.) 

Our sea bass on cous cous

It was the perfect ending to a wonderful day! We drove home to San Jose with our tummies full, smiles on our faces, love in our hearts and a little sunshine left on our cheeks. I can't ask for more. 

Beach Combing in Cancun

You know there's nothing I like more than looking for seashells. I grew up walking next to my grandma, as she showed me the beauty of nature in the found bits of wonder along the edge of the surf or at a river's edge. Little clam shells or whorled snail shells were just as wonderful as a sea-smoothed pebble or shiny seashell. They all were equally fascinating to my grandma, and thus, to me. 


In Cancun, there was always a bit of something along the edge of the beach near the surf, as well as up in the sunny, dry, cool, coral sand. Every now and then, I'd find the shiniest creamy-white margin shells, or olive shell. There were many pieces of sunrise tellins, as they're quite thin and break easily. At first, most of the shells I found were sturdy calico clamshells and Lucines. I also found a couple varieties of venus clams, like the royal comb venus and king venus. There were a few "turkey wings" which I've also found in Puerto Vallarta.

Corals, Lucines, venus & calico clams, scallop, thorny oysters

I found a cowrie shell, but not laying on the sand. Indeed, most of the shells I found were in one day of digging in the hardened bank of sand that was exposed one morning after a shift in tides. We walked out onto the beach to see many people digging with hands or broken shells, and finding large conches and other seashells! It was bizarre, but we played along. Any chance at pretending I'm an archaeologist and I'm THERE. 

Moonsnails, olives, margin shells & one cowrie

Sunrise tellins

Corals & some top shells

So with the sun to our backs, we dug away at the sand bank, and found many wonderful treasures that would have remained buried under the sand, or crushed underfoot, or washed back out to sea. I loved the excitement that people found in unearthing their natural treasures! People would gather round a particularly nice specimen that someone had dug up along the bank, and then the excitement would grow... maybe the next lovely shell would be dug out by me?

We did find some chipped conch shells, as well as a shell that I think is a West Indian Chank. I've found smaller shells like it that have the same shape, though from other locations. My prize find, however, was a kind of oyster shell that I've never seen before... it has a kind of horn on it, which is unusual. Even Beatriz thought it was unique, and she lives there! Have you ever seen it?

I've been researching Caribbean seashells, oysters, etc. I haven't found anything that looks quite like this. The top of it seems like it used to have leaves, like a thorny oyster. But none of the thorny oysters have the horn! I love the deep oranges & reds of the outer shell. It looks like a sunset... I wish I could find out what it's called, or where it's typically found.


It was a wonderful hunt and K and I both had a lot of fun! The shells all survived the trip, and have been cleaned, dried and will soon be further researched. The prime shells will be put into a new organizer for my Cancun Shell Collection, and the rest will be displayed in our home. I have a few nice ones set aside for Keith's mom, too. She also loves seashells like me, and I'm excited to give her some! 

Shhh... Big Shopping Secrets!!

What do you have that you want to share, but when you share it, you no longer have it?


Yes, it's A Secret! However, I'm going to let this little secret out of the bag, because I like to share more than I like to keep a secret! 


When I was living in Los Angeles, I knew I was in the best kind of place to treasure hunt... I love finding great things at great prices, and at the time, I kept these special discoveries to a very close group of friends. However, I'm not there anymore, and I think it would help these establishments if I were to share what I know about them.

Bentwood magazine racks

If you want to find $150-200 pairs of jeans, used of course - I'm talking second-hand shopping here - but used lightly, for $8-12 each, then go to Out of the Closet in Atwater Village! The money goes to help fund AIDS testing for people who don't have the money for it, and the clothes here can be oh so wonderful on your pocket book and your self-esteem! I have found the most awesome jeans here! Boutique jeans that you can't buy just anywhere... and in great condition, too!  I wash everything I get from here, ha ha, but the Shio jeans and the Adriano Goldschmied jeans that I got here were soooo worth it! They fit me perfectly, cost $8 each, had no holes or anything, and made me look like I was wearing $185 jeans. Which I was. No one had to know I didn't pay that much for them! They also have some cool, funky furnishings, sometimes, like these Scandinavian-inspired bentwood magazine racks from the 1950's, which I paid $1.50 for.


If you're not into digging around through a lot of mismatched clothes for your finds, then you might try Crossroads Trading Company, in Silverlake. The organization is a lot nicer looking, but the prices are a little higher... though we're not talking a lot, mind you. It's still super cheap to buy awesome clothes here. And they're picky about what they have in their stores, because they're not a charity, like Out of the Closet is. However, if you bring in your own bag for shopping, they'll give you a token that's worth a small donation, and you can give it to one of three charities that they have at the front desk. They tend to have pretty awesome shoes here, the ones I've gotten didn't look like they were ever worn... it's worth a visit, that's for sure!


Those were my favorite local places to check out, as I lived on Griffith Park Blvd. I'm sure there are a lot more, which I never even got to see! I'm going to start a local hunt soon, and will let you know what places I find around here.... Bethlehem and east!


Happy Hunting!! xoxo


p.s.
I had a wonderful birthday, thank you all for your well wishes! It was topped off with a piece of chocolate & caramel brownie sprinkled with sea salt. SO DELICIOUS!!!!

Pennsylvania Treasure Hunt

Today I drove with a friend to an antique store we'd seen in passing, on our way to and from Hawk Mountain. We've wanted to return to this store ever since we saw it two weeks ago. It was completely worth the trip!

It's called Figaro's Vintage, and it's been there for 6 years. It's owned and operated by two retirees: Jeanette & Pete Carrigan. They are very friendly and out-going, and are finally doing what they love! This ecclectic store is surrounded by goodies, and filled with goodies! I took some pictures to share with you, in case you were ever in the area. It's in Lenhartsville, PA, which is only about 30 minutes from Bethlehem.

Anyone who goes into this store will find something.... it's just one of those exciting places where your imagination runs wild! I left with a couple vintage clothing pieces, two owls, two cookie cutters and a harmonica! I could have come back with much more, believe me! I was restrained because I was shopping with a new friend. Otherwise, I know I would've been very bad and bought so much more!