Scraggy Neck

The purpose of the Scraggy Neck trip was, as you know, for beach glass purposes, which is why there are only 7 photos.    

Cleveland Ledge Lighthouse way out in Buzzards Bay.

Could it have been a nicer day?  I submit that it could not!

Wordless Wednesday

A very Happy Thanksgiving to all of my US friends!  Have a safe and delicious day tomorrow!

Spring Hill at Old Harbor

There's a part of Sandwich called Old Harbor that can only be accessed on either side by walking along the beach.  I don't recall ever going there when I was a kid...I just remember once in the mid/late 80s walking down Spring Hill with my dad to Old Harbor, and back to a cottage some cousins were renting.  It was kind of far from even his cottage when I was little and I wasn't allowed to leave the confines of the jetties in front of it, so I just never got down there.  This day I drove as far as I could on the road along the marshes, parked, and badly trespassed between 2 cottages to get to the beach.  Some of these places have become year round homes, so I was really taking a huge chance doing this.  

This is the entrance to Old Harbor from Cape Cod Bay.  The channel becomes Mill Creek and that's what the Boardwalk spans, farther down the marshes.

Boardwalk would be way down there.

One of these days I'll park at Town Neck and walk on that side of Old Harbor.

This was the first time, that I can remember, that I've ever laid eyes on those rocks.  This is my hometown and I'm still finding things I've never seen before.

The current moves quickly as the tide was going out. It also drops off quite deep, so it's not something that people swim across.  Some people do 'the float', which is floating down the creek in inner tubes to around this point.

Massive sand damage to the beach grass.

Marshes

It was definitely warm this day but I wouldn't say it was 'let's wear shorts and take the jet ski onto the Bay' warm.

I love rocks.  Picked up some unique ones down this end. And I also found 2 sand dollars.

Surprise!!!

Kinder Surprise, that is!  I was unaware of these toy-inside-candy eggs until a few years ago when I saw something about them online.  They are illegal in the USA because of some stupid, archaic law from the 1930s about putting 'non-nutritive items' inside confections.  I'm not sure how Cracker Jack gets away with it, unless popcorn and peanuts aren't considered a 'confection'. There was a recall in 1997, from shops that sold imported food items.  The shops had also received threatening letters from the US Government, threatening legal action.  Over a chocolate egg with a toy inside?  Can I get a 'WTF?!?!?!'  One of my friends sent these to me recently.  

There are 3 eggs inside each box.

The eggs are made of white chocolate covered with regular chocolate, with a plastic case inside.  This case is, apparently, considered a 'choking hazard'.  As if some kid would be stupid enough to ingest it.  *rolls eyes*

Inside the case is a tiny toy!!

And directions to put it together.

Whee!!!!!!!!!!

My plan was to save these eggs as part of my ever-growing pop culture collection, but they are just so darn good, and the pull to see what kind of toy is inside is too great, that I've been scarfing them down nibbling them a bit faster than I thought I would.  So far I've gotten 2 helicopters, 2 3D type scenes, a fox with a magnifying glass and a lion with a magnifying glass, and an inflatable paper cat head. 

HERE is a link to a WordPress blog called "Free the Egg", which describes the ban in the USA.  THIS is a link to a Petition to allow them in the USA, and due to some issues with the signature part hanging up, THIS is a link to add your signature to the Petition.  When you think of all the things that are wrong with America, banning chocolate eggs with toys inside is beyond ridiculous.  I encourage my readers to please take the time to sign the Petition and FREE THE EGG!!!!!!

Craft Show & Beach Glass Wars

I am pleased to report that I did pretty well at the Legion Craft Show on the 10th.  Didn't make as much as last year, but only b/c I didn't sell many necklaces.  My biggest selling items this year were the acorn capped beads and photo cards.  I think my table did better than some of the others though, which is cool. 

I was a nervous wreck the day and night before the show.  I didn't sleep well at all, waking up probably close to 4 with a headache and stomach ache.  Tossed and turned and just decided to get up at 5:50 & get ready to go.  The doors were scheduled to open at 7 for vendors to set up.  I got there and found my table.

And here it is all set up.

I wish I had more pics but I don't.  The place got packed really fast, first with vendors setting up and then with the shoppers, and I didn't want to leave my table (and change money) unattended. Marsha, bless her, got there around 8:30 or so to sit with me, and that put me so much at ease. She was really great at selling.  I was sitting down and hiding behind the displays and she was bravely showing people all the stuff.  I just don't have the self confidence or chutzpah to go, 'Look how pretty my stuff is! You want to buy it, don't you? DON'T YOU?'  I could barely squeak out a friendly, 'Good morning, how are you today?'  But she's out there, boldly pointing out stuff to everyone.  In fact, she sold the mirror right off the table, and for a lot of money too.  I bought it last year - a cheapo, purple, star shaped hand mirror - and decorated it with rhinestones.  It's purpose was for people to use in case they wanted to see how the jewelry would look on them.  So it wasn't exactly for sale.  But someone happened by and commented on the 'cool mirror' and Marsha blurts out, 'It's $20' and next thing I know I'm being handed a $20 bill.  I am still chuckling about it because it reminded me of Addie Pray blurting out the price of bibles that Moze was trying to sell in "Paper Moon".

At one point I was visited by a woman and her adorable twin sons. The boys couldn't have been more than 3 years old, red headed and freckled, and they reminded me so much of the young actor Max Jansen Weinstein.  They were quite taken with the acorn beads and one announced he wanted blue and the other, purple.  They both said they wanted to bring them to grandpa.  So the mom shelled out the $2 to me, but I was somewhat distracted with another person who was also at my table at the same time.  Marsha talked to the mom and when they left she told me that the boys wanted to leave them on their grandfather's grave.  If I had known that I would never have charged for them, but I assumed their grandpa was alive.

The best part of the show was how many familiar faces I saw.  So many schoolmates and longtime friends of the family.  A couple of Sandwichites (Sandwichians?) who were Facebook friends up to that point came  specifically to meet me.  Russell's niece & her little girl were there.  My mom also went.  Had quite a few laughs especially when Elaine stopped by.  She is by far one of the funniest people I've ever known, and I've known her my entire life, as our parents were friends long before we were born.  I can remember many a time where I was spraying some kind of drink out of my nose & mouth because she was making me laugh so much.  Which leads me to...

Beach Glass Wars

Elaine's a beachaholic, going to Dune 1 as often as humanly possible.  She rushed there to see what the damage was like after Hurricane Sandy and after the 2 day pounding we took from a Nor'easter that raged from early morning on Wednesday 11/7 through about 9:00 pm on 11/8, with high winds, nonstop driving rain and power outages.  It was way worse than Sandy was, in this region.

As a result of her getting there right after the storms, she cleaned up with beach glass and posted a picture of her mother-lode find.  Our friends are aware of my and Elaine's blossoming 'beach glass rivalry', so I was even tagged in someone's comment about how jealous I was gonna be.  So I played along that I was green with envy and was on my way to her house to beat her up and take her glass.

I have become a huge fan of those hilarious someecards that I keep seeing all over Pinterest and Facebook.  You can make your own too.  I knew exactly the image I wanted and it was really easy to find in their templates.  Then I added the text and sent it to Elaine in a private message, b/c I wanted her to know I didn't mean it maliciously of course, but I couldn't resist making it.  She responded that she wanted me to put it on her timeline b/c she couldn't stop laughing and wanted all our friends to see it, and she asked for the link to the website.

Less than 5 minutes later, this appeared on my timeline from Elaine.  Of course I asserted that she was the one who got the ass whoopin from me, but she begged to differ.

The other day she posts on my timeline, "Only found 33 pieces today!"  That's it.  I'm going to the beach.   It's killin' me not to be out there looking for glass.  I got up on 11/12 to an unseasonably warm day.  A tshit and no jacket kinda day.  First I tried Spring Hill near Old Harbor in E. Sandwich but had zero luck, although that area is super pretty and I want to go back again sometime.

I was on my way home and thought about going to Scraggy Neck.  I was kinda tired and hungry, and I'd just bought a delish looking frosted pumpkin bar from Marshland Restaurant in Sandwich that I wanted to eat too.  Well, I get to the Bourne Rotary and instead of going over the Bridge, I got off at Shore Road and ended up driving down to Scraggy Neck.  The last time I went in March, I had a terrible time finding it but this day I found the beach with no problem.

And once again, this place paid off for me big time.  This piece is the new star of my collection. Even over the reds and oranges and purples.  I was shocked to see it.  I thought it was plastic.  I searched and searched for more like it but this was the only one.  Once I found this, all thoughts of hunger and pumpkin bars faded and I started picking my way, ever so slowly, up and down this tiny beach, and slowly filling my baggie with glass and beautiful stones.

Now this is an amazing, and very rare, specimen.  It's totally worn, large, green and the bottom of a bottle with writing that can still be seen. As I've mentioned before, because of recycling, true worn glass is very hard to find now, especially in colours.  I consider myself to be somewhat of a tree hugger...I mean I know I could do more but I've done what I can, when I can....but when it comes to beach glass, I wish more people were tossing bottles out in the water like back in the 70s when you could find it all the time.  I know, I know....

My final count for the day was 62 pieces.  2 from Spring Hill, and 60 from Scraggy Neck.  Some not worn much, but they don't cut me so it counts, including that white bottle top on the upper left.

That may be the last good day I will have for a long time now that it's late fall and going into winter, so I'm glad I didn't waste the day cleaning the house and mucking about online.  This find will hold me over for a couple of months.  OK a few weeks.  Till next week......

Crafty Crafterson Is At It Again

I made this distressed beach-themed frame for my pal Marsha.  The undercoat is light blue.  I should've taken a picture of it with the photo I inserted.....

but it was this one.

Then I made one for Liz.  The undercoat of this one is dark green.  This frame project kept me busy during Hurricane Sandy.  I sure hope she doesn't read this before it arrives in the mail, which hopefully is today!  lol

I found this amazing crystal candlestick at a yardsale for $1.  What's a girl to do but ADD GLITTER!!!!!

I came across a really easy project on one of my Pinboards, on how to make crackled marbles.  So I dipped into my stash of modern/machine made marbles and baked some at 350* for 10 minutes.

Then immersed them in ice water.  They cracked but not dramatically, so I dried them off and popped them back into the over for another 10 or 15 minutes, then back into the ice water.  By the way, if you try this be really careful because the marbles could shatter when they hit the water.

.  

 As you can see, they did crack.....

But not as dramatically as these crackle marbles that are part of my stash.  I think maybe they need to stay in the oven longer than 20 minutes.  

I prepped this one like 2 weeks before Halloween.  You cut funny eye shapes into used paper towel rolls, then use glow sticks inside them and put them in a bush.

I do like they way they look, but unfortunately, there's a street lamp almost across the street from my house that bathes my front yard in orange light, so the lit eyes aren't terribly effective.  I'm sure they'd look OK in my back yard where it's very dark.

Right after I went in the house after leaving them in the bush, we had a very brief but violent thunderstorm, brought on by Hurricane Sandy the day before, which moved through with torrential rain and a microburst of 90 mph wind that hit neighbouring Wareham.  HERE is the news story about it.  Needless to say the glowsticks were knocked out of the bush and the cardboard rolls disintegrated in the rain.

"52 Reasons Why I Love You".  Believe me I can come up with way more, but this project calls for a deck of cards so 52 it is.  Not sure when I'll give it to him; maybe Christmas, maybe in a lunch bag when he leaves.  I sanded each of the cards to make them look a little more used and tried to shuffle them a bunch too.  It took about 3 hours to prep the deck, type and cut out all the reasons.  Then I mod podged them to the suit-side of the deck.  Some of the projects showed the reasons on the back side of the cards but I opted for suit side.

Russell's niece suggested I make something with beach glass, so I did this using the craft 'beach' glass and some that I bought at a yard sale.  I would NEVER use my own stash, even if I were to keep the project for myself.  This took about 4 days to complete and to be honest, was a royal pain in the ass.  Marsha asked if she could buy it and I was more than happy to let it go.  I've told my friends if I ever get the hankering to do this again, to please smack me upside the head.

And a sample of more glitter ornaments that I made to sell at the craft show.