Happy Valentine’s Day From Me to You

My plans were to post this on Sunday, Valentine’s Day, but I’m getting the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine tomorrow and if predictions are correct, I might be too sick to do anything but lay on the sofa rolled up in a warm blanket and watch Netflix or reruns of Bewitched, so here it is!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Image result for 1960's old fashioned vintage valentine cards

I’ve always loved Valentine’s Day in spite of the commercialism. In elementary school, I looked forward to the day we’d give and receive those little Valentine’s Day cards (including the inedible heart-shaped candies.)

Later on, I especially cherished Angel Boy’s handmade cards –which I saved–every single one of them.

There’s something lovely and old fashioned about being thought of as someone’s Valentine, and I like that a lot.

I have simple wants; a bunch of wildflowers is treasured as much as a dozen red roses; all gifts from the heart are appreciated whether it’s a Chanel or a seashell. Or a handmade card from the Angels.

These flowers are called alstroemeria. Native to South America. I prefer their other name,  Lily of the Incas, ‘cos it sounds exotic. I’ve been growing them for about fifteen years. Surprisingly, they do quite well here and are drought tolerant. I’ve even been able to successfully dig up and divide the tubers.

I hope you’re having (will have) a happy, happy day!

Wispy Sky Angel Wings

At the risk of being accused of always having my head in the clouds (guilty!) I took this photo a couple days ago right about 4:30 or so in the afternoon directly across the street from Casa de Enchanted Seashells.

I’ve never seen the sky like this–Picasso-esque–almost as if these shapes are petroglyphs or messages speaking to me, but I can’t seem to decipher the code.

I’m not very good at comprehending signs from the Universe. For example, a while back I would be drawn to notice 5:14 on the dot, AM and PM, every single day for a couple of weeks. That’s my birthdate, so it must mean something important, right?

I never could figure it out, but subsequently, there was 5:41 AM and PM for a few days, and I have absolutely NO IDEA if that’s some kind of karmic joke or if it was mere coincidence. Like sometimes a rose is just a rose? I dunno, but it confused me and made me feel ignorant because if it WAS a message, what was it? Who was it from?

Sometimes I’m simply not very smart because 5:14 is popping up again unbidden. WTF? Mom, is that you? If so, WHAT DO YOU WANT? Sheesh, she can so annoying.

Clouds Got in My Way

After the really stressful but eventually successful first Covid-19 vaccination experience, today was more serene.

My doc emailed two times to check on me, going above and beyond her Hippocratic Oath.

Just a girl with a sore arm and some clouds embellishing the blueblue sky.

Gotta Love a Wolf Moon

Here in SoCal, the final full moon of 2020 will be tonight at 7:28 p.m. After our big storm yesterday, the sky looks clear and bright and everything is shiny, so I’m hopeful mama moon will be out and visible.

What a perfect time for a little year-end magic!

Don’t forget to charge crystals and a bottle of fresh water. Moon water is traditionally charged at night under the light of the full moon, when lunar energy is at its most potent and we’re easily able to connect to our intuition.

No photo description available.

Happy almost 2021!

“Be Happy” Should Be On Your To-Do List!

BE HAPPY!

I hope everyone had a lovely 2020 sort of Christmas, even if was different than in the past. I can totally relate!

BE HAPPY!

I first saw this little journal about a week ago a couple blocks away on one of my walks; I picked it up and placed it on a fence just in case the owner was searching for it.

BE HAPPY!

I saw it again on my Christmas Day walk, resting on a bed of rocks, and love the message so much I took a photo. Two simple words, but incredibly profound.

If it’s still there today, I’m rescuing it. At that point, it’s meant to be mine, do you agree?

BE HAPPY!

(That’s not merely a suggestion, it’s a great mantra for 2021.)

Happy Christmas 2020

Mele Kalikimaka!
Yuletide greetings from Enchanted Seashells. Even in this craziest of crazy years, there’s always something to be grateful for, right?

Photo by Olya Kobruseva on Pexels.com

One of my fave versions; makes me wish I was in Hawaii right now.

DIY Yule Wreath

As promised, I’m posting my homegrown Yule wreath. I used a ten-inch wire circle and all the rest of the ingredients were foraged from my garden.

Toyon berries:

Rosemary, lavender, pine boughs…

Manzanita, the star of the show with her lovely pink/red flowers:

Getting started, with a ten-inch wire circle and the bendy manzanita…

…to the finished product, ready to manifest all kinds of positive energy and magic for the solstice and 2021…

If I feel like wearing it on my head like a flower crown and dancing in the moonlight, I might just do that.

I feel very witchy today.

Wind, Whales, and Linda Ronstadt

You probably heard on the news how windy it was here in SoCal. In the local mountains, one gust was clocked at 95 miles an hour!

Even at the coast, wind gusts were almost fifty miles an hour. A shared neighbor fence is just about completely down; it was well on its way before the wind event ‘cos their giant Bird of Paradise was relentlessly pushing it over, so I guess that might be something that will need to be addressed. One day.

Eucalyptus branches are everywhere, wires are down, smoke from a few local fires dot the sky, but the bigger and more dangerous fires are a bit to the north of me in Orange County.

I had to pick up my new glasses (huge and I love them) and make another trip to the dentist to confirm that yes, I do need a root canal, so next week should be a real treat. What a not very fun way to celebrate Hannukah, but I’m grateful the dentist saw it before it got really bad.

I drove home along the beach route and made a quick stop to look for whales. I wasn’t lucky enough to see any this time, but I took some pics. You can see forever, all the way to the ends of the earth.

Look at the sparkles!

No whales in sight, but I’m sure they’re out there in that vast ocean. It made me think of that iconic Linda Ronstadt song, Somewhere Out There. Seems about right for 2020, too.

The first few notes get me teary every single time. I never saw the film, An American Tail, but I might have to now.

And a windchime filled video of our windy morning.

Vitamin Sea

Today was the perfect day to soak up the positive energy of the ocean.

“The ocean has the ability to trigger a psychological state of calm and contentment. It can literally wash away the pain.”

I didn’t see any whales and this beach isn’t abundant with shells, but the sand was warm and welcoming.

Hearts in the sand.
A pretty little shorebird. This looks like a painting.

And a couple short videos:

Dragons and Pearls

I love jewelry boxes. I love them so much that I wanted to pass on the sweet tradition and sent baby Char a ballerina musical jewelry box fit for a princess that plays a tune from Swan Lake. Char wore a rainbow colored tutu for Halloween, so it’s definitely this Grandma’s job to nurture an early appreciation for dance.

It turned out that she loved it so much (and so did Theo) that I had to send him one too, only his featured characters that twirl around from Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince and plays Mozart’s Eine Klene Nachtmusik. It’s about the right time for him to read that book, too.

I also found a new one for me (of course), and it’s better in real life than the photos portrayed on Amazon. The green is truly a beautiful background for the gold dragon. This one doesn’t play music but I have another one that does, so I’m content.

Now we’re all happily playing with our new boxes…a thousand miles away from each other.