Life Imitates Art

Posted on February 27, 2026 by Enchanted Seashells

Or is it the other way around?

I’ve been trying to capture this photo for a few days and my patience and persistence finally paid off. I think she’s searching for a suitable nesting site, or maybe she really thinks this hummingbird wind chime is a cousin, I dunno…

I had to snap the pic through the screen door so I wouldn’t scare her off, but I’m completely happy with the result. It’s these little joyful moments that make life worth living, don’t you agree?

I discovered a poem written by D.H. Lawrence about hummingbirds:

Humming-bird
I can imagine, in some otherworld
Primeval-dumb, far back
In that most awful stillness, that only gasped and hummed,
Humming-birds raced down the avenues.

Before anything had a soul,
While life was a heave of Matter, half inanimate,
This little bit chipped off in brilliance
And went whizzing through the slow, vast, succulent stems.

I believe there were no flowers, then
In the world where the humming-bird flashed ahead of creation.
I believe he pierced the slow vegetable veins with his long beak.

Probably he was big
As mosses, and little lizards, they say, were once big.
Probably he was a jabbing, terrifying monster.

We look at him through the wrong end of the long telescope of Time,
Luckily for us.

Desert Hike Photos

Posted on February 20, 2026 by Enchanted Seashells

At times, the southwest desert seems like an otherworldly place…stark, beautiful, sort of scary.

Snow Moon Rising

Posted on February 1, 2026 by Enchanted Seashells

The Snow Moon rises today, glowing bright against the muted light of late winter.

For generations, people knew February’s full moon as the Snow Moon. It marked the coldest stretch of winter, a time of survival, patience, and quiet strength.

The name carries both starkness and hope: a reminder that even when the world feels still and silent, the earliest signs of new life are gathering beneath the surface.

Traditionally, the Snow Moon symbolised patience, resilience, and the slow, quiet preparation for spring.

Endurance – moving steadily through challenging seasons
Clarity – winter stripping things back to what truly matters
Renewal – the subtle beginnings of new energy forming beneath the surface
Trust – believing in cycles even when progress is hidden

Winter’s stillness can feel stark, but it also helps us see what matters, and what doesn’t. This full moon encourages us to slow down, conserve our energy, and prepare internally for the new cycle ahead.

The Snow Moon invites gentle reflection:

Where can you soften your grip?
Where can you let stillness support you?
Where might rest be the medicine you’ve been avoiding?

From the Serendipity Corner
Photo from Pinterest

Silence is Healing

Posted on January 19, 2026 by Enchanted Seashells

“When I am silent, I fall into the place where everything is music.” — Rumi

Whew, it’s definitely time for a Rumi quote to bring down sky high BP.

Today is Martin Luther King Day and that petty psychopathic orange POS removed MLK Day and Juneteenth from the list of fee-free days for our national parks and replaced them with days like Flag Day (his birthday).

My governor, California’s Governor Newsom, countered by making over 200 California State Parks free on MLK Day.

Enjoy this silent and stark tree from Mt. San Jacinto near Palm Springs, California.

Silence is healing.

Cloud Art

Posted on January 5, 2026 by Enchanted Seashells

These clouds are works of art.

I like what Bob Ross said about painting clouds: “Let’s build us a happy, little cloud that floats around the sky.”

Clouds of all shapes, sizes, and colors.

(Photo credit to Enchanted Seashells)

New Year Greetings With a Fling of Sandpipers 𓅪

Posted on December 31, 2025 by Enchanted Seashells

And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.
Rainer Maria Rilke

We’re getting ready for another storm but yesterday it still was sunny and warm. Check out these south-facing sandpipers, all looking in the same direction. I wonder what they’re thinking about…

Maybe they’re hoping 2026 will bring peace and harmony and love to the world. That’s my wish, too.

Do you know what a group of sandpipers is called?

There are many recognized collective nouns for a group of sandpipers:

𓅪 a bind
𓅪 a cluster
𓅪 a contradiction
𓅪 a fling
𓅪 a hill
𓅪 a time-step

My personal favorite is a “fling” of sandpipers.

𓅪 Happy 2026!
Hauʻoli Makahiki Hou

Holiday Wishes 🕎 🎄🎅🏻 🌺

Posted on December 15, 2025 by Enchanted Seashells

Hanukkah started last night at sundown and ends on December 22, so don’t forget to light your menorah and remember to honor the Bondi and Brown victims.

May the lights of Hanukkah usher in a better world for all of us.

This photo was taken from the top of my street where I’m able to see the setting sun AND a hint of the Pacific ocean. It’s one of my favorite spots.

🕎 🎄🎅🏻 🌺

Ode To Our Ocean

Posted on December 9, 2025 by Enchanted Seashells

This photo was taken at the beach on a spectacularly warm December afternoon. The sky was blue and the Pacific Ocean was full of sparkles; a magnificent day.

Ode To Our Ocean

The sea sings out to its many saviors:
Teenagers with fists thrust into the air at climate strikes,
Scientists converging around their data,
A child who stoops to scoop up a piece of trash.

The sea sings out for its singular subjects:
Arching whales that wave from their waves,
Turtles that teeter down their shining shores,
Coral reefs shining brightly as cities.

The sea sings out its suffering,
Knowing too much of waste, screeching sounds
And pernicious poison, its depths bruised by
Atrocities in the Atlantic,
Misery in the Mediterranean,
Its tides the preservers of time past.

The story of the ocean and the story of humanity
Are one and the same, a Great River that
Knows no borders and notes no lines,
Only ripples.
While we might call it the Seven Seas,
Today we sing out your true name:
The one ocean.
For no matter how we try to separate your waters,
You are the colossus that connects us.

Water makes up 70% of Earth,
70% of the human heart,
And 70% of the human being,
All of us, bodies of water,
For we, too are oceans,
Or at least beings bobbing in the same boat.
To stand up for for our ocean
Is to stand up for our own ship
The sea is a restless, strong collective of many pieces.
So are we.
The ocean can recover.
And so will we.
Let us not divide the tides,
But discover all they have to teach us–
Green meadows of sea grass that survive pathogens,
Blue-bloodied marine snails that can fight off viruses.
There are more lessons to learn,
Still more work to be done.
So we lift our faces to the sun.
May the seas help us see healing and hope,
May we sing out the ocean’s survival and revival.
Being the people of this blue planet is our most
Profound privilege and power,
For if we be the ocean’s saviors,
Then it is surely ours.

Written by Amanda Gorman for World Oceans Day. Harvard graduate Gorman is an American poet, activist, and model. Her work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora. Gorman was the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate.

Winter Sunset

Posted on November 25, 2025 by Enchanted Seashells

No green flash, but a gorgeous sunset after a sunny, warm day in SoCal.

A “green flash” is a rare optical phenomenon seen briefly at sunrise or sunset, where the sun’s upper edge appears to flash green due to atmospheric refraction. This optical effect is caused by the Earth’s atmosphere acting like a prism, separating the sun’s light into different colors, with the green light being the last to be visible as the sun sets or the first as it rises