June 20th is National Seashell Day, which is convienently also the first day of Summer, when people go on vacation. Collecting seashells can bring back the memories of a great time at the beach.
I have such a book, “Shells & Shelling, the complete guide to collecting and identification” edited by Ralph Barrett, 1967. The title adds that this is for Florida, Gulf and South Atlantic shells.There are plenty of colored pictures to identify any shell you may come across on the beach. There is also a flyer inside about the sand beaches on Siesta Key. The sand there is 99% pure quartz grains with no fragments of coral and no shell. That is why it is so fine and soft.
I have some old collections of sea shells. I would like to show off.
These were given to me by my mother-in-law, several are from the sixties.
I used to, and still collect shells every time I go to the beach.
These few are from my most recent visit to Siesta Key, Florida in April. I went with some friends and we all found wonderful shells. As well as the nice Whelk, there are a couple of Scallops, a Venus, and a Cardita. Also, the long skinny one with barnicles on it is a Pen shell. they normally keep their pointy end in the sand, and stand upright. The rock is a conglomerate of shells fossilized inside. They are probably from the Pliocene period 5-4 to 2-4 million years ago. We also found some shark and ray fossil teeth when we drove down to Venice Beach.
These shells and fossils will get dated and put in plastic containers marking where and when they were found, and added to my rock, mineral, fossil and shells cabinet. It is a wonderful large cabinet that my brother-in-law made, that is a perfect specimen case with the many narrow drawers.
The oldest, at least largest shell fossil is the remains of a large oyster. It would have been over two feet in diameter if a full fossil.
I have a question for the world at large. Why do people put seashells in their bathrooms? Is it for calming and relaxing vibes? Is it people want to be by water? The thought of water make it easier to go to the bathroom? Is it a Baby Boomer thing? I don’t know. But when I took a break from writing this, I noticed something.
On my downstair’s bathroom sink, there is a shell picture frame holding my children from their first trip to Florida.
But then I have a souvenir cabinet that has an entire shelf of shells. Could it get worse?
How about shells in cabinet over the toilet. There’s a couple Whelks, an Olive, a Conch, a Nutmeg and a Bubble.
Even my walls have pictures of shells in frames, perhaps also designed in the wallpaper! Maybe instead of a throne chair, we just call it a beach chair; with sea swells around seashells…when we flush by ourselves…
At least I am shell-ebrating my bathroom. Sea you later.
Librarytomes 