treasures discovered...

After two hours of driving (hooray for low gas prices!!) and singing at almost-the-top-of-my-lungs, I arrived at my beach destination yesterday afternoon. The time at the beach was absolutely glorious! The day was beautiful--in the 60's with a crisp winter ocean breeze, a brilliant blue sky with not a wisp of a cloud, and sun, sun, sun! One could not ask for a better day of winter weather! And the colors of the rocks and sky and water and sand were all so amazingly bright and clear!

I took far, far too many photos in my three hours there. I am, however, having some uploading difficulty, so I must keep it relatively short today. I had wanted to share the whole day with you in photos, but will do a couple of days of posting to give you some of the best shots. Today I will share with you the special TREASURES God gave to me... (nothing live today... those will be later!) It was a bit difficult to sort out what were actually the "treasures," as the day itself was just so wonderfully delicious!

But here are a few of my favorites... starting with the incredible sparkles on the water!!

...a couple of lovely stripey treasures ...

Now, don't be frightened! This little jewel is not a scarab or a beetle carcass or any other such creepy thing... it is called a Mermaid's Purse... and it is (do you know?!?!)....

... a shark egg! (empty, of course) but isn't it wonderful!! and, yes, those are bird footprints around it, if you're wondering...

When my mom was out to visit a couple of years ago, we took a day trip up to this beach. It's such a great place--the mountains behind and the ocean before... and many times, nice shells to be found and taken home as souvenirs of a delightful day. I had found a few sand dollars here on a past visit, and I had hoped, perhaps, my mom would find one, too. I knew it would thrill her to find one. We had prayed even for some special treasure--if not a sand dollar, something else fun. And, she found not only one, but TWO sand dollars on that trip! God is so good! : )

So, while I was combing the beach yesterday, I called my mom to chat for a bit. I was exclaiming over some sea creatures I was examining and mentioned that it would be cool to find another sand dollar. Not too much longer after the comment, while I was still talking with her, I FOUND ONE!!! It was a baby one, no bigger than a dime... but beautiful!

Also while still on the phone with her, I stumbled across this wonderful bit of sandy love!!

(She's used to hanging out with me while I stop a million times for some photo opportunity or another--she's quite patient that way!--and the phone conversation was no exception!! I kept saying, "hold on a sec--gotta take a picture...")

Isn't this heart great?!

And last, but definitely not least, on the Treasures list was a heart rock... one I could NOT take home with me, as it really was a heart boulder!! (I probably should have taken a photo from further away for perspective, but trust me, this is too big to go in my pocket--about 3ft wide!) BIG LOVE. actually, big green mossy love! : )

And, I was especially thrilled to find this heart rock, as I was only able to see it due to the low, low tide! If the tide were up, the rock would have been under water, and I would never have seen the love!

Thank You, God, for these many treasures at the sea... I am grateful!!