the bohemian was not quite sure when her obsession with the ocean and its beaches had begun. but it quite dominated her thoughts and her soul as far back as she could remember.
and, as she was no spring chicken, her collection of shells and sand and beach treasures had grown quite a bit... so she had collected it all into what she called her "beach bathroom". One had only to step into her bathroom to be enveloped by weathered oceanside artifacts.
Some of her collection included sea glass, sands from the oregon coast, antique blue bottle holding an orange (her favorite color) flower, and a tin with an ocean-going vessel, making her think of pirates (Johnny Depp) and swashbuckling sailors (Errol Flynn).
and postcards from her visit to Kaui, sands of various colors, her beach collage (made at the Washington coast from flotsam and jetsam and her trusty glue gun), tiny shell and rocks and a quote she wished she had penned herself: "It is perhaps more fortunate to have a taste for collecting shells than to have been born a millionaire." but Robert Louis Stevenson had already written the words of her heart many years before...collaged on the driftwood block was her favorite "sand verse" from the Bible:
"How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God!
How vast are the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake, I am still with You."
- Psalm 139:17 & 18
and to each side of her shelf, little shell pictures she had made at her lakeside artist friend's studio...
and her tacky collection of things found at the beach: mini costa rican wagon, plastic chicken, hula dancing doll, shell covered bottle with said shells sloughing off onto the shelf, colored rocks she kept in water so she could see their "real" colors, and her pile of skipping rocks...and where the little green army guy disappeared to, she had not a clue....
and her little rubber duck - a souvenir from a luncheon, her purple seashell candle sitting atop her sand candle holder, and a tiny seahorse tile in the background... about that seahorse: her lakeside artist friend (this is a long story so hold on...) had given her a chinese tea set with a book about tea. in the chapter about reading tea leaves, our bohemian had discovered that if you see a seahorse in the tea leaves in the bottom of your cup, it means... indulge yourself immediately! the bohemian and her eccentric daughter had, of course, immediately taken this to heart and expanded it to mean: ANYTIME you see a seahorse, indulge yourself immediately! and so around our bohemian's house are little seahorses... you understand, i'm sure...
one of the bohemian's beach treasure collages...
and another one, perched underneath the shell clock she recieved from a friend who knew her Oh So Well and brought her shells from whence she travelled...
and her little rubber duck - a souvenir from a luncheon, her purple seashell candle sitting atop her sand candle holder, and a tiny seahorse tile in the background... about that seahorse: her lakeside artist friend (this is a long story so hold on...) had given her a chinese tea set with a book about tea. in the chapter about reading tea leaves, our bohemian had discovered that if you see a seahorse in the tea leaves in the bottom of your cup, it means... indulge yourself immediately! the bohemian and her eccentric daughter had, of course, immediately taken this to heart and expanded it to mean: ANYTIME you see a seahorse, indulge yourself immediately! and so around our bohemian's house are little seahorses... you understand, i'm sure...
one of the bohemian's beach treasure collages... 
and another one, perched underneath the shell clock she recieved from a friend who knew her Oh So Well and brought her shells from whence she travelled...her sand collection included sands from: costa rica, trinidad, tobago, atlantic city, the oregon coast, the washington coast, kaui, south africa, liberia, lake michigan, the sunshine coast in canada; most of it she had collected but some had been brought back to her by loving, enabling friends...
her prince charming teased her because she was always so sad when she had to leave the ocean to come home and one time she actually cried...he thought that was rather silly of her. obviously, he did not understand the depth of her obsession!
well, this has been a long one... i hope i did not bore you too terribly. for those of you who share my obsession, you will, of course, understand..
may there be many sea breezes and tropical trade winds blowing cinnamon blessings, and wishes fulfilled, your way today...
and if you happen to see a seahorse...you know what to do!
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