The Sea is Calling Me

The sea is calling me and my honey and we will be traveling to Playa Del Carmen to visit the liquid world again.  Thursday can't get here quick enough for me as I pack my gear, bathing suits and books. 

 

Say hello to my little friends the Grunts hanging out in Cozumel.  

Over the weekend, I had to pack my booths to the brim since I would be missing a weekends worth of hunting and display.  Found some neat items last Saturday and one of them is this heavy, cast iron floor mat.  

 

I would use this for a decorative element on the wall.

 

Found this marvelous vintage loom with a weaving in progress in the tapestry or Navajo weaving method.  Perhaps someone will want to finish it.

 

Eight luncheon plates of ruby flash Emperor's Crown or thumbprint.  Perfect condition, looks like they sat in a display case and were never used.

 

Pretty little English bone china cup (Royal Albert) and what looks like a matching saucer, but isn't.  Still, it is a nice marriage. I adore using vintage/antique tea cups for my favorite hot drinks.  There is something so delightful about the whole process.

 

I love Catholic statuary and this group of Mary's was a delightful find.  All from the 1960s, and two of them are single bud vases.  

 

Who can resist this beautiful face?  Pretty little Edwardian girl in sailor suit.  Original tin frame with bubbled glass.  Could she be a mermaid wearing her lover's sailor shirt?  Yea, it's the sea talking.

 

Marvelous Civil War silhouette and ink piece. Not old, but a lovely commemorative to the southern cause. 

Too pretty for words and bone china delicate.  Nice late Victorian covered sugar bowl is a larger size than usual.

How amazing is this vintage wicker sofa table from the 1920s...and in excellent condition.  Lots of old white paint from multiple generations too.

Came across a marvelous piece of quad plate as well. Tall, footed creamer has lots of original silver on it. Circa 1890s.

Couldn't resist this pair of silk taffeta, down filled decorative pillows I found at an estate sale.  These were sitting in a second living room that rarely saw anything other than the weekly vacuum.

Can you say PACKED IN?  You can hardly move there is so much in my main booth right now.

Lot's of beachy blue and a popular color.

Lots to nifty beachy blue items for your patio, deck, and porch.

Found two huge stone ware platters from the 1870s and packed in as many pieces of antique transferware that I could find.

Added lots of pieces to Girdle Gals as well.

You can never, ever have too many handbags.

Not a hoodie wearing gal but loads of other gals adore them.

I left for ten minutes to get my camera and two pairs of shoes and three handbags had already left this display.

I love it with the goodies find new friends. Gotta close this post and get back to last minute responsibilities so I can head to the sea.  Have a lovely weekend all and blessings to you and those you love. Sea Witch

"I must go down to the sea again...

to the vagrant gypsy life, To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife; And all I ask is a merry yearn from a laughing fellow-rover, and quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over." I love these words by John Masefield, a man who trained for the sea life in order to break his "addiction to reading." His time aboard a ship only fueled his reading time and from this he decided to become a writer, a story-teller. I smile as a I write this because as bloggers we have all become storytellers, who knew?

My earliest memories are of water. My mother and father spent summers at Jones Beach and Cape Hatteras in the 1940-50s and when their eldest daughter was born, it was only natural that she be carried to the sea along with the picnic hamper. I remember sitting in the sand and digging holes to China, building sandcastles and decorating them with the seaweed that the tides would bring in. I would carry home sand in my shoes and pockets full of shells and sea glass. The sea shells I still have today, along with rocks and minerals and crystals and fossils and other bounty from nature, but that is for another blog. I have a photo of me all of 9 months old, sitting in the sand wearing a sun bonnet at Jones Beach...funny little black and white photo that I cannot put my hands on. Once I find it, I will upload and add to this posting.

It was 1957 and the "burbs" were calling so my folks left the city and moved to Lincoln Park, New Jersey. Dad got tired of the long, hot bumper to bumper drive to Jones Beach and decided to install an in-ground pool in our backyard. Big stuff in 1960, it was a tiny little thing (10 feet by 20 feet) but we loved it and lived in it all summer long. This family shot of the women around the pool, from left to right - "me" (eight years old and in fins--natch), my sister Barbara age 6 and my baby sister Renee, age 2 and our beautiful mother.

As a child, I discovered that a towel, tightly wrapped around my legs would not make me a mermaid, so I would have to seek other alternatives to becoming waterbound. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the only two people who met that criteria were Aquaman and Mike Nelson (Lloyd Bridges) of Sea Hunt. I devoured Aquaman comics and sat glued to the black and white Magnovox watching Mike Nelson save the day. At the conclusion of each episode, Mr. Bridges always made a public service announcement to the viewers to treat the sea kindly. A steward of the water world, he was handsome and had a tank on his back with a mouthpiece that fed you air...you became a waterbreather. Even then I knew that I must have this amazing apparatus that will let you breathe underwater.

Fast forward many years and I am a 54 year old woman with a dive certification, scuba gear, and a man who is a Padi instructor. I found my Aquaman and we both travel the Keys and the Caribbean in search of water worlds.

It's me...a siren of the sea!

Big, beautiful Southern Stingray sleeping in the white sands of a Bahamian Reef. (Canon Elph digital/Ikelite housing)

Say hello to my little friend! this 7 foot Caribbean Reef Shark followed me for about 8 minutes, coming about a foot from me. Thank goodness he looks fat and happy because I had no interest in being an underwater happy meal. (Canon Elph/Ikelite housing)

The beauty of a Grand Bahama Island reef. These are the natural colors of these corals set against brilliant turquoise blue waters. (my dad's old point and shoot underwater film camera.

Port Lucaya beach at sunset. a perfect end to a day in the water.

And so I go down to the sea whenever I can for it sustains me.