Thursday, February 9, 2012

Seashells for the Jones Kids

You may have noticed that it has been a while since I posted. We were/are having major computer issues, with the last two weeks ending with a crashed computer. As of today, we have a new one and I am trying to get the hang of the Windows 7 operating system.
I took these photos some time ago to share with my grandchildren, and am now going to try and post about them. Over the years I have collected quite a few seashells. Some from actually finding them on a beach, some passed on from my mother, and some from our friend Doris. She has been to some rather exotic places, like the Canary Islands or the coast of Africa, and picked up some beautiful shells.

 This doesn't really give the exact feel of the size of the shells, but it was the best my camera could do. You have to click on the photo to enlarge it to see the wonderful and intricate patterns. I am quite fascinated with shells, and the detail and artistry God put into fashioning these houses for crabs and snails.


Some are smooth, some ridged, some spiny, some pointy sharp, some smooth & rounded like glass, and each amazing. The colors are wonderful too, both solid colors and combinations like tiger stripes, or a surface that rivals any pottery man can produce.

I don't pretend to know the names of each, but just marvel at creation. Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote a small volume 'Gifts From the Sea', where each chapter is a lesson taken from a seashell. I have enjoyed the first chapter especially, about the intricacy and simpleness of a seashell.
Maybe 12-year-old Samuel can tell us the names of some of these beautiful shells.

1 comment:

Julie said...

We looked up shells in our science book. There were some general groups, several of which we can spot examples of in your pictures: whelks, limpets, cowries and slipper shells. They're SO beautiful!! Thank you!