Just What I Need; a New Hobbie

      Keith and I had a nice Christmas week.  We drove from Sanibel to Stuart (a little over 3 hours) on Christmas Eve and spent the holiday with his parents, older brother, and his brother's wife.  It was great to see everyone again as it had been a year since the last time we were together.  We exchanged some gifts and of course, ate too much; but it was still fun.  The drive was quite interesting.  It took us around the north side of Lake Okeechobee.  Let me tell you, that is some of God's country.  It is wide open farm lands with citrus and sugar cane fields for miles.

Sugar Cane as seen out the Jeep window

They were burning off some of the sugar cane

Sugar cane is grown commercially in southern Florida around the Lake Okeechobee area.  It is used to produce crystal or "white" sugar.  The organic material in the soil around Lake Okeechobee and the lake's warming effect make this area good for growing sugar cane.  About 70-75% of Florida's sugar cane is grown here.  Sugar cane ranks third in Florida's agricultural economy with nursery/greenhouse and citrus being the top two ag industries.  The cane is typically harvested from October through mid April.  Cane fields are burned just prior to harvesting.  This requires a permit and must be done during daylight hours.  Burning removes and reduces the biomass or trash such as leaves etc. on the plant and makes harvesting easier, cheaper, and more efficient if the cane is burned first.  Once the cane stalks are harvested and processed at the refinery, white crystal sugar is the most important product.  An average sugar cane stalk can yield about 0.3 pound of sugar.

This view is more of the scenic road leading across the middle of the state as we drove to Stuart.

     Even though my in-laws tried to stage an intervention of my shelling addiction over Christmas, you know this did not work.  By 8 AM on Dec. 26th in 40 something degrees; I was back out on the beach here in Sanibel.

Beach access here I come

Ahhhhhhh morning on the beach with a lightening whelk

One of my fine, feathered friends searching for breakfast

I will give you a shell update on an upcoming post.  I really want to introduce y'all to one of my new favorite places and hobby.  I took an "alcohol inks" painting class at the local craft/quilting shop called Three Crafty Ladies the week after we arrived in Sanibel.  Well that just opened up a Pandora's box of fun, new projects for me.

The craft/quilt shop (my new favorite place aside from the beach)

Here I am at class with all our supplies

We made two painted shells and two painted tiles.  These were my shells and tiles.

Two painted shells

One of my tiles.  This one is abstract to say the least

This is my sea horse tile.  The background is painted with the alcohol ink and the sea horse and coral is stamped.

The painting was fun, but not something that seemed realistic to be doing on the boat.  However during the course of the class, I was talking with the instructor and found out about a product that they carry that can be used for decoupage.  My over-active mind started spinning, and I thought about trying it to make shell art.  So I purchased a small bottle, and started playing around with some clam shells.  Oh the fun I have had.

This is my boat work-space (aka the galley table).

Here are some of my first trial pieces.  I have found I can use fabric scraps as well as paper to decoupage on the shells.

I have had so much fun playing around with this.  There are several different things I would like to try with the adhesive glue product I bought.  This could prove to be as addictive as shelling.  I will keep everyone up to date on what I come up with over the next several weeks.