"Go on, high ship, since now, upon the shore, The snake has left its skin upon the floor." ~ Wallace Stevens

In an effort to sooth my need for some serious shelling, we made a trip to Sanibel Island, famed for its wonderful abundance of shells.  Unfortunately, the low-tides, best for shelling, did not cooperated with our time there.  We spent a lovely day at the beach anyway.

The beach was littered with what looked like so many shed snake skins!  In fact, these were all egg cases for shells - quite amazing.  

This is the egg case of the Lightning Whelk.  "Each pocket of the Lightning Whelk egg case contains between 20 and 100 tiny whelks.  If the egg case is fertile, the beachcomber can cut open a pocket and examine the baby whelks.   These tiny whelks begin to eat each other as they emerge from the case.  Most of the eggs in each capsule serve as food for the usually single individual that will emerge." ~ Florida's Fabulous Sea Shells

The Lightning Whelk

This is the egg case of the Banded Tulip.

The Banded Tulip 

The Devil's Purse - or as my sisters and I referred to them when we were little - Mermaid's Purses.  These are in fact the egg case of the Cleanose Skate.  "It is made of a material which is similar to that of fingernails.  Unopened, it looks like it might be a seedpod with hooks or horns on the ends.  When it is cut open, one small, embryonic skate is revealed.  In the sea, these cases will hold the embryos safely for several months and then split open to release fully formed baby skates."  Florida's Fabulous Sea Shells

The Clearnose Skate

 Lots of other very interesting seaweeds and shells.

This one reminds me of the 13 Colonies snake from the Revolutionary War below:

All so very interesting!

"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship." ~ The Theme from Gilligan's Island

One of the things that I have really enjoyed this winter while in Florida is the knitting group that I have gathered with once, and sometimes twice a week.  I have said it before, and I'll say it again - Knitters are really nice people!  We arrived in Stuart on a Friday, and on Saturday I went to the local yarn shop (which has sadly since closed) and asked if they had a weekly knitting group. Wednesdays, I was told. That first Wednesday I was welcomed with open arms (thank you Elli, for patting the chair right next to you) and have made some wonderful friends.  Even with the closing of the yarn store, we quickly found another spot to meet (thank you Panera Bread in Palm City!).  

Several weeks ago, we made a field trip to another yarn store about half an hour away, Knit or Knot, followed by a fun lunch outing at Guanabanas.  While there, we saw a party boat go by and we all quickly agreed that it would be great fun if our group knit on a party boat!  Thanks to Nancy, our "cruise director", we took off on our three-hour knitting cruise the other day - complete with my husband, Captain Bruce, as our driver! Our boat was from Duffy Electric Boat Rentals, here in Stuart.  They were great to work with from beginning to end.

I know that my last several posts have been "photo heavy", but - if I like them - I want to post them!  You will see that we ate; we drank; and yes - we did knit!

Hit the arrow for a little theme music to go along with the pictures!

The whole happy crew!

Tony, our Duffy Electric Boats guy and "launcher".

Let the knitting (??) begin!

The passing rain did not dampen out spirits!!!

We even celebrated a milestone birthday!  Happy Birthday Konnie! (whose husband made the cake for our celebration)

Many thanks to Nancy for pulling it all together!  She didn't make it in to almost any of the pictures since she was sitting right next to me - sorry about that!

And many thanks to my husband, Bruce - I'll be your first mate any day!

I am blessed with friends flung far afield who know how to have a good time - and a husband who does as well!

Ok - to all of my knitting group friends back in Central New York - Game On! 

(I still kind of like the idea of a float in the Dairy Parade. . . )