Friday Foto Finish Fiesta: I'd Like to Thank the Academy...

Wow...I can't believe it! I've made the finals in Project Mommyhood's Mommy Blogger of the Year Contest!

I guess the tales of Uncle Lynn, Aunt Julie and The POPrs Family have some entertainment value, huh? Voting gets underway on August 15th. In the meantime, I'd like to recap my week at the beach. The highlights, of course, centered around the wildlife.

We saw ghost crabs burrowing in the sand during our evening walks on the beach.

We saw majestic pelicans soaring over the ocean. Incoming!

On the other end of the spectrum, we saw birds of a much different feather...

And, of course, we saw lots of wildlife of the human variety!

These shots were brought to you by Candid Carrie and her Friday Foto Finish Fiesta. But of course, you already knew that, right?

Mystery Bird

While walking on the beach yesterday, I saw a queer little bird I'd never seen before. He was black, with a white tummy, and short little red legs. The legs looked like they were not in the right place, like he was about to tip over. He had a long beak, and the bottom part was longer than the top. It had a bright red band on it, at the base.

Later in the day, I took my camera and set out to see if he was still nearby. Sure enough, he was waiting for me in about the same spot. So I took a few shots. People walking by asked what kind of bird he was. Seemed like other beach-goers were seeing him for the first time, too.

Back at the house, I did a little research. Turns out he is a black skimmer. And he looks like this:

The video above shows the black skimmer family. It'll be fun to look for these critters on future beach walks.

Speaking of beach walks, the shelling here is not great, but we seem to find one little treasure every day. Today, it was green beach glass. Yesterday, the skimmer! Back to reality in a few days...Gotta run! So much to do, so little time...

It's not Saturday, but my six words are...

JAMIE LEE CURTIS IS MY HERO!

Have you ever walked by the mirror after a shower and wondered when you became your mother...

It's disturbing.

Yes, the hair has been greying. I do have bifocal contacts and reading glasses. The TV is turned up so loud, the kids ask US to turn it down. I go upstairs with a purpose but cannot remember what the reason is when I get there. I go to bed at 9:30. A knee has been replaced. I was oblivious.

But THIS is the final straw.

Don't get me wrong, I loved my Mother. Wish I could be more like her. Then, my wish came true.

I have a soft, old lady body. This is news to me. If Uncle Lynn knows what's good for him, he'll say it's news to him, too.

The first sign (I wasn't paying any attention to the signs) was that I stopped tucking my shirts into my jeans. This summer, I've opted for capris over shorts 10:1. My bras are tight. I have back fat! Really! Oh my God! My feet are even a size bigger.

I came across this photo of Jamie Lee Curtis in my desk today. I remembered seeing her on Oprah, talking about how she didn't recognize herself after a recent photo shoot. It seems the photo had been airbrushed, to restore her bod to its former glory. So she got pissed. And had another photo shoot and insisted that the pics be printed as they really were. Like the one we see here. So that all of the women her age (my age) could see that what's happening to them, happens to everyone. Even Jamie Lee (perfect) Curtis.

I'm not quite at the point of acceptance that Jamie Lee is. Hardly! I told my husband that this time away is going to be used as a time of self-reflection. A time to eat healthy. A time to give up the traditional Bucket of Rocks (Rolling Rock, the "pale ale" from Latrobe, PA) on the beach. A time to ponder the second half of my life. Then I realized...

I'm beginning the second half of my life only if I live to be 104! Crap! I've been in the second half of my life for a long time. Oblivious again. AND...

I'm going to the damn beach! Crap.

Weekly Winners: Shell We Dance?

Nikon COOLPIX 4600

Welcome to Weekly Winners, brought to you by Lotus over at Sarcastic Mom. I'd like to share the beach with you today.

No, I don't live by the ocean, but I collect pieces of it and bring them back to my land-locked home. Here's a collection of whelks in various stages of "maturity," which grace one shelf of an old, beat-up, spray-painted, Salvation Army bookshelf that The Wild One fixed up for me on our back porch.

If I had a panoramic lens, I could shoot the whole shelf up close in one sitting. It's pretty neat. Or at least I think so!

Here's the inside of a turtle shell My Peeps found when they were wee ones. I don't know much about turtles, but doesn't that look like a backbone going up the middle?

I'm a fan of coral, but only if I don't step on it at the beach. I've got three different kinds here, and couldn't for the life of me tell you their names. I only know that the one on the far left is pretty sharp, the middle one no so much, and the one on the right is smooth as a skipping stone.

Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean."

~Actor Christopher Reeve~