Dear Reader:

While Mandy and I were wandering the aisles of Marshall’s Home Goods, Hobby Lobby, and TJ Maxx Thursday I got caught up in reading little messages on throw pillows, decorative planks, trays, etc. I am always drawn to these printed sayings….and many times it does appear to be a God Wink telling me something pertinent about something going on at that moment in my life.

I came across this small wooden tray and smiled. How many times, as a child at the beach, did I hold a conch shell or some other large shell up to my ear only to hear the sound of the ocean in it? My imagination would take over…with visions of pirates, walking the plank, stowaways, exotic islands and tropical adventures.

I should have known then that I would end up living near the beach outside Charleston (and be fortunate to have friends who have houses or relatives’ homes on the beach that allow me and friends access each year to my childhood dreams of living close to that “shell sound.”)

I have been surprised lately when I check my WordPress updates on things like which blog or blogs has pulled in more viewers/readers and which blog has the highest amount of interest in a week’s time…I keep noticing that a blog titled (The Legend of the Pawleys’ Island Shell) I wrote back in January when the Ya’s all went to Pawley’s Island for the week, keeps “reigning” as the top contender each week.

You might remember I looked for something new to write about  Pawleys Island as the backdrop for my blog post before leaving for the beach and the “Legend of the Pawleys Island Shell” popped up.

It all had to do with the production of some special gold and silver shells that John Whitmire of Whitmire’s Fine Jewelry Shop at Pawleys Hammocks Shops creates.

It was our first stop when we arrived at Pawleys Hammocks Shops. We ended up spending half an hour or more watching parts of the process behind making this fine jewelry in the back room. Fascinating! (And the story behind John Whitmire’s personal story of how the shell became the Pawleys Island Shell … even more interesting.)

I was, graciously, given a beach shell that they use for the model for making the jewelry along with a copy of the legend.  I keep it on my dining table as a memoir of that happy week at the beach, along with the Ya’s and the wonderful experience I had at the jewelry store.

I am so glad it seems to keep recapturing more readers’ attention as time goes on….I am hoping that I have contributed, in some small way, to perhaps bringing more people into the shop if they are vacationing in the Grand Stand area. Perhaps, inadvertently, in some small way, I helped this sea shell tell its story.

Speaking of “shells”… in my ‘secret garden’ (as I call my tiny patch of garden outside my computer window) I have a clerodendrum, a Ginger “Shell” plant plus moon flower vines growing bigger and bigger. Soon my moon flowers will be blooming as darkness descends. What a way to end the day and the blog post!

I did get my home, after all, by the Ginger ‘shells’… just not by the sea…and no matter… how I love my secret garden!

*I am really hoping my Ginger Shell blooms for the first time this fall…my neighbor Vickie, who gave me the plant, says the scent is divine…a wonderful smell from ‘the shell.’

So until tomorrow…God has a way of making our dreams come true…just in a much more creative way than anything we could think up…

“Today is my favorite day’  Winnie the Pooh

Joanna King, you wonderful art teacher and now flower decorator for Tommy and Kaitlyn’s wedding… Look what I found while cleaning out desk drawers Friday! You and Tommy…he is holding his end of the year award: Joseph R Pye: Creative Art Award. You were and are such an amazing teacher… with multiple talents!