I love the beach! Bet ya didn’t know that about me, did ya? I love the sounds at the beach. I love the foods at the beach. I love the feels of the beach…the sand, the water, the sun, the air! And, I love the smells of the beach. I love the way you can be at a beach house for a day or two and just that quickly, everything you own smells differently. It smells like “A Day At The Beach.” It is glorious!

What exactly does a ‘day at the beach’ smell like?

Well, the fine fragrance company, Botanicus, has figured that out for us. And here is what they say goes into making a day at the beach smell like…well…”A Day At The Beach”. It is filled with Pikake, plumeria aroma with orange blossom, ocean and soft vanilla with amber notes.

This oh-so-delightful fragrance is available in several different products. First the candles….Botanicus candles are noted for their exceptional fragrance and long-lasting quality. Each exquisite fragrance takes more than a year to be developed. All our fragrances, such as Green Tea, A Day at the Beach‚Ñ¢ and Blue Bamboo‚Ñ¢, are as complex and alluring as the finest perfumes. We place similar attention on making sure each candle burns optimally. This is achieved in a variety of ways: All candles are hand poured, ensuring you get a carefully centered wick and wax close to the rim. Specific wicks are used in each container (jar, tin, votive) that best suit a particular fragrance. Our proprietary food-grade paraffin wax is extremely hard, resulting in a slow burning candle. The wax also holds a considerable amount of fragrance. When burned, the candle scent is incredible lifelike, exhibiting all the complexity that makes it so extraordinary.

But, my favorite is the reed diffuser. It puts such a light aroma in the room, but you only catch a whiff of it once on a while. Wonderful!

And, then there is the room spray. Divine! This is what I do. I spray it in the shower and then turn on the warm water. The whole bathroom smells like the beach…including ME! Or you can use it as a linen spray or just a light dusting all over the room.

Then, I just put on my bikini and sit by the pool with a nice, tall drink with an orchid and an umbrella, and the latest magazine. I turn on the music…all the old beach music of the 60’s and 70’s……and I let my imagination run wild…and I’m there! Now isn’t that a nice story? And, it’s all true, too….except for one teeeeeny weeeeeeny thing. Or maybe it’s an itsy bitsy thing! I bet you can guess, for certain, which part is NOT true!

Anyway…try these products…they really are wonderful. You won’t be disappointed

Look at these beautiful beaches! These are the waters, and sand, and seashore that is less that 100 miles from my home. The sand is pure white…and soft…and like sugar. The water is blue, and green, and cobalt. There is some seaweed…some times more than others. There are little fish that will nibble on your toes. All along the beach, there are stands of sea oats. Don’t pick them! It’s against the law. If you sit on the beach and look back toward the houses…you will see all manner of steps leading up to the highway. Some are new and sturdy. Some are barely holding together…no one cares to fix them…they just go to the next one down.

This is my beach. This is where I would go for Spring Break (when Mom and Pop would let me). This is where I used to love to walk out on the big pier in Panama City. This is where youth from our church would spend a week or two every summer. This is my beach! I love it! This is where I came the day after my 16th birthday. I had a brand new Chevrolet Camaro, and 3 friends in the car. I still remember having to call my Pop and tell him that a car full of boys had rammed my car in the rear! “Are y’all OK?,” he asked. We were. “Can you still drive the car?,” he asked next. We could. “Well, go on and enjoy your day and we’ll see about the car when you get home. Call me if you need me.” We did…go on and have a good day. Oh, I remember the feeling….16…new car…new bikini…cute boyfriend. Life was good…at my beach! (I was much older than 16 in the pic below…in case you wondered)

This is where Don and I would bring our boys when they were young. Oh, how they loved to go to the beach. They would swim all day. And, at night, we would all go to Miracle Strip Amusement Park…a sort of mini fair, where they could ride and eat and have the time of their lives. Later a wonderful water park was built, Shipwreck Island…and then our time had to be divided between there and the beach! Sweet, sweet memories!

And, I HATE what is going to happen to my beach. I think this is a tragedy beyond measure. And, there are beaches in Alabama, in Louisiana, in Mississippi that are in just as sad a shape. The water, the fish, the birds, the sand…the people. How sad for those that make their living from the ocean, whether fishing or tourism. And, since Obama has closed down drilling, more than 20,000 jobs are gone. It is sad, my friends. It is a tragedy.

” Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host,
the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein,
and thou preservest them all;
and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.” Nehemiah 9:6

Please pray for our beaches and the people who make their living from them and the countless others who enjoy them.

Thirty -five years ago, I became a Mother. My first son was born…Adam Ryan Owens. I was only 10 at the time…just kidding!! 🙂 Actually, I was 22. He was a delightful baby, the first grand baby on both sides, and adored by all. My dreams for him were the same dreams every mother has for her newborn child. I wanted him to be happy, and healthy, breeze through school, get married to a beautiful wife, and raise a family…who would be happy and healthy, ….and , you know it…it’s the same dream we all have for our children, isn’t it?

The thing is, life is not always going to work out according to our dreams. There are bumps, detours, even roadblocks on the road of life. Sometimes you even have to turn around and take a different road. Adam has had quite a few of these rough places to go through. But, he’s made it through, and has the beautiful wife, and a photography business that is growing, and he has the ‘happy’. If you have never read his story, look on my side bar, under the picture of the Brothers. God has had His hand on Adam from the very beginning 35 years ago, and continues to lead him now. I am so very proud of him! Following are a few pictures through the years…

At 6 months…Joy’s wedding…

with Pop…

With Donald…

With Great Granmothers Townsend and Merritt

With Tonja…

Loves his gun….he killed all the refrigerators we ever had!

On his minibike…

At the beach…

With beautiful Suzanne…

Happy Birthday, Dear Adam, I love you!

This is what is happening at my house…and it has been for the last 4 days. There are men in trees, men on the ground, men driving machines. And, the noise! Lots of it!

When we built, we decided to leave as many trees as we could…and it really was pretty! BUT it was way too snaky in the back yard…sort of like a jungle! And, we discovered that quite a few of the trees were diseased. So, Don decided it’s time to cut down, weed out, and carry away!

It is sort of scary to sit here and watch those men hanging in the trees. They are tied in with ropes and the chainsaws are tied in, too. When they finish cutting a limb, they just drop the chainsaw and let it dangle. Then they pull it up again when they need it! My little friend, Lucy Jane, and I sat and watched them yesterday from my big window in the studio. Neither one of us felt very comfortable with what we were seeing. We soon decided closing the blinds made us both happier!

I did manage to stake a claim to the trees right outside the same window. They are so pretty and green. And, even though some of the trees in those two clumps are just scrubs, together they make a wonderful mixture of greens in every shade! I pleaded and begged for them not to cut down my little stand of trees. The limbs at the top of this stand are so flimsy that they curve and bend making a delightful walkway between the two. Not that any human could ever use it, of course. But, the squirrels think it is perfect. And they use it all through the day. What kind of host would I be if I let the tree cutting men take away their walkway?

They have a little riding thing called a Bobcat. It’s quite powerful, I’ve learned. But, they drive it like they are on a race track! Using the huge claw on the front of the Bobcat, they go and pick up the trees they felled and carry them to the big dump truck on the street. And then the Bobcat chews up all the foliage that is left on the ground and spits it back out as a nice mulch for the ground.

So, no naps around here, just the whine of the chainsaw! Hopefully, we’ve only got another day or two to go!

This won’t be a problem for me…but if too many trees are cut down elsewhere…this could be the result! 🙂