Sea Urchin Teacups & Teapot

 I saw this teapot and the teacups in an Etsy shop and knew I had to have them because what they represent is special to me. I intend to gift them to someone I love in the near future. For now though, I'll enjoy them , maybe have a sea themed tea party this summer .

 Look at the exquisite seahorse handles of the teacups. The bowls of the teacups look like the shells of sea urchins , probably because the people who make these cups and the teapot cast the porcelain "directly into a collection of shells harvested in the mid-twentieth century off the Oregon Coast " . ~Beyond Jordan Coastal Collection

 The lid of the teapot is also cast from a sea urchin and the handle of the teapot looks to me like a starfish appendage. ( Sea urchins are abundant in Puget Sound and along the Pacific Ocean coastline. They are easy to find during low tides .)

 My husband & I met each other in high school and got to know each other better during our semester in the marine biology class there . My husband originally intended to become a biology teacher, and teaching marine biology was his goal. Together we spent much time walking and exploring the beaches around  Puget Sound which was practically in our backyard. My husband knows the scientific names of most of the sea life in our area and can rattle them off easily.

 We were both still going to college and working to support ourselves and pay school bills when we had our 3 children . We managed to do this with one car and juggled class and work schedules so we could care for our own children. ( look at the detail of the seahorse teacup handle ! ) Our children spent a lot of time on the beaches with us and my husband would talk to them about the sea life. I don't think my sons remember much of this but our daughter soaked up the scientific names my husband taught her as if they were her native language.

During the time our children were very young my husband was also student teaching in a local high school that had its' own marine biology lab. Sometimes he would bring our daughter to class with him ( when it was appropriate ) and have our daughter who was barely 4 years old recite the scientific names of some of the sea life the students were learning about. The sea urchin was one of them. Can you say strongylocentrotus drobachiensis ? She could. It means , 'green sea urchin'. She knows the name for the purple sea urchin too. I could go on & on about how memories of the sea mingle with memories of my courtship, falling in love with the man I married 41 years ago next month ,times there with our children now grown , but I think you get the picture. The sea , Puget Sound, and so many other beaches where the Pacific Ocean roars on into our coastline will always hold a deep abiding place in my heart and memory.

I am linking with these ladies for Tea Time Tuesday ~ Sandi*  , Martha * , Bernideen * , & Ruth *.

Tidal Pools Abound With Life At Cannon Beach

 The tide is out at Cannon Beach in Oregon and the tidal pools are filled with amazing sea life for easy viewing and close- up observation if you don't mind getting your feet and legs wet. Actually, most of the coastline of Oregon & Washington ( and their inlets and sounds) are chock full of sea life. And I am not even talking about the sea mammals and birdlife in great abundance.

 A team of people in red shirts ( they are also on hand to answer questions about the sea life ) come to the shore at every low tide and put up signs warning people not to climb Haystack Rock or tread too far out on the rocks. This is not only for the safety of the public , but also the wildlife, for obvious reasons.

 The rocks teem with barnacles, mussels, seaweeds, anemones, starfish...

 ....look closely. You can see 2 starfish here, but the rocks are loaded with anemones too. They are the things that look like olives with pink or green centers.

 I counted almost 50 starfish then stopped counting. There are starfish everywhere in, on top of, under, and around every rock. Most of the time I saw them wrapped around each other.

 My husband spotted this sun starfish, not as common as the others in these tidal pools.

 Sea anemones showing their brilliant color as they open in the water. Don't they look like flowers ?

I have been a distracted blogger lately. The gardens and livestock need a lot of attention and I have also been playing with our grandchildren. I love our life here on Cedar Pond but very often I think of Cannon Beach and the special times my husband & I have had there. The ocean is what draws us. The wonders the ocean and shore reveal are beyond words. When I seek calming thoughts my mind turns to the sea and although the sea is often stormy, turbulent, dangerous and unpredictable, the thought of the sea quiets my mind and causes me to think about God, His ways, His wonders. "Then God said , let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place , and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters he called seas; and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:8,9