Just a quick post with little to no background information, words, etc. A nice break for you all!
Here's the latest shot of our Flotsam Army defending the beginnings of a pretty decent castle set-up.
We're on the lookout for new recruits every day.
A few have been battling longer than any one plastic man should.
Nicole's brother has started his own regimen down south. Perhaps we'll join forces one day.
Our random floaters collection looking twice as big thanks to the mirror in the back.
Still, it has grown by leaps and bounds.
Here's the rest of the sand toys and ball collection.
They say that the ping pong balls typically come from cruise ships.
We must highlight something unique from the above group.
Do any of you know what this is? Well, we can tell you one thing. It is NOT the disgusting
eyeball covered in sea slime that Nicole originally thought it was.
It is WAY cooler! It is a miniature Magic 8 Ball. You can just barely make out the tell-tale
fortune-telling triangle. Magic-8: Was this the neatest find ever? "It is decidedly so."
What else is neat and yet somewhat sad about this find?
It is neat because.... Well, those are turtle bite marks. It is sad because... if we don't fool
ourselves into thinking he was just trying to shake the Magic 8 and ask it a question, we face the reality that he was most likely trying to eat it and could have been killed as a result.
Something else in our flotsam collection that has taken on a life of its own is our barrette collection.
The colorful collage has grown to over an inch in depth. One day we will lay them all out for you but for now suffice it to say that we have a lot of flowers, ribbons, bears and hearts. But we also have some cherries, a Mickey Mouse (represent!), snails, a crab, a chicken (or two), lots of love for jesus and a ridiculous amount of hands and feet (???).
The neatest thing about flotsam is also the neatest thing about all drift items... aging or decomposition as a result of being continuously exposed to the elements.
This happy and plump little fellow has lost not only his shine but most of his facial features.
Can you guess what this barrette was? If we hadn't found others before we would have thought just a piece of unknown plastic debris.
It used to look like this.
There are some neat finds coming out of the ocean but this last one certainly takes the cake in the unique category.
One day, Nicole was walking along picking up actual 'trash' (for the garbage) when she stumbled upon this box.
At first glance it appeared she had found just another piece of trash to add to what she had collected that day.
But this was obviously a box. One that had been at sea a very long time and could not easily be opened. There was also something else.... when she shook it, she could hear something inside that had survived the journey.
More investigation was definitely required! This one wound up in the 'take home' bag.
Not knowing exactly what it was, Nicole took a delicate approach to opening it up. At one point she could just barely peer through a quarter inch gap to see something beige that looked to be sculpted. And there were TWO not just one!
The excitement grew although she tried to remain patient in her opening as to not damage anything of potential value.
When she finally got the box open, Nicole's building excitement exploded into uncontrollable laughter. Of all of the dreams she had about what could be inside...
Never in her wildest did these ever come to mind!
Do you know what they are?
Hearing aids!
For those of you interested, Nicole did try to track down the original owner. However, the original company has been sold twice and the current company says that the records are long gone. Ah well, it would have been cool to find out from whence they floated and how long they have been at sea but for now we'll just have to settle for satisfaction in the uniqueness of the find.
Until the next incoming tide...