Modern Version Of Childhood Shellboard

I cannot take credit for this idea as I saw it in a magazine several years back and was enchanted by this creative way to show my found shells in a new way. I saw an article about India Hicks, daughter of famed designer David Hicks, who lives in the Bahamas. Her beautiful collection of found shells from around the world encouraged me to do the same with my found shells from MY island. I hope that India likes the idea of encouraging others.........without her example, I would not have this ingenious way to display my found shells. Thank you, India. XOXOXOXO

Let There Be Light

As a child, my island was reached by a ferry. There were few of us summer newcomers. To keep us busy during the summer months, my older sister and brother and I began to make shell boards from cabinet doors that someone had not wanted. My father rigged them up for hanging and we began to.....glue. Oh, gluing was fun for all and we experimented with several through the years! I have the same glue hangups today.....to glue or not to glue. This lamp was one of the first larger projects I endeavored to finish with found shells from the beach in front of our little beach house. I love the glow.

Beginning

Dear Reader,

I live on the edge of the earth beside the sea. My father built the little house I live in. Well, it's not really a house, more like a cottage, and I am blessed to have it. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. —Psalm16: 6

My niece has the name of my mother. My father named our little beach house Katydid, using her name to create a play on words. Naming houses was very popular back then, even one so small! But I remember the naming of the house and that even at one time there was a sign that proudly gave name to my mother's perseverance and prodding to have a home on the beach. She must have displayed lots of encouragement to keep my father motivated.

There was no bridge to our island in the very early 1950's. All of the materials had to be hauled by ferry to the island...along with a pregnant wife and two other small children (the torturers of my childhood!).

So, I dedicate these first lines to my mother and to her granddaughter, Katy, who has been the guiding force behind this squirrelly idea. I am over 50, not very computer savvy, but this is an idea that, for some reason, I needed to see come to fruition.

I hope you like to look and to listen.

All love,

Sea Island Girl

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.

—Goethe