Bringing vacation home with me

Back in the spring, I went to visit my niece in Florida. It was cold and dreary at home, even though it was May, and I spent 2 1/2 glorious days basking in the sun, walking on the beach, burying my toes in powdery white sand, eating crab cakes, and drinking margaritas while watching the sun tinge the sky every shade of red, orange, yellow and purple as it slowly set over the Gulf of Mexico. Coming home was rather depressing as I love Florida and everything about it. Well, almost everything...I don't love the giant bugs that inhabitat that state. But I love pretty much everything else...sand, blue skies, margaritas on the beach...especially when it's cold at home...there is something just so satisfying about being on the beach in Florida when it is cold at home.

On one of the days that I was visiting my niece, we went to my favorite beach in Sarasota. We took a long, hot trek down the beach, and on the way back to the car, we gathered shells. I don't know if the tide was just right or what, but we collected piles and piles of shells. It took us at least 2 hours to walk 1/2 mile down the beach because we kept stopping to poke and dig and scrape through the sand looking for the perfect shells. We collected so many we could barely carry them all.

When I arrived back home with my bags of sandy shells, I was sort of depressed when I unpacked my suitcase. I love the beach, and I always hate leaving. Besides, the shells smelled a bit funky, so I took them to the kitchen to wash and laid them out on towels to dry on my counter, not sure what I was going to do with so many shells. I decided to put them in bowls on my desk and other places around my house and office so that I could keep that Florida vacation feeling close for a while. I even sorted them into similar types. I don't know what these are, but I am always drawn to them when I am at the beach, and this bowl still sits on my piano all these months later:




This bowl contains a hodge podge of some of my favorites from the trip. It also sits on my piano, although when I first came home, it was on my desk next to the computer:




Over the past months, I have thought of putting the shells away, especially as I decorated for fall, but I couldn't do it. Seeing those little bowls of shells makes me happy when I remember those few days hanging out with my niece who I don't get to see nearly as often as I would like to.

I am so fortunate to have been able to take two vacations by myself this year, and I once again brought vacation home with me. This time though, I did it on purpose, knowing that I wanted to bring something home that would bring back fond memories of the trip. These branches, pine cones, and stones were gathered from my friend's backyard in Maine. I know the greenery won't last as the shells have; they will soon turn brown. But for now, I will enjoy their piney scent while remembering fun times spent with her family. And her dog, who I was playing with when I collected the branches, rocks and pine cones! And you can't tell from the picture, but the rocks have little sparkles in them, which is what caught my eye.




I think I have begun a new tradition of bringing treasures home with me from my travels;I can't think of a better way to keep the vacation spirit alive. Although I will have to watch my kids, at least my son who must be a closet pyromaniac. He wanted to see if the pine branches smelled better if he put one over the candle flame, and he caught it on fire. The kitchen sink wasn't far away, so all is well.