On Saturday, December 28th, the temperatures were up around 42 degrees fahrenheit - a great time to head to the shore to do some exploring! We drove out to Long Beach in Plymouth, Massachusetts and walked along it’s lengthy shore. It turned out to be a great day for finding all sorts of shells. There were so many Northern Moon Snails that I actually stopped picking them up! We found three whole sand dollars - two large and one very tiny one. So sweet.
There were ginormous surf clams, mussels, periwinkles, slipper shells, etc. I will post a photo so you can see for yourself : ) So don’t wait for summer to explore the shore - winter is a great time to find shells and enjoy the relative quiet of the beach. It was a great day and I look forward to going back to explore Long Beach again!

One of the great things about traveling around promoting my “Seashells” book this past summer is that we met many wonderful people. Francis and Sandy Morley are no exception. In fact, they were also very excited to share with us that Francis had just published a book! When I mentioned that I was up there to sign books at the nearby Candleshack, on Cape Elizabeth - they exclaimed that they had plans to be there the next afternoon! Funny how chance meetings bring such nice surprises. We did see them the next day at the Candleshack and they bought several books. When Sandy read my book she was surprised because I had included a fish bone vertebrae in the book! She said she had found one after we parted and wondered what it was - now she knew!
It was a series of serendipities that I will always remember. It was super to meet these two sweet, kind, remarkable people and their girls.
Francis Morley’s book is a “lighthearted look at a childhood faced with disabilities” and is available at:
http://www.amazon.com/Can-Start-Broken-Francis-Morley-ebook
(His book also has a sand dollar on it’s cover!)

This past summer we visited many beaches. In July we found a lovely beach called Pine Point in Scarborough, Maine. As my husband and I strolled along the beach I noticed a man down the beach absorbed in his search for something in the water at the edge of the surf. It looked as though he was picking something up. As I watched him I could tell that he was getting very excited about something he was finding.  He then started to wave and call to a woman on the beach. Being a Curious George, I too wanted to share in his discovery.
So I made my way down to where the couple where excitedly talking and he holding something carefully in his hands. I could not help but ask: “What did you find?” He (who turned out to be Francis Morley), showed me five large, dark grey, sand dollars in his hand! This was an exciting find!
We introduced ourselves and talked about the sand dollars. They were dark in color so I wondered aloud if they were still alive? The woman (Sandy Morley) - said she did not think so, and she flipped them over to look underneath for signs of life. We did not see the fuzzy covering that is a good indicator that they are live sand dollars.
This fuzzy covering is most obvious on the bottom of the sand dollars where they have little “feet” or spines underneath their shell. We did not see the fuzzy covering or the little spines so we were all happy that these were “keepers” - had they been alive - I believe they would have put them back. Just as I would not want to kill any creature for the sake of it’s shell.
I found a couple of videos on YOU TUBE that shows a live sand dollar. So next time your on the beach - you can tell the difference!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba0I1OX1xvI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uwOURjneWQ