Jewel of the Tides

Discover nature's vanishing gems.
Natural seaglass.

This is what has been keeping me occupied recently. Over the past 6 weeks or so I've become an almost professional beach-comber. After seeing someone collect some seaglass at a recent visit to the beach, out of curiosity I wanted to find out how old the pieces are, particuarly the really round and worn ones and was blown away with the fact that some pieces could have been made in the mid-1850's! I've found that red, orange and yellow seaglass is rare world wide. Black is rare everywhere except Australia and is probably our oldest glass, it is really a very, very dark olive green when held up to bright sunlight. Blue is common in other places but very rare in Australia. I've found 4 blue pieces and 1 red piece. The red is likely to have come from a boat light. I've also found out there are almost 800 shipwrecks off the South Australian coast.
Seaglass is disappearing. As pieces get worn down to nothing, or people collect them, or they become buried forever under deep piles of sand the glass is not being replaced as people are more wary of litter and plastic has taken over as the preferred container to hold liquids as opposed to glass. So seaglass really is nature's vanishing gem.

The more I read, the more interested I became in the different types of seaglass and I started collecting it. I found some sites that make some gorgeous jewellery with it. So since then I've also embarked on teaching myself how to make jewellery!
Here are my first creations. I've sourced some itty bitty bottles and have filled them with teeny tiny seaglass and I've experimented with wire wrapping.
I've also incorporated my scrapbooking too! As I've done some off the page items for my seaglass storage and my jewellery findings.
Life is still as fantastic as ever!

It's all go, go, go!

Everything is happening! It's all positive.

Stephanie started pre-school and she loves her 'kindergarten' as she likes to call it. I think her first day was a bit un-nerving for her, not knowing what was going to happen because on her first day she had to go to day care and they do a 'kindy run'. It's a great system, they walk the kids up through the back gate, through the primary oval and in through the back gate of the pre-school. So she had to do that on her first day and she told me later she was a bit scared. But after that, well, it's a breeze now! She goes for 2.5 hours 4 days per week.

I'm all enrolled and registered for lectures and tuts at Uni. Got my ID card and also bought my books too! The elective (Psychology) subject had over $150 in books alone, good job the other topics I've chosen aren't all expensive books. That starts on March 3rd.

I'm also fully registered to begin Lifeline training on Feb 11th.

So it's all go, go, go and go some more. The future's so bright I gotta wear shades...lol

Lifeline Telephone Counselling Training Coming Up

And the good news in my life just keeps accumulating! 2008 is shaping up to be a tremendous year. Boy, January and now February have already realised some goals. Can't wait for the rest of the year to see what good stuff is in store.

I have been accepted to start Telephone Counselling Training for Lifeline. What an opportunity! I can hardly wait for the weekly sessions start, well, they're not long away, Feb 11th is the first.

This is the stuff that silver linings are made of. After 6 years of a lot of 'crapdom' that I had no control over being dished out on me, finally, I can use my experiences (with some training) to help others overcome the obstacles in their lives. What a wonderful opportunity.

I'm excited! Do I sound excited? I sure feel it.