This was one of my most favorite poems from A Child's Garden of Verses. Robert Louis Stevenson was one of my favorite childhood poets, and to this day he remains a favorite of mine bringing back the most wonderful childhood memories.

I remember playing on the sand digging my holes and watching them fill up the minute I took my shovel away! I would recite this poem in my head (out loud) as I did so.

I just love the sea. I think there is nothing so magnificent, nothing so beautiful and nothing so fascinating. She is calm one moment and tempestuous the next. She can be crystal blue and at once a dark and angry green. She is as spectacular to watch when she sits still with silent waters or violent with storms. She is powerful, a force not to be reckoned with. She is mysterious. And she is soothing. She is as spectacular as she is in Europe as she is at home.

What I would give to have a house beside the sea. With a deck or a porch or a Widow's walk or large bay windows! I would sit and watch as the tides roll in and out. I would notice how she changes color throughout the day reflecting sun rises, sunsets and the glow of a full moon. I love to listen to the waves as they crash along the shore. She seems to change her wardrobe with the seasons, wearing brighter colors in the summer and darker colors with more grey in the winter time.

I've grown up by the sea and am incredibly fortunate. It is where I am most comfortable. Forests and mountains have their own beauty, but nothing can rival that of the Sea.

I would love to have a room in my home with a beachy feel. But our house, while no more than a 10 minute drive away from the beach, is nestled in the woods with large coniferous pines, hearty oaks and majestic birch trees. A nautical themed room would simply seem out of place.

Yesterday I was perusing through some mail order catalogs as my husband and children were watching our home team lose (The Jets) and I came across all these wonderful items made from sea grass. The neutral color of the woven fibers would fit perfectly in so many rooms of my home. The sea grass has a casual and yet elegant feel all at once. Like the sand under the warm sun by the water's edge, the seagrass soothes. It's a way of incorporating the love of the sea in a fitting manner. It might even make you feel like you are on vacation even when you are not!



Seagrass beds are highly diverse and productive ecosystems, and can harbor hundreds of associated species. They protect against erosion. Seagrass provide food for green turtles, manatees, fish, geese, swans, sea urchins, crabs and sea horses. Seagrass is harvested and used for insulation, mattress and pillow fillings as well as furniture. Seagrass is becoming an endangered species. As far as I can tell this is caused by man building along the shores and dumping wastes into clean waters, and not by the harvesting of the plants for furniture and other uses. If I learn differently I will be sure to let you know.




















These are a lovely way to hide children's toys in a common living area, or sore blankets and pillows.