Wednesday, August 15, 2012

[Mostly] Wordless Wednesday - Tidal Pool Critters & Helpful Links

I posted various ocean and lighthouse pictures from my trip before, and now it's time to post some of the critters from the tide pool.  Who doesn't love tide pool creatures, I ask you?

 This is some of the exposed rock that is under the water during higher tide.  Not sure, but I think those are mussels?  And snails.

 Yes, I couldn't help it, another lighthouse picture.  But I love them!  And, being landlocked, I rarely get to see them.  Plus, I felt all clever and stuff because I got that awesome reflection of the lighthouse in the photo. Come on, you know that makes me awesome!

 Can you find the crab among the mussels (or clams or oysters or whatever the heck they are)?  I had to stalk him forever to get this photo.  He was tucked into a tiny crevasse in the rocks, and would climb underneath the shells around him every time I moved.

 How about this guy?  He was also in a crevasse.  Sneaky little things!

 Sea urchins!  They're so...purple!

 Starfish.  There were a ton all together in this particular puddle, all groovy and...starry.

 Look, another reflection photo!  I awe myself!  Okay, not really.

This is a sea anemone, but it is all closed up, so the little wavy tentacles are tucked up inside.  It seems to have taken on a little snail hitchhiker, and I wonder how comfortable all those shell fragments are?  Ouch.


Now for the links!

Blog Hops-

The What I Did Last Summer Blog Hop is being hosted by Emily R. King and Melodie Wright.  Participants will be posting one true summer story and one fictional summer story, and then you guess who's right!  Sounds fun.

The What If Blog Fest is currently going on this week (you can participate through Friday).  Hosted by Morgan, Cassie, Leigh and Clark, this one has you re-tooling a fairy tale in one of four categories: Best Plot Twist, Best Love Story, Best Tragedy or Best Comic Relief.

Today is the last day for the Unforgettable Blog Fest, run by Siv Maria of Been There, Done That.  Tell us about an unforgettable person, place or thing that has stuck with you.

Contest-

Unicorn Bell is hosting the School's In Query Contest.  If you have a completed manuscript, this is a great way to get it read and possibly get a request for more pages.

Random Fun/Interesting Stuff-

Want to know who the Top Grossing Authors are, along with how much they make?  Click on this Forbes link and find out.

WriteOnCon, the free, online writer's conference, is back on.  They have a lot of great guests and experts.

Dan Pearce, of Single Dad Laughing blog fame, posted How to Update the Facebook Thumbnail & Description for Your Blog Posts, which some may find helpful.

Open for Submissions-

Damnation Books is accepting novel submissions, but not short story submissions.  They cover a lot of different genres, including horror, sci-fi, young adult and steampunk.  Click on the link for more information.

Ginosko Literary Journal is accepting short fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, interviews and more.  Click the link for more information.

The Last Goddess Magazine is open for articles.  Non-paying market.

Main Street Rag is accepting novella submissions through September 15, any subject.

Giveaway-

Mshatch is having The Great Giveaway.  Enter to win some great books.  Multiple drawings.

That's it for today!

Do you enjoy saying the word "anemone" as much as I do?  How about aluminum (aluminium)?  Anything to share?  Ever been to a tide pool at low tide?

May you find your Muse.





26 comments:

mshatch said...

thanks for giving my give away a shout out! And I love the sea urchins; I had no idea they were so pretty and ...purple!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Wonderful photos. I really like the one with the lighthouse reflected in the tidepool.

D.G. Hudson said...

I love lighthouses too, so don't apologize for photos of them. I grew up in a landlocked town (middle of the state), and for that reason among others, I moved to the west coast.

Reflections photos show a good eye!

Cherie Reich said...

Great pictures! I especially love the purple sea urchins.

Andrew Leon said...

I hate you and your photos!
>envy envy envy<
The lighthouse one is very cool.
So is the crab.

Rebecca said...

gorgeous photos

Li said...

Reminds me of my youth - I used to take home things I found at the beach. Unfortunately, a few began to smell up the car driving home, and thereafter I had to submit to inspections before leaving the shore.

Chuck said...

Those p[ictures are, well, awesome Shannon! The reflected lighthouse is deserving of a pat on the back. I saw several tide pools last year in Fiji and the ones right off the backyard of our cabin revealed hundreds of tiny yellow crabs at low tide. They all made this clicking sound with their one giant claw...it was really...ah...awesome!

rental mobil said...

Nice article, thanks for the information.

Christine Rains said...

Beautiful photos! And thanks for all the links.

Arlee Bird said...

I've heard plenty about tide pools and seen things on TV about them, but I've never been to one. And I live less than a half hour from the shore area where there are tide pools. I don't get out enough I guess.

Now to see how much those authors make and dream.



Lee
Wrote By Rote

Debra Harris-Johnson said...

Hi Shannon!!!!! I've been out traveling but I'm back visiting and waiting for visitors.

Your blog is as entertaining as always and I've missed you and all my bloggie friends.

Jo Schaffer said...

Cool! We recently got back from the Oregon Coast and we found some great tide pools at Cape Kiwanda. The kids found all kinds of awesome things!

M Pax said...

What great photos. Tidal pools are fascinating. I need to get back to the ocean sometime soon.

Shannon Lawrence said...

Mshatch, no problem! They are definitely vibrantly colored, aren't they?

Alex, thank you! That one made me happy.

D.G., thank you! I always grew up somewhere at least near a coast until we moved here, so the ocean calls me a bit, though so do the mountains.

Cherie, thank you! They are such a remarkable shade of purple.

Andrew, the crabs were so cute. Well, as cute as crustaceans could be, but they tried so hard to be evasive. Do you guys ever make it out to the coast?

Becca, thank you!

Li, haha, my brother was just talking about doing the same thing. Only they discovered their smelly item a day into a trip from the CA coast to CO. Unpleasant road trip!

Shannon Lawrence said...

Chuck, thank you! That sounds like it might be a mix between awesome and...eerie. Good setting for a horror story. I would love to go to Fiji!

Rental mobil, thank you!

Christine, thank you, and no problem!

Lee, definitely a dream once you see how much they make. It's worth heading out to a tide pool once. It really shows you a piece of what is going on right underneath your feet when you're in that water.

Debra, I saw you had posted in here and was so glad to see you're back!

Jo, cool! Whereabouts is that beach? Southern end?

Mary, and I was right out there near you! We had hoped to make it up into the mountains to visit my old haunts (Sisters and thereabouts), but had to shave off part of the trip for finances. I waved from a distance, though.

Andrew Leon said...

No, we really don't make it out there very often. It's been a couple of years, at this point. We talk about it a lot, but we just don't make the time.

Shannon Lawrence said...

Andrew, when I lived in Oregon we went to the coast one time. Once. That's part of what has gotten me on this kick to explore the state with my kids over the summer. We visited a lot of new places, places we had driven past regularly or places we had to seek out. I hope to do the same thing next year, and so on and so forth. It's so easy to not get out and enjoy what's around us, and with the constant threat of having to move for my husband's job, I feel like I will regret it if I don't see what we have right here in front of us, at least as much as we can manage.

FTR, my family in Orange County hardly get to the beach, either. Despite living in the foothills, we rarely get further up into the mountains. That's just the way it works, but I hope I can change it, at least a little bit.

Andrew Leon said...

Well, we do try to do things; we just don't make it to the beach so often. It would probably help if I liked the beach. Actually, we've been talking about going and taking our dog out there to see what she thinks. I suppose we should have done that during the summer, but we were pretty busy during the summer.

Anonymous said...

Love all the links.. Some I haven't seen before, so going to check them out now:) Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Wow fabulous photos and lots of info about fests and stuff. Thanks for the heads up, Shannon.

Annalisa Crawford said...

Great picture of the lighthouse!

And I've already checked out a couple of those links - thanks for sharing them.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all the info.

I adore lighthouses and I'd love to travel and see more of them.

Have a great weekend.

unikorna said...

Shannon you have a lovely, colorful place here, you're surrounded by so many interesting friends. And I do share your fascination towards nature :). Kisses.

Susan Kane said...

Excellent photos! I love tide pools. There are some great ones along our coast. One is near Point Loma lighthouse. I never tire of seeing them and the critters.

Shannon Lawrence said...

Andrew, my mom hates the beach. I love it! You know, having a busy-good summer means there's no requirement to hit the beach.

Tania, I hope there's something good in there for you!

Madeleine, thank you, I hope there's something helpful for you in there!

Annalisa, thank you, and great to hear!

Medeia, I love how many types of lighthouses there are. It would definitely be fun to travel and see them (and take pictures).

Unikorna, very nice of you to say, thank you! I do appreciate my friends.

Susan, this is the only one I've gotten to visit (though I imagine I went to more along the Oregon coast as a kid). I'd love to see more tide pools!