By SUSAN DROMEY HEETER, Joyful Musings

Well, it’s literally been a shell of a summer, a summer of collecting both clam and oyster shells, hard homes that have been vacated, left on the beach for collecting, harvesting, creating.  I’ve spent most of my summer down south on Crane Beach in Ipswich where I’ve gathered hundreds of shells, delighted in the quest and found more joy than I anticipated in finding the perfect mollusk.

Shells can have a bad reputation in language, we refer to someone who may not have survived a horrific event as a “shell of a person.”  Bullets have their shells, often looked for after shootings.  Both of these references, mercifully, are not part of my shell summer, rather, quite the opposite.

I collect shells for a purpose, I’ve been relearning the art of decoupage and creating some lovely images.  I’d forgotten how fun decoupage can be; the last time I utilized this art form, I was ten or twelve and got the glossy top coat all over the ping pong table in my childhood home.  It did not go over well and, needless to say, the ping pong table was kaput.

Now, however, I set my shells atop a drop cloth and keep things neat; it’s taken fifty years to learn to craft without the mess, funny how that happens.  But shells are so accessible. Yesterday I met a family from Guatemala collecting “conches” – the Spanish word for shells.  They delighted in their finds as they never found mollusks on their beaches in Guatemala.  Their joy was palpable, we traded and laughed and knew our hunts are infinitely fun, a simple pleasure.

It’s been a shell of a summer, I muse joyfully yours has, too.  If not, dear Musers, simply go to shell and find your bliss. It’s out there, under the waves, on the beach and right before your eyes. 

Susan Dromey Heeter is a writer from Dover who recently let her hair go au natural white. Writing has been her passion since her English majoring days at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.  Dromey Heeter has lived in The Netherlands, Alaska and currently basks in all things New England, including the frigid winters. An avid swimmer, Dromey Heeter’s great passion is to bring back body surfing as most children have no idea how to ride waves without ridiculous boogie boards.