I’m trying a few ideas for my sea glass project that is due the Thursday following Thanksgiving. What I did was bring in a glass table from outside and put a lamp under it. That way the light is shining up through the table and glass so it looks backlit. The only issue I have is the glass table is a smoky brown and I think it changes the color of the glass.
It seems heavy green and yellowish — which I’ve tried to tone down in Adobe Camera Raw. The photo below I played with in ACR and changed the colors. I’ll be back to the drawing board with more ideas to take sea glass photos that come out in a better color.
Here are the colors of sea glass that I prefer. I took these a few weeks ago out in the sunlight.
I have a few more days to play with my sea glass and try to get some unique photos. Then I also need to work with my scanned images from our beach days to tell a story about hunting for sea glass and summers at the beach with the kids.
I found sea glass on Etsy and there are artists who make jewelry from sea glass. Something else that caught my eye was bird art using drift wood with sea glass birds on it!
This is a photo I saw online from Monday afternoon at the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. Flights had to be diverted to Las Vegas and Los Angeles due to the haboob.
What’s a haboob?
A haboob is a type of intense dust storm carried by the wind of a weather front or thunderstorm. Haboobs occur regularly in dry land area regions throughout the world, and off-Earth. They can be dangerous.
Fortunately we missed this event. We are still at the beach enjoying beautiful weather. I received photos and videos from neighbors. The haboob hit Maricopa County south of Phoenix all the way up north to our neighborhood. We didn’t get the brunt of it, but I read the winds were up to 75 mph.
I also read that 67,000 homes lost power.
A haboob is a dust storm pushed by the wind produced by a weather front or thunderstorm and typically occurs in flat, arid areas. Heavy rain and wind followed Monday’s haboob, delaying flights at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and causing some damage to a terminal roof. https://weather.com/news/news/2025-08-26-phoenix-arizona-dust-storm-haboob
A couple years ago, my husband was driving on a freeway in Scottsdale when a haboob hit. He said he lost visibility and his car was being moved around. Talk about scary. I’m glad I was safe at home at the time. When it passed, he said there were trees littering the freeway.
In any case, I’m glad to be at the beach and that we missed the haboob. Mostly I’m glad we weren’t driving at the time. Also, the good news was the haboob was followed by much needed rain.
Have you heard of a haboob before?
What type of strange weather do you have where you live?
Gambel Quail babies that is. Monday afternoon, I had my first sighting of baby quail for 2025. There were four babies with one mother and two dads. I wonder where the other mother is? Maybe she’s at the nest with more eggs or fledglings? Four babies is a small brood. I have read that adult quail sometimes co-parent babies with others.
I found a nest last year in a planter with 20 eggs, which made me believe there was more than one mother. Unfortunately, that nest was abandoned because it was next to our garage. The adult quail flew away whenever we drove in or out of the garage. They built the nest while we were out of town.
Fun Quail Facts:
Mating Habits
Gambel’s quails are monogamous birds, meaning that they form pair bonds with a single mate for the duration of the breeding season.
The breeding season typically lasts from March to June, with mating occurring in the early spring. During this time, males engage in courtship displays to attract females.
These displays include a variety of behaviors, such as puffing up their feathers, bobbing their heads, and emitting a distinctive call.
The males may also engage in “tidbitting,” where the male offers foraged food to the female.
Once a female has chosen a mate, the pair will remain together for the duration of the breeding season.
They will engage in preening behavior to reinforce their bond and may engage in duets, where they call back and forth to each other.
The female will then begin to prepare a nest for the eggs, while the male will defend their territory and provide food for both himself and his mate.
Nesting Habits
Gambel’s quails build their nests on the ground, typically in dense brush or vegetation.
The nest is a shallow depression lined with grasses and other plant material and is often hidden from view to protect it from predators.
Gambel’s Quail Nesting Stats
Eggs
10 – 14
Incubation
21 days
Nestling Phase
Follow Adults after Hatching
Broods
1 most common / sometimes 2
Females typically lay between 10 and 14 eggs, which are incubated for approximately 21 days.
During this time, both the male and female will take turns incubating the eggs and protecting the nest from predators.
After the eggs hatch, the chicks begin following the adults, who will continue to brood the chicks.
Soon, we’ll be making a nine-hour drive to our beach vacation in California. It will be our seventh year renting the VRBO cottage.
I will admit, I’m a little anxious over the trip. I think it’s because of how things turned out last August. It wasn’t exactly a relaxing vacation with our DIL getting diagnosed with cancer. Our son and DIL planned a last-minute wedding prior to surgery that was cancelled due to COVID. Later, they were able to move ahead with the wedding. At first, they didn’t want people flying in bringing germs, since she was beginning chemo. Then our son really wanted us there, but we couldn’t get flights to make it on time.
It was an extremely stressful time with lots of waiting, questions and prayers. I wrote about it HERE.
The last week of our vacation, friends that we have in the area all got COVID. We left a couple days early, because it seemed like the safe and sane thing to do.
This year I’m reading that Arizona has one of the lowest COVID rates, while California has one of the highest.
The cat sitter is lined up. The next door neighbor is watching our house. Time to pack and hope for a peaceful, relaxing and rejuvenating beach vacation.
Do you find vacations to be relaxing or stressful? Why?
I was curious what I was up to four years ago — during the COVID shutdown. I was reading a Julia Cameron book called “It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again” trying to find motivation. I’m feeling lackadaisical just like I did then. Maybe it’s the prospect hobbling around on broken toes, or maybe it’s the heat.
Here’s what I discovered about the Dog Days of Summer:
Waffles in the car with me at my son’s place in Berkeley.
What are the dog days of summer? I found this on Wikipedia:
The dog days or dog days of summer are the hot, sultry days of summer. They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star system Sirius (known colloquially as the “Dog Star”), which Hellenistic astrology connected with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck.
It is hot, humid, we’re predicted to have thunderstorms. I’m lethargic. I don’t have a fever, I don’t see any mad dogs and I’m not buying into the bad luck. But otherwise the phrase “dog days of summer” fits.
Okay. About that bad luck. My daughter just called me and said she fell in the dark on her stairs last night trying to get Waffles back in the house. She broke her foot. Now she’s on crutches and trying to get in for an MRI appointment without missing any work. This means she can’t exercise, walk Waffles and will be struggling for weeks to come. I feel like I should be up there to help her.
Selfies with Waffles while he’s intent on watching my daughter outside the car.
Fast forward four years, and I’m the one hobbling around, not my daughter. Maybe I have to reconsider that luck thing in the dog days of summer.
Are you feeling the dog days of summer? Are you seeing any mad dogs? What are you doing to stay motivated?
