"The Sea Glass Queen"

2011-06-22T04:15:00.000-07:00

Trash to Treasure
Once thrown out
Discarded
Without thought
This piece of seaglass
Began its journey as a reject
Day in day out
It ebbed and flowed
With the tides
Abraded by the sand
Tumbled with the pebbles
Until it was transformed
Completely made smooth by its journey
A magical, mystical & turbulent ride
Created a gem of the sea
Treasured now for its uniqueness and rarity
This glorious process
Reminds us of our own journey
All of us at one time or another
Feels worthless and alone
Tossed about not knowing our course
and yet if we rise with the tides of life
allowing our exeriences to smooth out
our jagged edges
we too will discover our uniqueness
and become the treasure we were meant to be.
Sonia Turner “The Seaglass Queen"

A Sapphire Heart from Heaven

2011-02-12T17:05:00.000-08:00

This is my most treasured piece of sea glass. For your info a heart shape is rare and blue sea glass is rare! And while that combination makes this sea glass shard special. It's how I got this piece that elevates it to a divine gift. In June of 2008 after a routine breast exam, I was notified that 2 cysts where found showing on the mammogram. There was extra concern because my sister had passed away at 28 from cancer as well as my maternal grandmother at 44. For any who have had this experience you know that this is just the beginning of the testing. It was in between tests that I found myself at the beach seeking solace in prayer for my health. I prayed that whatever the outcome that I might have the strength to endure. It was a brief prayer with my eyes closed so that I might not be distracted from the answer. I felt a warm peace wash over me and knew that whatever the results from the tests were, I would be okay. It was the moment after I opened my eyes that I saw this divine piece of sea glass reminding me that I am loved and in his care. Much to my relief the cysts were benign.

Artistry in the sand

2011-02-05T17:15:00.000-08:00

Somebody lost their Teddy Bear :(

2011-01-12T06:21:00.000-08:00

This poor little teddy bear washed up on shore.Is this the original Pooh bear? Who do you think it could belong to?

2011-01-06T17:57:00.000-08:00

This beautiful piece of sea glass probably began its journey as a canning jar. It has been exquisitely finished by the forces of nature. It reminds me how life can refine us and thereby make us unique. Sea glass teaches us that we too can endure the storms of our lives and come out better for it.

The mother lode!

2011-01-04T19:54:00.000-08:00

My friend Marilyn shared this link with me. Unbelieveable. I want to go to this beach!!

http://vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.com/2010/09/washed-by-sea.html

Celebrity Find

2011-01-02T05:04:00.000-08:00

This is not Michael Jackson's glove...maybe it's Lady Gaga's!

Bottle addiction

2010-01-11T04:34:00.000-08:00

I came across this link on Sea Glass LoverSite. This sea glass addiction has fueled another addiction bottle collecting. I have plans to search out old dump sites to unearth bottles. Anyone want to join me!

http://www.sha.org/bottle/glossary.htm#Top%20of%20Glossary%20Page

The Sea Glass Queen and her Hubby

2009-10-30T01:55:00.000-07:00

Sea Glass Jewellery by Sonia Turner "The Sea Glass Queen"

2009-09-24T05:31:00.000-07:00

New piece "Dragon fly"

2009-09-10T03:10:00.000-07:00

When I look at a piece of grade "A" sea glass, I always marvel at how many times that it was broken or chipped and yet now at this moment of discovery it is perfect. Like our lives there are many times of turbulence that cause us to chip or break, that's when we need to continue on and smooth out the ruff edges of life by staying in the game. Keep hope alive! Another day, another tide will make the difference!

Visiting Teri Hall in PEI

2009-09-06T04:35:00.001-07:00

During our travels to PEI, I stopped in to see Teri Hall of "Fire and Ice" a sea glass artisan. She is formerly from Bathurst and my inspiration. I loved her studio and the pieces of jewellery she creates. Likewise she was drawn to the sea during a time of change for herself. It was there that she would find the peace she sought and collect sea glass along the way. The rest is history!

Happy beachcombing!

2009-08-14T04:31:00.001-07:00

There's nothing like have the beach to yourself when you beach comb! I love mediating while I beach comb and reflecting on the challenges of the day or the blessings that I have received in my life. For me sea glass reminds me how important it is to stay involved in life whatever comes our way. It is the sea glass that ebbs and flows with the tides that becomes true gems. Sometimes I have come across an older piece of glass however somehow it was wedged between rocks and stationary and therefore did not tumble like sea glass. It is just broken glass. Sometimes we want to hide from our challenges or stay stuck out of fear. In hiding from living we don't become the person we have the potential to be. It is by dusting ourselves off and getting back in the game that will enhance our lives and open up the universe to our growth. Life is in the tumbling-stay in the game.

Hidden treasures brought to light!

2009-07-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

There is a saying never judge a book by its cover-as I scour the beach for gems I must approach an area in many different directions to find the treasured pieces of sea glass. Sometimes the sun is in my face, or my shadow is in the way. People are like this too –we need to give them a second look. Try not to be too hasty in your judgements and see people in the best light possible. I am amazed sometimes what I uncover under a rock. So too, will we be amazed when we get to know the beauty of the individual.

Carpe Diem! Seize the day

2009-07-20T05:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I come across a piece of glass that has been wedged between stones for a long time. Even though you can see it is an old bottle but because of its somewhat safe position in the rocks it hasn’t tumbled like the sea glass shards. This piece of glass does not reach its potential to become a beautiful shard of sea glass. Sometimes we too choose to be safe and not venture out of our safety zone. We choose to remain in the harbour of what is comfortable to us and end up stuck in a rut. Life is too short not to venture out into the world so that you may grow to be all that you were meant to.
Do you know what the difference between a rut and a grave is?
The depth!
Show up for life!

WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-07-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

Be aware of the enchanting lure of sea glass. For once you have succumb to her mystical beauty no shoreline will ever be the same. Why ...you ask? You will walk with your head down always scanning the sand and pebbles for the possibility that you might find that elusive piece of sea glass. Some people have gold fever- I have seaglass fever! And I know that I am not alone.

Prized pieces

2009-07-15T03:28:00.000-07:00

These are some of the prized pieces I have found along the Bay of Chaleur shoreline.
Milk Glass probably Ponds cold cream,Baby's hair brush, brown bonfire seaglass with sand trapped inside, leather shoe sole, blue noxzema bottom. If we only knew the history that is etched into each of the pieces.

Choosing friends who lift you up!

2009-07-12T04:20:00.000-07:00

The most beautiful shards of sea glass are found on rocky shores. Not just any kind of rock but smooth pebbles. It is true that birds of a feather flock together. We too will be a reflection of those that we choose associate with. Choose friends who will build you up and not tear you down. Some friends are like sharp stones always jarring you and causing misery in your life. While good friends will build you up and help you smooth out your rough edges.

Beware!

2009-07-09T03:49:00.000-07:00

There is something wonderful, invigorating and yet peaceful that happens when you walk the shoreline and take in the sounds of the tides, the scent of the salt air, the irrelevance of time that makes this ooh so magical that it becomes an obsession. Finding seaglass in this ethereal walk is the cherry on the cake.
Sonia Turner “The Seaglass Queen”

2009-05-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

This is my first large order of seaglass pendants, ready to go. Jason and Sebastian made the sign for me. Jason did the woodwork and Seb did the lettering. I really like it! I am wearing my seaglass crown...because I am the Queen of Seaglass!!

Interesting finds

2009-05-03T03:14:00.000-07:00

This is an fuse found on the beach intact. I haven't seen any other. If you have found one too let me know. The glass is perfectly frosted. This is what I love about beach combing you just never know what the tides will bring in. There is always something special waiting to be discovered.

Dionne Quintuplet spoon

2009-04-30T03:55:00.000-07:00

This is a special beach combing find. When I first found it, I realized that it had the outline of a girl on the top of the spoon. But it wasn't till last year that I had its mystery revealed. A senior women came to my studio with her family during my presentation I showed the spoon. She immediately recognized the spoon! As a young girl she remembered sending away for the spoon on the back of a box of cereal and requesting Marie's name. The spoon I have has Yvonne' name on it. The funny thing about the Dionne Quints is that they were born in my neck of the woods in North Bay, Ontario. They born in 1934 and made into a tourist attraction because they were the first surviving quintuplets. Two of the quints are still alive however they lives were scarred by the media attention. As you can see this spoon has taken a beating.

Getting ready for the lobster season

2009-04-22T04:20:00.000-07:00

Lobster season will soon be underway and all along the coast the fishermen are getting their gear ready. I can't wait to eat some yummy lobster!

Seaglass Queen Wisdom

2009-04-20T04:08:00.001-07:00

The best seaglass is found on beaches with rounded pebbles. We too need to choose well rounded friends who bring out the best in us!
www.seasidepeddler.ca

Carpe Diem! Seize the day

2009-04-07T04:17:00.000-07:00

Life is forever evolving, each new day like the tides brings new findings. Let us take joy and anticipate all the exciting new opportunities the dynamic changes that this day can bring.

Glass bottles

2009-04-06T04:25:00.000-07:00

Back in the early 70's in Timmins a group of us would go to old dump sites to dig up antique bottles. I had accumulated a nice collection of bottles through this digging. However in the mid eighties, I threw them out. I rarely regret getting rid of stuff...but this I regret. I now am a bottle collector aficionado. I love the attention to the details in older bottles as well as their colours. Bottles can tell you their age. These bottles in the picture are on display at the Bathurst Heritage Museum.
In my studio I showcase my bottle collection so that visitors can see the origins of some of the sea glass shards.

Seaglass Poetry

2009-03-23T03:28:00.000-07:00

Trash to Treasure

Once thrown out
Discarded
Without thought
This piece of seaglass
Began its journey as a reject
Day in day out
It ebbed and flowed
With the tides
Abraded by the sand
Tumbled with the pebbles
Until it was transformed
Completely made smooth by its journey
A magical, mystical & turbulent ride
Created a gem of the sea
Treasured now for its uniqueness and rarity
This glorious process
Reminds us of our own journey
All of us at one time or another
Feels worthless and alone
Tossed about not knowing our course
and yet if we rise with the tides of life
allowing our experiences to smooth out
our jagged edges
we too will discover our uniqueness
and become the treasure we were meant to be

Sonia Turner “The Seaglass Queen"

Wire Crochet and Seaglass meet

2009-02-22T02:33:00.000-08:00

I used 24 gauge artistic wire for this cuff bracelet. This is definitely a statement piece of jewellery not for the timid!

Sea glass shadow boxes at Bay Breeze Gallery

2009-02-18T17:49:00.000-08:00

A selection of shadow boxes for sale at the Bay Breeze Art Gallery here in Bathurst. I really enjoyed creating the colourful shadow boxes.

How old is some of our glass and pottery shards?

2009-02-17T04:30:00.000-08:00

Early Missions along Bay Chaleur
byTHE REV. C. J. MERSEREAU

It was the great French explorer Jacques Cartier who on July 3, 1534, sailed northward along Miscou Island and rounded its northern point. He called this point the Cape of Hope because before him lay a great open bay, the fulfillment he thought of his quest for the long-sought passage to the West. He named the bay, the Bay of Heat, because of the heat he experienced there on July 9th. These names, Cape of Hope and Bay Chaleur are the first names applied by any European, so far as we know, to any part of New Brunswick.

Father Pacifique says that Bathurst can boast of being the first mission in New Brunswick. He says “It is true that Father Biard celebrated Mass, passing through the St. John river district on October 11th, but this was only once (Relation, 1611, p. 34). It is also true that the first missionary (Father Bernardin) went to Miscou in 1619 and doubtless celebrated Mass several times there. But he established his mission at Nepisiguit (Bathurst) in 1620.” The name for the little church was “the Cabin of Jesus.”5

Nicolas Denys also described the place most appreciatively in his Description of North America. “The whole extent of this large cove is a league of length. It has behind it large and fine meadows ..... So great a quantity of wild geese, ducks and brant is seen that it is not believable, and they all make so great a noise at night that one has trouble to sleep ... Four rivers empty into this basin of which three come from the hills that are visible at their heads; and the other which is larger falls into this basin on the left side in entering ... There is hardly anything but meadows on both sides of this basin, beyond which the land is crowded with fine trees of all kinds.”

Father LeClercq for he deeply loved Bathurst. He writes22 “Nepisiguit is one of the most charming places in all the great Bay of St. Lawrence. It is distant only a dozen to fifteen leagues from Isle Percé. The land there is fertile and abounds in everything; the air is pure and healthy. Three beautiful rivers which empty there form a very attractive basin, whose waters lose themselves in the sea through a strait which makes and marks the entrance thereto.
Nicolas Denys writes “My establishment of Nepisiguit is on the border of this basin at a league to the right of its entrance. At low water a canoe can scarcely approach it. It is there that I have been obliged to retire after the burning of my Fort of Saint Pierre in the Island of Cape Breton (winter of 1668-9). My house is flanked there by four little bastions with a palisade of which the stakes are 18 feet in height, with six pieces of cannon in batteries. The lands are not of the best – there are rocks in some places.”19
The monument to Denys at Bathurst carries the inscription “Appointed Governor and Lieut: General of the Coast and Islands of the Gulf St. Lawrence from Canso to Gaspe in 1654.” “Pioneer in trade and in the fishing industry. Naturalist and author of a classical work on Acadia 1672. His chief residence was at Pointe an Père (Ferguson Point) on Nepisiguit (Bathurst) Harbor, where he died and was buried in 1688.”
Nepisiguit may claim to be the oldest continuously occupied settlement in all New Brunswick for “it is very likely” says W. F. Ganong26 “that some at least of these Acadians remained at Nepisiguit from this time down to 1778 when we know positively that the permanent occupation of the locality by the Acadians had commenced.” In this case, the Acadian settlement here is one of the oldest, If not. the very oldest, of the continuously occupied settlements of New Brunswick. Bishop Plessis remarked in 1811 “Nepisiguit is one of the first establishments on the Bay, though it is not easy to determine its origin.”27

Working Man's Sapphire

2009-02-17T04:19:00.001-08:00

I call Blue seaglass is the working man’s sapphire-

Why so?
Many of the blue pieces of this treasure of the sea originated from products used by the hardworking fishermen.

Noxzema for their faces
Vicks Vaporub for their chests
Milk of Magnesia for their stomachs.

When you find a blue piece of sea glass consider it your lucky day because the colour of blue sea glass in found in the ratio of 1 in 500 pieces.

2009-02-02T01:50:00.000-08:00

“Seaglass Queen Wisdom”
Life can be turbluent ...hang in and hang on ...this is meant to bring out the best in you.
No adveristy-No growth

"Aqua blue beauty"

2009-01-27T17:18:00.000-08:00

The seaglass that I use is never tumbled or drilled.

Why tamper with what the forces of nature has perfected!

Sonia Turner “The Seaglass Queen”

"I consider myself a seaglass purist"

Paradise Found

2009-01-24T02:30:00.000-08:00

I have found Paradise! Yes it does exist here on earth- along the Beautiful Bay of Chaleur. The bay has been voted one of the most beautiful bays in the world. Come discover the beauty that will have you in awe...come the sea is calling your name.

Check out our tourism website:

http://www.tourismnewbrunswick.ca/ThingsToDo/NaturalWonders/ChaleurBay.aspx

Seaglass Queen Wisdom

2009-01-22T08:09:00.000-08:00

The best seaglass is found on beaches with rounded pebbles. We too need to choose well rounded friends who bring out the best in us!
www.seasidepeddler.ca

Huge Millstone found on beach!

2009-01-20T02:35:00.000-08:00

I found this millstone on the beach in Stonehaven. As it's name suggests, Stonehaven was famous for producing some of the finest millstones. The quarry was in operation from the 1800's to the 1940's. It was a good thing that my son Jason was with me that day so that he could carry it off. The quarry was owned by a "King" Amos Seaman...there must be something in the salt air here that has people calling themselves King or Queen. LOL

Treasures from the sea

2009-01-19T04:09:00.000-08:00

This is a treasure trove of seaglass found along our bay. It reflects quite a time span in our history. Some of it can be quite old.

Jewels from the deep

2009-01-19T04:03:00.000-08:00

My friend Elizabeth sent me these pieces of beach glass from Lake Ontario. While it is not as refined as our seaglass, it is however a jewel.