Big Adventure

photo - by NIKOLAY SIMONOV

A thousand miles of silvered shore.

An hundred thousand treasure isles

—That sun-laved line broad sparkling aisles,

Deep-steeped in wealth of Faery store;—

—Has Florida.

And countless lakes—each one a gem—

That flash their riches to the sun.

A myriad rivers gleaming run—

The Springs of Youth in each of them

—In Florida.

Florida - the treasure land

poem by GEORGE E. MERRICK

I`ve only been to Florida once. Many-many years ago I was visiting my father who worked in the university there. It certainly was a big adventure for me at that time and I`ve seen many things on my way for the first time too.

It astonished me how the air can be humid and hot outside as if you entered a sauna. It was even more surprising to walk into the ocean and feel the water as if it was in a hot tub.

It also felt so weird when we went swimming in the springs right next to alligators. And it was incredibly cool to watch armadillos and pelicans (I was quite impressed by both and thought that the latter could be easily confused with pterodactyls) walking and flying by as if they were squirrels and pigeons. In Florida, I got to meet the manatees - strange and enormously large animals whose very existence was big news to me even after being a biology student for three years already.

It certainly took my breath away seeing the snow-white sand of the Florida beaches.

The memories are still vivid and if I go back one day, it will be no disappointment.

(all photos above were taken by my Dad with an analog camera and dug by me from archives of scanned negatives)

Last year, I received a wonderful gift from a person who lives across the ocean and shares my love for sea life. The package from Kaleigh was definitely one of the sweetest parcels I`ve ever received.

I couldn`t get my hands off the treasures inside - tiny seashells and samples of Florida and California sand. This is how the Big Adventure collection began to grow.

Although, the very first item in it was created much earlier - I made the Mermaids Coin necklace using the smallest sand dollar shell, which was brought by my mother herself when she visited the sunshine state.

Even though it has certainly been inspired by family memories the Big Adventure collection is not about the stories of the past. In fact, when creating these pieces I was not remembering things but rather dreaming of something new, exciting and unknown. Probably, what every person would think and feel boarding a ship sailing to a distant land.
A feeling of a new Big Adventure.

- Adventure Dream -