Your Escape On Dabob Bay &
Hood Canal !

The Eagle Has Landed!   There are always new discoveries where we live! One morning, Julie was down at the shoreline when she spotted a Bald Eagle on the rocks. We see lots of eagles around here, but this one seemed different. This one had a muddied head and that's uncommon. A Blue Heron was poised close-by on the rocks as the eagle plopped into the water, caught a small fish and awkwardly returned to the rock for its lunch.

Suddenly a crow swept down and attacked the eagle. Soon, we discovered that the eagle had a broken wing and was now defenseless against the arrival of more attacking crows. As Julie stood guard (shoo crows!), Rick went to call for some help. It took about 15 phone calls before we connected with an animal sanctuary in our area who agreed — that if we could catch it, they would come and take the eagle for rehabilitation. So how do you catch an eagle? Carefully!

Armed with a blanket, a pen and some good luck, we were able to carefully catch the stressed eagle (that weighed about ten or twelve pounds with a mighty big beak)! A few hours passed until the rescue staff arrived — astonished, as they had never had known anyone to actually capture an eagle by hand before. They brought with them a small cardboard box, good for a parrot perhaps — so we found a larger one, eagle–sized. We sent the eagle on its way to mend and later, to return to the blue skies over Dabob Bay.

Julie's Crafty!   When I was first married and living in Oregon, a co-worker tried to talk me into going to a painting class. At first I said 'no' because I didn't know how to paint (though I did sketch pretty well). A year later, I decided to go to college classes with her and took two or three 10-week courses. My first painting was awful. The teacher just had us paint — without really showing us a lot (he wanted everyone to have their own style).

Soon, I moved to Kodiak, Alaska where I lived for four years. I continued to paint on a large a canvas, on my own — so I guess you could say I was a little self taught! The more I painted, the better I got — I was even selling some paintings in Kodiak! We later moved back to Tillamook, Oregon and I took two more 10-week courses from a teacher named Gayle Oram. It was a toll painting class, and Gayle is the one that taught me to paint even better. She was really good as a teacher and author of books on design. Gayle travels all over giving workshops. I'm so glad I went to her classes!  The more I've painted over the years, the more I've improved.           continued below ↓

When we moved to Washington State and had our own private beach, we discovered we had many sand dollars. So Rick and my nephew came up with the idea to paint on them and I started to do that in 1997. The more I painted unique scenes, the better I got.  I look for the hardest sand dollars for painting, then sketch the design in pencil and then paint them in oil. I paint lighthouses, whales, dolphins, birds, wildlife, flowers, snowmen... just about everything! I also paint on oyster shells, beach glass and gem stones, moon snails, driftwood, antique floats... just about anything nautical! Most materials I find right here on our oyster beach.
I love painting and hope to do more when I retire!

I also started crafting beach glass pendants and earrings two years ago. I have been collecting beach glass for 16 years.
Glad now that I did!

People love the sand dollars — they are small, something compact to take home and display, plus each one is a unique painting! Starting about 15 years ago, I began selling them at several places in Port Townsend and in Rockaway Beach, Oregon, at the Beach Crafters Store. I still sell many items there. It's across from the Red Caboose, which is the visitors center next to the station for the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad.