mermaids

Margate was looking festive last weekend for the recent opening of the new Turner Contemporary art gallery, perched on the edge of the harbour and looking crisp and new in the sunshine. Plenty of mermaids to be found, shell ladies in Margate, Lucy and her cousin Flo on the beach and my mermaid cushion looking at home by the sea in my sister's lovely house in Broadstairs

slightly spooky

Here's what to do with all those shells collected from the beach! I was snooping around Margate this week and visited the shell grotto,  Margates number one visitor attraction, soon to be eclipsed by the spectacular Turner Contemporary arts center due to open in 2011. The privately owned grotto was discovered under a field in 1835 and it's origin is still a mystery today. Over four and a half million shells encrust the walls of the curving tunnels, said to depict life's path from birth to death in slightly creepy symbols. They mostly looked like flowers to us although we looked hard for the owl, tortoise and squid!
Happy halloween everyone!