Sea Sponge Soap

Visiting Tarpon Springs, Florida recently, I noticed the fondness that the Greek folks have for olive oil soap and uses of the sea sponge that are brought up on the docks, indigenous to the Gulf coastal waters in Pinellas County.

Not the best picture but I made a small batch of soap with coconut, palm and rice bran oils; added Australian black clay and fragranced with a blend of black sandalwood and black pepper oils. I added the sea sponge on top to finish. I like the look and it smells divine!

Visiting my Grandmother's Grave with AJ

I headed south on Aug 19th to pick up AJ in Tarpon Springs and decided after almost 12 years, I would stop on the way home to visit my grandmother's grave. AJ was 8 months old when she passed in September 1997. He asks questions about his family and his lineage so I thought I would take the opportunity to help him since he is keenly aware of the 4 generation photo with her in it.

She is buried at Grace Memorial in Hudson, Florida. AJ and I decided we would return later and place flowers in the vase but had to put in a work request to have the vase set upright since the earth wielded it "stuck".

We have talked about mapping out a trip to visit family gravesites since many for his maternal side are in FL, GA, KS and OH.