Living here in Maryland, crabs are KING!  Word association: say Maryland and the reply here on the bay will be Crabs! Crab motifs claw around on everything. The orangy-red crustacean’s portrait is found on dishware, tableware, napkins, man size T-shirts, grease ringed baseball caps and those classy little A-shaped café signs that beckon one in from the street.

 Two weeks ago at Ocean City, 12 large crabs were running 54.00. And now they are a premium 200.00 for a bushel. Well that is a lot to crab about, pardon the pun.

A zillion years ago we lived in Reno, Nevada and those were the years when we believed in LARGE families. So in addition to our tribe of seven we added a variety of critters and animals as pets and science projects.  We even inherited Shakespeare my parent’s Old English Sheep Dog that they didn’t want to take with them on a road trip. Excuse the diversion, back to our own pets: dogs, dogs, dogs, stray cats, goldfish, rats, guinea pigs and Hermit Crabs.  Each and every one of these familiar pets had an unseemly totally unjustified death but none more innocent than Hermit and Crab.  Some pet-loving kid in our family decided that Hermit and Crab needed a little fresh air and exercise. After all glass jar houses, the beach it is not. Unnamed person took Hermit and Crab outside to relax on the grass and stretch their legs, hmm claws. Who would suspect that this mangy piece of grass would soon become their cemetery! Hermit and Crab skittered as only Hermit Crabs can do and promptly, yes, promptly fell down an unoccupied gopher hole. They were never seen again.  Perhaps they dug their way to China!

So what does one do with a crab? Well you can purchase a bright red Crabbie sandbox like we did for our three year old granddaughter, or you can start dreaming of delicious deserted beaches.

All this re-directs my thoughts to beach paintings, more precisely beach Sand Pail art. Visit a seaside antique/collectible shop and you will see sand pails from play-days long ago. The colorful, stylized motifs are a complete inspiration, but painting them is even more delightful. So do a little research, sketch a sand pail and hmmm you will feel like you are sitting on a magical Maui beach …or maybe Maryland slurping up yummy crabs drenched in butter.