LeighAnn has a book on Sea Glass. Everywhere in this beach house are little containers, glass containers mostly,brilliantly colored by the pieces of glass held inside. There are turquoise pieces, clear, brown, and even the rarest of finds–gray.
Trish and I went on a 2 hour walk today along the beach. I wore leggings I could easily pull up right under my knee
(key for walking along the beach and being surprised by the occasional angry wave), an oversized sweater, and flip flops. I thought I could carry them when I walked along the sand and quickly put them back on when walking across the larger pebbles and stone little wall peninsulas. Trish opted for tennis shoes and jeans. The ocean saw this as a challenge, and I could almost hear it laughing as it sent huge waves after her, determined to make her feet and ankles wet.
I didn’t undersand why sea glass was so appealing. I looked at the large stones rubbed smooth by the ocean. In Minnesota they would be called skipping stones. Here in California they might be painted with zen like words on them, then carefully placed in someone’s garden, or a long a path. There are also plenty of quartz stones, and red stones filled with little tiny holes. And shells. Man are there shells. The shells are big, pried open by the water and lie nestled between seaweed and feathers. What the ocean washes up on the shore has always amazed me. But I never stopped to think about sea glass.
The first few pieces sent a tiny little thrill through me. And then I started to find more. Your eye sifts through the sand. The sun makes everything glisten, but then, something catches. And there it is. A piece of sea glass. I found a few blue pieces today. A lot of clear pieces. Plenty of brown pieces. I didn’t find red. Red is seriously rare. I would love to find a piece of red sea glass one day. Sea glass is so much more valuable when you find it. But I picked up a few pieces of glass for Leigh Ann. As a thank you for inviting me.
Several times the ocean took my treasures before I could put them in my pocket. I tried placing my foot over the glass, tried to anchor it down from the wave that wanted to abduct it, but when the water would go down, and my foot was removed, the piece of glass was gone. A few times my flip flop got stuck, and I’d pull up, trying to get my foot out of the sand. The ocean is a bully. But it’s so pretty, it’s hard to stay mad at it. During one of these tug of wars, I lost my shoe, and as the tide went back out, so did my shoe. I tried to lift my other foot, so that I could run after my now floating away flip flop, but my foot wouldn’t budge. So I (I know, I know) removed my foot from my shoe and pretty much ran after my other shoe now several feet away from me, floating on top of the water, pleading for me to save it. By the time I had reached my shoe, my other had been uprooted from it’s sandy nest. I stared out at the waves, expecting to find my other shoe floating. Somewhere. But no shoe. The ocean took my shoe. It didn’t even seem sorry about it. One Old Navy Flip Flop for 10 or so pieces of glass. I suppose it’s worth it.
It’s nearing 3:30 and we’re planning on leaving around 5:30PM. I’ve stayed much later than I thought, but that’s only because once you get here, it’s pretty fucking impossible to leave. I wish I could stay longer. I’d go for another walk along the beach, this time with Tennis shoes. I’d watch the sun set under the waves, and let the wind and salt rub all the stress and rough patches smooth.
I said that I’d log on tonight around 8:00PM, but my family wants to go out to dinner when I get home later. So I’ll log in probably closer to 10PM PST. I’m going to have to listen to the “wave” soundtrack on my iphone radio station thingee in order to sleep tonight. It hardly sounds like the real thing, but we make do with what we have.
I really wish you could have been here. You would have found it just as wonderful as I did. Let me not even talk about the great bed I got to sleep in last night. O. M. G. squared.
Stay beautifully rare (like sea glass) until we speak…