What happened to all the sea glass?

When we go to Maine in the summer, one of my favorite things to do has always been to explore tidepools for treasures.  Years ago I took an 'oceanology for teachers' class on the Atlantic coast, and we spent some time exploring some rocky tidepools.  We sat in the same place for quite some time recording everything we saw, and as time passed, we began to discover all sorts of tiny critters that we didn't notice on first glance.  I've been fascinated with tide pools ever since.

A quickie disclaimer: I usually post to the blog from a laptop or PC, but tonight I'm using the iPad app, which I do not particularly care for.  Hence, the quality of these photos is, I believe, greatly diminished.  And I can't seem to move them around, or control their size.  Sorry!  Hopefully it is 'good enough' for this post.

On our trips to Maine, there are several particularly rocky tide pool locations where I used to find lots of sea glass.  I'd bring it home and put it in pretty glass containers.  But in the last few years, I have been lucky to even find one piece of sea glass.  But, oh, there are jewelry stores on the coast that sell beautiful delicate jewelry made from sea glass.  Where do they find it all? Have they cleaned all the sea glass out the ocean somehow?  

On a visit to a rocky beach at low tide this year, I was poking through tide pools when I began to notice bits of bright color.  So I started to collect, and I came home with a crazy assortment of treasures, definitely not sea glass! 

Yes, there's a Lego in there, and part of a whistle, and a broken bobber.  And the all those colorful rubber bands- we believe they are the kind that are put on lobster claws.  Perhaps a lobsterman dropped them overboard by mistake? 

And a kazoo, and the little yellow horse.

And this peculiar Pac-Man shaped slice of wood.  

So, I brought all this stuff home, gave it a good cleaning, and now am going to incorporate it all in some sort of mixed media work of art, though I have no idea quite what, yet.  Feel free to make suggestions!

Meanwhile, has anyone else read the book Moby Duck? (No, not Moby Dick, which is probably my least favorite book that I read, ever!). It's Full title: 'Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, who Went in Search of Them'.  

Or how about '10 Little Rubber Ducks' by Eric Carle?  The book is based on this same true story of a shipment of rubber bathtub toys that fell overboard from a container ship.  The fact is, there's some real crazy stuff out there in the ocean.  Though I haven't found a rubber duck, I do think my little horse is kind of adorable.

 

And for something really goofy, there's a whole Facebook page related to the shipload of Legos that were washed into the sea by a wave (about 5 million pieces of Lego!) in 1997!  Perhaps my Lego is one of those pieces?  

If you are intrigued, you can find it here:  https://www.facebook.com/LegoLostAtSea

What's the craziest thing you've ever found on the beach?

Mainely Maine

 So I planned for this to be an art ed post about creating art with roofing felt, but I have postponed it because when I looked at some of the photos, I realized I needed to re-shoot a few for better quality.  I'm rather picky about photos.  So  in the meantime...

 

...I'm going to do a vacation-sharing post with you!  This past week we were in beautiful Kennebunkport Maine.  Which means, of course, it was time for our annual family beach sand sculpture ridiculousness at lovely Goose Rocks Beach.  In past years our 'best' work has included a cat/mouse standoff, a couple of dragons, an octopus, a Buddha-like cat, and an alligator.  But we were stumped this year, and in the end decided on this large and silly snail, which we named Melvin.  We are by no means sand sculpture authorities; we are just a family having fun at the beach.  So, what Melvin lacked in sophistication, was more than compensated by his monumental size.

 My son, who joined us for the weekend from his home in Boston, dug the sand pile with my husband, and I did the basic design and shaping, with assistance from my son.  My husband found a couple of rosehip buds that became perfect eyes, placed on top of hollow sticks, and my son shaped a piece of kelp into the mouth. Here we are with our work.

 Melvin surveys the incoming tide with trepidation!

Shark! (or maybe driftwood...)

 My  husband and I also spent a day at beautiful Parson's Beach, where I photographed all the driftwood and the crazy blue skies (with a little help from my polarizer).

Below, I caught hubby in what looks to me like a Georgia O'Keeffe moment!

And then another day, on a walk through a nature preserve, we made a beach discovery, at the Wells Preserve at Laudholm Farm.

 First, we walked about 1/2 mile through a wetland trail.

 And found ourselves here.

 Enormous stretches of the most spectacular beach at low tide, with almost nobody there!

I followed my son, also with camera in hand, across sand and tide-pools, for what seemed like miles. He had discovered this tidal inlet (below) that had a reddish cast to the water due to the clay underneath, I presume.  That weird hunk of 'rock' on the right was actually sort of spongy underfoot.  Some sort of clay formation I presume? 

And of course, we ate our fair share of lobsters, clams, and more, but I'll spare you from looking at photos of food.  This isn't Facebook, after all.

When it was threatening to rain, we spent an hour or two roaming around the Old House Parts Company, which we discovered on a rainy day last year.   I took these photos there.

 If you ever need a doornob (they have thousands) or a door, a hinge or a window,  bathtub or a sink, or any of a zillion other strange and wonderful things, this is the place to go! 

 I'll finish this post with a view of a rainstorm over the Goat Island Lighthouse, as seen from Cape Porpoise.  Next post, roofing felt!  Lesson ideas galore!  I promise!!!!