Bounty of the Ocean – Sea Glass and other Treasures
It’s rained here in LA more than it ever has before since we moved to the west coast. Now, it’s such a novelty here, and it makes all the mountains and trails so green and lush, so I don’t mind it one bit. I’m not like the other people here who will start complaining about it. And in fact, I had a meeting cancelled because of the rain – the person didn’t want to drive in it. I thought it was funny. But actually, our here people do treat rain much like northeasterners treat the snow. We talk about the forecast for rain, and follow it closely as the appointed time approaches. We make a run on the grocery store for the essentials like milk and toilet paper (because everyone knows that what everyone does in inclement weather is eat cereal and spend a lot of time in the bathroom.)
What the rains also brought along with them was large waves on the beaches. And what those large waves donated to the cause was lots of stones and treasures from the ocean – right up onto the beach. You can see in this picture – what is normally an almost completely sandy beach is covered with stones.
Darby and I went for a walk on these beach yesterday – it’s right where Topanga Canyon meets PCH, so basically the closest beach to where we live – and were amazed to find lots of sea glass. You know, the kind of glass that’s spent so much time in the ocean being tossed and turned and eroded that it’s now smooth and downright beautiful. There’s a life lesson in there somewhere. (And no, it’s not “pollute all you want, nature will turn your trash into joy!” although you have to admit, this is one case where littering really does pay off.)
Today, we took Lyric and Ollie because we thought they’d love looking for sea glass. I mean really, there were very large amounts – it was very exciting.
Ollie didn’t want to narrow his search to just sea glass, so he found some other very valuable gems.
Softball? Check. Tennis Ball? Check? Golf Ball? Check. Check. Crab claw? Check.Cool Rock, Piece of Brick, Piece of Pottery? Check Check Check. Snail Shell, round thing? Got them. As you can see, it was a very good harvest.
I, however, was something of a purist, wanting to collect only the sea glass. When I said this, Lyric pointed out to me that I would probably make an exception to that rule if I saw ancient gold coins. And yes, I had to admit that she was right. But part of me just liked the idea of having a bag full of nothing by sea glass – and part of me was afraid that rocks and stuff like that might crush or crack my precious cargo.
And by the end of the day, we had together amassed quite an impressive collection. Mostly whites, greens, browns and light blues – but even some of the relatively rare cobalt blue. (Yes, we looked up the rarity of colors online. White is supposed to be the most common, but we found more greens.)
Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. Yes, there are probably a few too many images. But we are proud of our sea glass collection and I want to be sure you see the beauty for what it is – incredible!
This sounds like a WONDERFUL day. I had a friend who used to collect sea glass in jars and then make mosaics out of them. Lovely!
It was a great day – and I didn’t even mention holding baby chicks or eating coconut shrimp or just in general enjoying the sand and water…. the kind of day you hope you’ll always remember.
Oh, and we’re still trying to figure out what we should do with the sea glass. We had talked mosaics or jewelry. But for now it’ll be going on a jar as we figure it out.
Yeah, way cool colors! What a find! Especially on that tiny beach. You guys should totally make a mosaic out of all the sea glass. That would be cool!
There’s a permanence with using them for a mosaic that I’m not comfortable with yet. I realize this makes me strange.
The picture might make the beach looks smaller than it really is. We combed probably a quarter mile stretch of the beach over the course of 2 hours. So fun.
i love the contrast between your “finds” and ollie”s…..what a wonderful day, and life you guys have out there, rain or shine…..
I know. For Ollie the sea glass was just one of many exciting things that he could collect. So while he ended up with a nice little sea glass collection, he was equally if not more excited about the other stuff.
Oh, WOW! I really LOVE sea glass ever since I looked at that famous book about sea glass. I wanted to get it for Darby at one point. How beautiful!
What famous book about sea glass? I need to see this!
Great pics and story. Share with hundreds of other daily sea glass lovers are http://www.OdysseySeaGlass.com
I love sea glass. It looks like you guys hit the mother lode!
I was the one who collected the most the second time! I even got the big light blue one!!
Well of course you did – you had your lucky bamboo staff to lead the way.
Well, that was certainly confusing. That last comment was me, not Goog. She had been logged in.
Wow! It’s beautiful! Save it for the house you will eventually stay in and integrate it somehow – backsplash, bathroom tiles, entryway floor – you get the idea
Michelle – it’s so funny you said that. I had told Darby yesterday that I wanted them to be attached to torchiere lights in the house we’ll someday own, so that they’d be illuminated all the time. Good thinking!!
yeah, definitely put those in your house as a permanent fixture. They’re beautiful.
Are you talking about Ollie’s treasure or the sea glass?
Oh, Ollie’s treasures.
Especially the one that looks kind of like a condom.
Came by from the seaglass site — lovely collection there — and am delighted to find there is another female Darby in the world — that’s my daughter’s name, and I’ve only ever heard it applied to boys and cats [there are a LOT of Darby-cats. go figure.]
Thanks Gwen! I love the name Darby – especially for humans (and actually more specifically for girls) and definitely more than I like it for dogs and cats.
That is an amazing collection! I’m with you on holding off on making it permanent yet. It’s fun to be able to take it back out again and look at it all. From the pictures, it looks like you have enough to make a museum case exhibit! That must have been so fun. Personally, I think finding rocks and such at the beach pretty much equates to wealth for me, so I’m kind of jealous!
And LOL … “pollute all you want, nature will turn your trash into joy!” … I was hoping that was a saying you were going to support … oh well, guess I will just have to keep recycling.
haha, you’re digging into the archives here, aren’t you? Sometime when you come out, we’ll have to go beachcombing for your own special collection.