May Tides

Warmer weather and low tides make for a pleasant stroll on the beach.
The newly exposed sand has the same appeal as a pristine snow covered field.  They both invite us to mark our passage with footprints.  The difference on this warm day is that bare feet are the best option for mark making on the beach.  You feel the sand squishing with each step and if your stroll is long enough you may even up with smooth clean feet.  It beats an expensive pedicure.

 For a short time the ocean seems miles away.  In the distance there is a tidal pool between sand bars.  In the foreground, the inter tidal area has a heavy crop of sea lettuce and barnacle covered rocks.  Small crabs that didn't scurry fast enough to keep up with the receding water are hiding underneath the sea weed.

Patches of sand are dotted with small holes indicating the presence of calms.  The crows and gulls have learned to dig out the small butter clams but the creature that made this hole is a bit too large for a crow to tackle.

 Near by a clam digging gull is now trying to open a small butter clam by dropping it over and over onto the rocks.

Clam shells are abundant on the beach after a storm whips up the sandy bottom.  Freshly exposed clams have intricate pattern on their shells but the patterns fade over time.  The shells are collected by beach combers of all ages.  Some of them are used to create temporary art installations on the beach.

shell collection with crab

The old stump in the photo is often decorated with shells or rocks depending upon the availability of materials and the preferences of the "artist".  In this version it carries a variety of shells.  Over the winter the wind and waves will remove most of the shells and every summer a new artist will discover the stump and re-decorate it.

It is common to find piles of broken shells that represent human activity rather than the action of the waves or gulls.  It seems to be another of those natural urges that happen when we are presented with a breakable object (the shell) and a tool to break it (a stone).  There doesn't seem to be any logical reason for breaking up the shells but the activity is so common it must relate to some primal urge.  In any case someone used a cache of broken shells to create the patterns on the tree stump shown in the photo below.


Here's to the artists who have chosen shells as their medium.  Their "environmentally friendly" works may be short lived but they give us insight into the human spirit.