beach day
Last week Rick and I took a Wednesday off - unheard of! - and drove over to the coast. There's nothing like a shot of ocean to get the juices flowing. We'd intended it to be an actual day off, and stopped at one of those lovely Oregon beaches with the huge rocks and crashing surf. It was still foggy, but we didn't care. We skipped on down to the beach like six year olds, gulped in the sea air, and waved greetings to the dear Pacific Ocean. It didn't take long before my eyes went to the rocky ground on the beach and started looking for treasures. I'm always on the lookout for treasures, and I usually find them. The huge rocks in the water gave way to smaller ones on the beach, and then even smaller ones, well on their way to becoming sand. And so, being the always-on-call beadist that I am, I sat right down and started sifting through handfuls of tiny pebbles, looking for just the right ones to put inside of beads. Rick helped too. He likes to help. And there was something oddly relaxing about picking over such tiny objects in such a big place, looking for just the right ones, taking only what we needed, and leaving the rest.
After a while, the tide came up and shooed us away, as if to say, Enough work! Go play! So we drove on up the coast, eventually finding sun, crab sandwiches, and beer. Later we walked with the dogs on a long, empty beach, with one little finger of fog clinging to the coast just ahead of us. The way the sun hit it created a pure white rainbow, something I didn't even know existed. We walked and walked, trying to catch up to it and stand in that incredible light. We never did, of course, but we did find even more treasures on that glowing stretch of sand. Rick found a big shell fossil, and I found a fist size rock with a hole all the way through it. A bead! What a fitting gift!
Back home, I got out a glass globe from my stash, and started tucking tiny pebbles inside. I sealed it up with sterling silver, preserving a bit of one beautiful day like a snapshot of time. I didn't keep it. Didn't need to. I have the memory in my head, and enough pebbles to make one or two more beads before I have to go back to the coast and replenish again.
After a while, the tide came up and shooed us away, as if to say, Enough work! Go play! So we drove on up the coast, eventually finding sun, crab sandwiches, and beer. Later we walked with the dogs on a long, empty beach, with one little finger of fog clinging to the coast just ahead of us. The way the sun hit it created a pure white rainbow, something I didn't even know existed. We walked and walked, trying to catch up to it and stand in that incredible light. We never did, of course, but we did find even more treasures on that glowing stretch of sand. Rick found a big shell fossil, and I found a fist size rock with a hole all the way through it. A bead! What a fitting gift!
Back home, I got out a glass globe from my stash, and started tucking tiny pebbles inside. I sealed it up with sterling silver, preserving a bit of one beautiful day like a snapshot of time. I didn't keep it. Didn't need to. I have the memory in my head, and enough pebbles to make one or two more beads before I have to go back to the coast and replenish again.
I love that the pebbles in the bottle are hand-selected from the beach. What a beautiful thing.
ReplyDeleteI love your snapshot, Kim.
ReplyDelete