adrift

this driftwood rocked on the waves for years, got skinned and reshaped, tumbled against boulders and sand, and fell on the beach, exhausted and renewed. i feel like driftwood right now, helpless in the midst of forces beyond my control. i’m just trying to fight my way to the surface, although i know i won’t look the same when i reach shore.

drift wood collection

lost dollars

i had hoped to come home with a sackful of these from the sand-dollar rich beaches of florida’s gulf coast. instead, our spring break was cut short, as the enormity of the coronavirus crisis began to make itself clear, and my 80-plus year old mother came to terms with the possibility of being caught in a lockdown in her rented townhome in naples. and so, this image now represents an experience lost, rather than dollars gained. we are home and washing our hands frequently. take care of yourselves.

sand dollars

not just a bunch of urchins

i have sung the praises of sea urchins several times before. their structure and markings have me continually besotted. they manage, like certain clams, to be herd-like and individual all at the same time. except that clams are specifically clam-shaped, whereas sea urchins are suggestively orb-shaped, with intimations of planets and cosmic spheres..

sea urchin shells

sea glass pebbles

this collection of sea glass was from our last trip to france. it comes from the beaches of séte on the mediterranean coast where it can be found in fairly copious quantities. i’ll be looking for more sea glass in naples, florida. but i don’t really recall there being a lot of it there. the development of the west coast of florida is really only about 150 years old. i guess they need another 2000 years of civilization and maritime trade, and, let’s be honest, wine bottles, before they can compete with the mediterranean.

sea glass from the mediterranean

rarity

these odd and beautiful little pods are called sea beans. sea beans are drift seeds. a seed of any of a number of tropical plants growing in coastal areas, the seeds of which are found floating upon ocean currents, by means of which the seeds are dispersed. these seeds here are from from the tropical vine called macuna. and their seeds are often called hamburger beans or ox-eye beans.  macuna vines can grow in tropical florida, but someone once told me these beans more likely floated in from the cariibean. i love their distinctive and graphic markings. i will be keeping an “eye”out  for more.

macuna sloanei seeds