this is the shell of a lettered cone snail, which is a predatory sea snail that hunts and eats marine worms. if you are fascinated by its beauty, as i am, you are not alone. even 5000 years ago in mesopotamia, inhabitants of the first urban settlement, called uruk, made necklaces by stringing cone shells together. beauty is in the eye of the beholder, yes, but sometimes beauty is just right there in front of you.

lettered cone shell (conus litteratus)

uzès, france

what i love about this photo is the animalistic thorny spine that makes you want to see this leaf as something alive and a little bit menacing. it’s just a leaf. but it might be something else. beware.

dried teasel leaf

autignac, france

there are few things more exhilarating than a sage green olive grove. and few things more civilized than a plate full of olives, a shallow dish of good olive oil sprinkled over with sea salt, and a loaf of good bread. count me in.

olive tree branches

autignac, france

brand new eggs in a nest of dead twigs. dead feathers left behind by living raptors. the driftwood bones of dead trees washed ashore by the living sea. a gatherer like me is always trafficking in the living and the dead.

feathers, nests, driftwood, and beach rocks

languedoc, france

thank you, prickly palm frond, for this geographically appropriate send-off. we will miss you, languedoc, both your prickliness and your warm mediterranean openness, and we will see you again, sooner than later we hope.

palm frond

autignac, france