Hulls Cove, Maine; March 6, 2014 (Beachcombing series No.73a & b)

Beachcombing series No.73a

 Aluminum can lid, Dog Whelk (Nucella lapillus), driftwood, Slipper Shell (Crepidula fornicata), plastic spoon, some kind of kelp attached to a stone encrusted with coralline (Corallina officinalis), plastic bits, Soft-shell Clam (Mya arenaria), sea glass, 30-year-old soda can top, Blue Mussel (Mytilus edulis), Knotted Wrack (Ascophyllum nodosum), Razor Clam (Ensis directus)

I’ve had lots of adventures this past month, and can’t wait to catch you up on everything (hint: Barcelona)! For starters, we’re going to time-travel back two months and look at the most recent Beachcombing series entry, No.73. It’s full-on spring right now, but back in March it was just past midwinter: 12ºF, bright sun, slight breeze.

It was bitterly cold, so of course I went wading. My boots kept the water out nicely, but man, even in snowboots and wool socks your feet get awfully cold in ice water!  Beachcombing is tricky when everything is frozen to the ground. The sand was like concrete, and I utterly failed to extract a razor clam – it broke apart as I tried to dig it out. Chip it out, really.

The tide was farther out than I’ve ever seen it, maybe because it was dead low tide when I started. I don’t usually time my expeditions that well.

The herring gulls were busy dropping mussels from a great height to break them open on the rocks. There was a flock of mallards in the distance, and another flock of something black-and-white, but even with my telephoto I couldn’t see them well enough to ID them. Eiders, maybe.

I often find slipper shells at Hulls Cove, but they are usually bleached white and a little boring to photograph. I went way out to the edge of the water and found dozens of pink ones just under the water. Debate ensued: is it worth putting my bare fingers into not-quite-frozen water when the air is 12º? Yes, of course. I couldn’t get many before my bones started complaining, so I used the toe of my boot to push more of the out of the water while unsuccessfully trying to dry my fingers on my waterproof snow pants. Not sure if I’m nuts or stubborn. My fingers had just started to thaw out clenched in my pocket when I saw this:

Is it red sea glass (in which case, definitely worth risking frostbite) or part of a plastic auto tail light? Usually red shards around here are tail lights … . Of course I had to pick it up; I don’t call myself the Insatiably Curious Beachcomber for nothing. And no, it wasn’t plastic, but it wasn’t quite sea glass, either. A shard of broken glass, or raw sea glass, depending on how you look at it. My disappointment was as short-lived as my attention span – by the time I finished sorting my driftwood and shells and trash, I’d forgotten the red shard.

Why did it take two months to turn the raw material into a still life? Well, the short answer is that my camera broke! It took me a week of testing to admit that the focus had mysteriously gone wrong, and ship my baby to the camera hospital. Then I ended up making two compositions from my finds, and here is the second version:

Beachcombing series No.73b

Which do you prefer?

Meanwhile, I have three plates of material waiting for new photos – one from Maine, and two from Spain! I’ve been posting iPhone shots of my finds and travels on my Instagram feed, if you just can’t wait 😉 http://instagram.com/jennsbooher