End of Summer

Vacation was last week. Overall, the sea glass hunting was pretty good. Some high-quality pieces for sure. I'll follow up with photos.

We hit some new beaches in the area, as well as ol' faithful. The others were not very fruitful. Our "usual" came through, especially in some new-for-us, uncombed areas.

I have plenty of sea glass to write about -- and I'm looking forward to it.

Sea Glass in Parade Magazine

Did you see the article in this past Sunday's Parade magazine? My folks (part of the Dad's Sea Glass Challenge brigade) showed it to me. Nice stuff. Visit the online content at the link below:

http://www.parade.com/news/slideshows/editors-pick/100801-spectacular-sea-glass.html

We long-time sea glass prospectors (and you know who you are) are ahead of our time!

2010 -- Its Been A While

Since my work entails blog posting for a corporation, as a website manager, I know that photos matter (SEO and all). My older posts have included photos, too. I wanted to get started this year with "just the right post". It was going to have a photo of my "quad-fecta": clear, brown, green, and blue glass found on our first 2010 outing. I should have just gotten going! Better late than never.

That first day was Memorial Weekend. That was a nice day. It was sunny, but cold. The hunting was pretty good. Nothing crazy, but, as I mentioned, I hit for the "quad-fecta". Not bad for the first day out.

The funny thing about wanting the perfect post is that I can't find that blue piece now. I laid out the pieces I was going to feature and, when I couldn't locate the camera, set the glass aside -- but in a well traveled spot. I hoping its behind the radiator right where I placed everything. I hate to think Dad's Sea Glass Challenge has gotten too competitive and someone took it.

Regarding the Challenge, the kids came in 1 and 2. There was a big gap between them, and then another big gap to me (Dad) in third. We brought home hundred's of pieces and a few really great ones. A lot was tiny junk, but stuff that will look nice in a vase. Only a hand-full are "specimen" quality. I'm not sure how to display those. We'll see.

The good thing about getting a late start on posts is that it will take me a while to catch up!

2009 Not Over Yet

We haven't created the final tally for the season. With school starting before Labor Day, the Summer was suspended abruptly. Nothing can change the standings, though. Everyone is separated by so much, the last few days counts won't make a difference. Its safe to say dad (me), didn't win this years Dad's Sea Glass Challenge. However, I had a great time trying!

Mid-July Update

I am declaring the "winter deposit" theory officially debunked. As you'll see from the counts below (and my previous post), it all depends on the conditions that day. We've had great days and days that were just okay. Beautiful and fun, though, they all were.

8/8: 185 pieces (47 and 46 by the kids)! Insane catch. We came down within two days of a storm and what a difference that makes. There were several pebble mounds scattered on the beach. Sifting through the pebbles revealed many peices. They were along the beach and in the water, too. Out of the total, only a handful were what I would call "jewelry quality" -- and small at that.

I would love to see a time-lapsed film of the storm and the waves depositing all those pebbles.

8/14: 63 pieces. Less than a week later and the pebble mounds were gone. It was a bit less frenzied, though, which was nice. I took my time on the way back and found the piece of a lifetime -- see the pictures. Its larger than most we find, and completely, evenly worn. The pitting on the "outside" is quite deep; several grains of sand are embedded. For me, its an exciting find.

8/16: 32 pieces. We hit the beach at a bad time in the tide cycle. The waves weren't right, either. We all knew there was more, but not to be found that day. The nicest piece that day was part of a brown bottle-top ring -- maybe 20% of the circle, and nicely frosted.

Vacation is coming. We'll be on the beach for days. We'll be able to easily go at unusual times of day. It will be interesting to see what we find.

Geting Caught Up

Its been a while since my last post. Thank June's wash-out weather for part of it. Its been very rainy here, but fortunately, we have had good days in July.

I think my theories on geology/hydrology have won out. Initially, it looked like the "winter's deposit" theory, that the most glass would be available early and then the supply would wane, would win. Its been up and down as you'll see below, which argues for my theory.

There we two "in competition" days in the spring. Since then, we've been to the site of competition 4 times...

7/5: 37 total pieces (vs. 80 and 64 previously). There was even distribution amongst the participants, which we haven't seen since.

7/11: 78 total pieces with one person finding 39! The competition kind of blew apart on this day. I am still in second, but by a huge margin now. Oh, the monster I've created!

7/17: 1 piece. Very frustrating day. Very little "material" on the beach -- as smooth and wide at low-tide as I have ever seen it. The random seaweed piles didn't help. I fortunately found the only piece of the day (in 6 inches of water): a nice chunky browny. I am pleased to be the only one without a "zero" day, so far.

7/25: 23 total peices. Not a great day for me. I only found two. One was good. The other qualified for our competition, but wasn't that nice. It was cloudy when we went walking, so it was hard to spot the pieces. Oh well.

So far, our total is many multiples of last year. The erratic catch tells me there is plenty out there, it just depends on the conditions.


One additional note: I found a small, but nice, green piece -- on the bay side of Cape Cod! At first I didn't think the wave action was rough enough, then, I didn't see any glass. Finally, while talking to a relative on our last day, I looked down and there it was in one of my footprints! Nice.

Memorial Day

It was a beautiful weekend where we are. It deserved a beach trip, and the sea glass was calling, anyway.

It was low-tide for the time we were there. The beach was wider and flatter than most recalled seeing in many years. That's a good sign. Winter was good to the beach this year. We'll have to see what that does to the surf, though. Hopefully its not too smooth this year.

Upon my first look down the beach, I thought the sea glass hunting would be weak. It was so smooth and flat -- and the waves very gentle. I did find two peices right in front of where we set our chairs (in a populated area), so I was encouraged. When we all set out, everyone followed their usual patterns of placement on the beach and speed down it.

I find I have to be in a Zen frame of mind: open to seeing what's revealed, rather than trying to actively see what I want. I prefer the strand (waters edge) and the slowest speed. The sea glass "reveals" itself to me better there!

We had a great day as far as total count was concerned: 64 pieces. That is not as high as the one day in April (see previous post), but more than last season's total. There were no pebble fields this time, so I'm sticking to my geology/hydrology theory. Some of the peices were tiny, but a few are the chunkiest we've found. Nice.

The days will start rolling now. Hopefully every day will be as nice as yesterday.