#beachcoming

[espr1t]

Snapshots from a fulfilling weekend. Cat snuggles, my nasturtium blooming, whale watching while drinking coffee and eating breakfast, beachcombing to my heart's content, and a late afternoon hike with friends and kitty.

[sillyjimjam]

crystals and beach finds 💎🐚

[molieresphotography]

Beachcombing treasures. It’s the little things. Copyrights Val Moliere, Palma de Mallorca, Feb 2019

[huckleberrycomics]

How to Go Beachcombing

Step One: Only go at low tide. You will find interesting things and terrible things washed up on the shore. Keep a careful eye on the moon and on the time. You do not want to be here when the water comes rushing back in. You do not want to be here.

Step Two: Close your eyes. Stand perfectly still. Do not move. Listen to the birds, and the waves lapping at the shore and crashing on the rocks. Listen to the wind making the trees creak. Feel the earth swaying below you. Taste the copper in your mouth. Do not stand still for long.

Step Three: Walk along the edge of the water. Watch your feet as you walk. Count the seashells that wash up with the tide. Pick up the bottle caps and plastic straws. Watch your feet as you walk. Do not let the water touch you. Do not look back. Watch your feet as you walk. Watch your feet as you walk.

Step Four: Collect seashells. Make them into a pattern that will be washed away. You may take one home, if you wish. Only one. No, not that one. Never that one.

Step Five: Pick up the longest, largest piece of kelp with the biggest bulb that you can find. Take your knife, cut the tail off and cut the fronds off the top. Cut the top off. It should look like a trumpet. Find a safe spot, well away from the water, high up on a rock. Hold onto the craggy, windswept tree as you crouch by the edge. Purse your lips and blow into your trumpet. Let the noise be carried over the sea. Don’t look down at the shore. You don’t want to see what answers your call.

Step Six: Do not ever toss rocks into the sea. They will be brought back to you. You don’t want to know by what.

Step Seven: Find a large stick. Draw a message in the wet sand. Do not turn your back to the ocean as you do. Be sure to only write kind words. Tell the sand nothing about yourself.

Step Eight: Turn over rocks, but only the right ones. Do not flinch away at what you find, no matter what. Be prepared for anything. Do not turn over a rock unless you are ready to see what’s underneath.

Step Nine: Sit on a log and watch the sun set. Count the colours in the sky. Listen to the waves and the strange singing that floats over the ocean, carried by the wind. Watch the sky grow gradually darker and darker. Watch the first stars come out.

Feel confused, because it’s still only three o’clock in the afternoon. Do not look away.

Do not look away.

Do not look away.

If you like my content, please consider reblogging to support my work! Every reblog helps <3

You can donate here

Link to Tapastic

[portalithics]

Small boulder, riddled with agate. Short Beach, Tillamook County, Oregon. May 30th 2016.

[nleepez]

Beachcombers

[drfloundus]

365/100 April 10th I found a dollar. #sandsollar #beachcoming #asburyparknj #asburyparkbeach #dealnj #dealbeach #latergram #365photoproject https://www.instagram.com/p/Cebdo9JLkCu/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[moongladecraft-blog]

Beachcombing

I’ve never really considered myself an artist, but more of a maker. I don’t paint or illustrate, or sing or play an instrument. I love using my hands though, and I love creating things, ideally with objects that have been otherwise discarded. I suppose that the intention is there then, to create something beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, and maybe that’s what art is? Anyway, I’m not actually here to debate these things.

Living with the beach on my doorstep and a tonne of time on my hands, beachcombing has become a way to practise mindfulness and becoming comfortable with my own thoughts. Of course, every kid who goes to the beach picks up pretty shells, but when you end up with countless containers of various colours of seaglass, shells, and pebbles it becomes time to make something from them. And to be perfectly honest, as soon as I decided to get creative the inspiration hasn’t stopped. Chunks of frosted seaglass become suncatchers, pottery is unique jewellery, and driftwood has pretty endless possibilities. 

I also have a bit of a habit of picking up new hobbies. Macrame, crochet, weaving, wire wrapping and jewellery making are a few that have stuck, and that’s probably why I make things that are mixed medium in the truest sense of the word. I’m not sure if my hangings are appealing to other people, but there is something so rewarding about spotting a unique piece of seaglass, pottery, or driftwood on the beach, picking it up, cleaning it, and turning it into something greater. 

It sounds dramatic but beachcombing has helped me like nothing else has, and I think that doctors should probably prescribe a course of it for many things. Focussing on nothing other than the sand and pebbles in front of you and what they may be hiding forces you to connect with nature and to appreciate the small things. But it is very easy to become fixated on the sand and to miss what you’re surrounded by, so one rule I follow is to remind myself to take little breaks every so often, and to look up. Standing with your feet in the sea (even if you’ve got wellies on..)  has got to be one of the nicest feelings in the world. 

Some other rules I follow...

1. Smile and say hello to every doggo. Obviously. 

2. Smile at fellow beach-goers. The nice ones anyway.

3. Thank Mother Nature on every beach trip. She never fails to provide an amazing selection of objects every single time I go hunting, and I can’t help but think that she always knows what I’m after. It’s the same reason that I never feel competition with fellow beach-goers, they’re probably looking for things that I’m not and one of us has better eyesight than the other anyway. One person's trash and all that... 

4. Take as much plastic rubbish as possible. A spare bag is always a good idea.

5. Don’t wipe out the beach of all its treasure. Leave some for other beachcombers and the creatures who live there. 

6. Don’t be stupid. Land erodes and tides change. There’s been a lot of landslips on my local beach which has made it pretty impossible to explore since the storms. Hence I’m writing about beachcombing instead of actually doing it..