I've not posted in a while - this is unusual for me. Last weekend I was away in Newport, Rhode Island where life was was all rest and relaxation... a dip in the pool, a walk in the sand, and a climb upon the rocks to hunt for the perfect pieces of sea glass. I don't know what it is about sea glass... but I adore it - and I love looking for it... carefully combing the sand, and rocks of all sizes, sometimes. It requires a careful and methodical eye, and a certain amount of patience. There's something extremely therapeutic about it... getting lost in the process of the search... tuning out the world... forgetting your troubles and stresses...
Whenever I comb the shores I must search for the perfect faded pieces of glass that wash upon the shore. A perfect piece of sea glass is one that is smooth to the touch with a frosty appearance. My children and I have one rule - If a piece of glass still has a side that is still fairly sharp we toss it back into the ocean until it is ripe for the picking. At the beginning of the season we collect pieces of all sizes, as the summer progresses and our collections grow we tend to leave the smaller pieces behind. It seems that lately most of the sea glass is brown. Sometimes you'll find green or white pieces. Blue, lavender and red sea glass is nearly impossible to find. And when you find a piece that has been deemed "rare," it is a special treat. You can find sea glass just about anywhere the ocean meets the sand. You'll find more earlier in the day before the beach has been picked over and as the tide is rolling out. But by far the best places for sea glass are along the rockier parts of the coast. The glass is washed up onto the rocks and then seems to rest in little craters created by the shifting rocks and tides. I learned this when I was hunting sea glass in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, Marblehead, Massachusetts and Newport, Rhode Island. Whether you're just picking up your first piece or you thousandth piece I must tell you that with certainty you will find love on the rocks!
The above piece is not really ready for picking by our standards, but how could we possibly resist this lovely and brilliant cobalt blue? Where did it come from? Something unique and exotic or perhaps a bottle of Saratoga water that had carelessly been tossed overboard?
