tread lightly

ocean mist no. 5 by mika at pinocean

porcelain sand dollar by erin at EveryHeartCrafts

living by the beach in new jersey, the summer officially begins with memorial day... and things will now change dramatically until labor day... personally i love the beach off season, but i understand why summer draws crowds...

as kids, we were familiar with the summer saying 'benny go home' ... benny being an acronym for the stops on the bay head to new york train - bayonne, elizabeth, newark, new york... it was nothing personal, we were just local kids who noticed the influx of people each year... it had to do with being upset with the irreverent treatment of the beach by some visitors (and locals who are just as guilty and should know better)... vacationers are crucial to our local economy - the beach towns have always counted upon summer business for their survival...

here is the issue i have - and i know that i am not alone in this - please just tread lightly... do not treat our beaches as if they were disposable, as if they don't exist when you aren't here... as if the sea birds and ocean life are not affected by your litter... this applies to our whole planet naturally, but i feel a bit protective of the places nearest to me...

call me a scrooge, but my skin crawls when i hear the small boats & jet skis flying through our bay... i know people love these, and i am sure that they are fun... but we have a bird sanctuary here - egrets, osprey, swans, herons, all kinds of ducks and even eagles who also have their little ones about ... the noise and intrusion scare them... we even have an area where horseshoe crabs - dating back to the prehistoric era - come to mate... where is the concern for these true residents of the bay?

'treat the earth well. we do not inherit it from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.' - part of a native american proverb...

so come, enjoy the beaches - there is nothing like the sound of the water pounding on the sand... learning about where to set up when you arrive in the morning if it is low tide- seems like a good idea to sit near the water, right? but then the tide comes in! watching people jump the waves, listening to the sound of laughter and sea gulls screaming... feeling the sun on your skin... finding out that when the water is still cold, there may be crabs in the shallower water... enjoying the wonders of the ecosystem... becoming mesmerized by tiny tide pools on the jetties... holding a sea star... using a seining net, placing your catch in a bucket of cold water & then releasing the life after you look at it... finding hermit crabs on the tide line at low tide... wonder after wonder after wonder...

and then as the sun goes down - walking the boardwalk, playing miniature golf, getting ice cream... & maybe going to the glass blowing studio...

erin's charm and mika's beads make me smile, they both draw inspiration from nature... the work shown reminds me of walking along the beach after a storm, searching for treasures of sea glass, sand dollars and drift wood... they have recreated these things so perfectly - and i thank them for it! mika is currently (and patiently) enduring my requests for custom orders... i already have my charm & when mika's beads arrive, i will anticipate the beads whispering to me...

i can't wait - for the anticipated final design or for the summer fun to begin!