Wednesday, February 11, 2015

LEFTOVERS

We have always collected rocks and things left by the sea.  As I am approaching the three-quarters of a century mark on this orb, I am finding new interest in this detritus.  I have no idea where these things came from but I enjoy the shapes and patterns that have been formed by nature. There's a copper pot full of them on our back patio which my camera discovered the other day.


These artifacts have come from three seas - the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Mediterranean - over the years.  As well as various and sundry rivers, creeks, lakes and the like.  

There are a few sharp edges but the rolling of waters has smoothed the surfaces in most cases. I find pleasure in the smooth and unpredictable bends and the round shapes caused by the constantly flowing water. It is difficult to comprehend how something as soft as water can abrade the rocks into such curvaceous bodies.

And then there are signs of some forms of life which have etched the surfaces.


You can spend a long time on a warm afternoon contemplating this and trying to ascertain what came before.

It's a pleasant way to avoid the news of the world and escape into a reverie where more mundane things don't matter.

6 comments:

  1. Great collection you have there, and good therapy too! I'm guessing you have something in your pot from the California Central Coast.

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  2. I"m with you here. My garden, as well as the bookshelves inside, are full of collected boulders and stones that have been hauled back from places as diverse as the the streets of Rome outside the Forum, New Zealand beaches, valleys beneath the Great Wall of China, and a ghost town in the Colorado Rockies.

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  3. These shapes are sensual and wonderfully organic. Each item is like a tiny sculpture crafted by nature.

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