When I was a girl living near the ocean, I was enamored by what its waves brought to the shore. Of course, I found shells. But I was more interested in sea glass, which the ocean created from what people discarded in its waters. I still am.
My other obsession, pinecones, developed later in life.
Hank and I do collect art, including prints, paintings, and pottery. I have my book collection. But I so love finding and keeping what the natural world leaves behind.
As a girl growing up in an ocean-side town, I spent so much time on its beaches. Walking them, I found bits of glass, sanded so smooth, they couldn’t cut you. Most were likely from soda and beer bottles tossed from boats. Others came from the contents of homes destroyed by hurricanes. Most pieces were green, brown, a light turquoise, and clear with the rarer red or deep blue, plus bits of ceramics.
When I was a college student with a minor in art, I created a large collage of the sea glass I owned then for a class. I called it Eckhart’s Phobia after a friend who had a fear of finding broken glass in his food. I am sorry I gave that collage away.
Later in life, I began collecting sea glass whenever I was on a beach. However, it noticeably has become rarer to find as beverages are now most likely contained in plastic. That’s my collection in the jar above. By the way, I am skeptical of jewelry makers selling pieces supposedly made of sea glass. Most likely, they were created in a tumbler.
Ah, but pinecones remain as plentiful as the trees that make them. My first was a gift from my sister, Christine, who brought back a pinecone when she went to California for a job interview. The gift resonated with me. I loved how the pinecone’s hard, woody plates spiraled around its core stem. I still do.
Over the years, I have collected pinecones of varying shapes and sizes that I’ve found in various parts of our country. I even bought a couple of interesting large ones in secondhand stores.
Like sea glass, I consider pinecones a simple gift from nature to treasure. My question to you: are you a collector?
