It must have been very low tide last night, because when we started our walk, the hardpacked sand was exposed for about 10 yards and you could even see these wet muddy flats that do not usually show. It was not a very appealing vista, made even less so by these clumps of kelp (seaweed) deposited by the waves.
Walking with an artist definitely can change your perspective though. Alma spotted a string of kelp that she thought was singularly aesthetically appealing. Alma said that the waves had created sand waves around it whose shape mirrored the shape of the kelp and that there was a contrast between the grittiness of the sand and the smoothness of the kelp. I said it looked like something the sea had puked up after a night of heavy binge drinking. But you can be the judge:
Kelp As Art - November 6, 2010
I was fascinated by their efforts and wished to tarry but we have a policy that once in motion on our walk we will only stop for art's sake. Alma was worried for me and others on the beach and thought they should be flying their plane away from any people. "Silly boy toy," I heard her mutter as we continued to walk away from them. I looked over my shoulder as we walked away and saw them still valiantly trying to keep the plane aloft. They were gone by the time we returned.
Near the Villa Marina jetty, we bumped upon a most curious spectacle. There were two Christmas trees (artificial) set up on the beach and decorated with ornaments and presents. There were other Christmasy items set up in the sand also, including a sign that pointed toward the north pole. Very bizarre. Alma took many pictures, some of which you will see below.
The person had brought all the material out to the beach in a children's red wagon and I circled the wagon to see if I could find any sign of who might have brought the stuff. It seemed abandoned and adrift and there were no obvious signs of whom the material belonged to. So I was about ready to dismiss is as merely the fruit of yet another California eccentric when a woman walked up with a big, fancy camera. Turns out the woman, Stephanie Celine, is a professional photographer and was staging the trees on the beach for holiday cards.
She was quite open to my putting our photos of her Christmas tableaus on my blog. Thank you Stephanie, and I wish you a lot of luck wit your photography business (stephaniecelinephoto.com). It seems Christmas has indeed come a bit early this year for Southern California, so perhaps those lower temperatures yesterday were a harbinger.
yet again I just keep reading and reading. I love it very much. Not sure what the snad one with the seaweed looked like but I thought it was pretty.Keep up the stories I LOVE them very much.
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