Trash ??

They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

 If you believe that to be true, I guess Lisa and I have been trash pickers for many years.

About 15 years ago Lisa asked me to spend some time on a small beach along the coast of Maine.

 We were on vacation and spending a day at the coast. 

Although my initial reaction was less than enthusiastic, I agreed, and we started scouring the beach for the small remains of someone’s discarded trash.

Hey, I found a small white one she said. Within a few minutes she had found several incredibly smooth and polished pieces of sea glass of assorted colors.

If you are not familiar with Sea Glass, it’s simple. 

Bottles, plates, jars, you name it. Almost any level of trash finds its way into our oceans. 

Over the years, decades and more, the ocean smashes and shapes the glass.

 The ocean's currents and waves combined with our rocky coastline round all the edges and smooth out the glass making a small gem for the finder, a gem that was once just trash discarded into the ocean. 

As if taking the bad it was given, the ocean turns it into something worth searching for.

Although I hesitantly began my search for sea glass 15 years ago, I will confess we go at least 2 to 3 times a year and I really enjoy it! 

We often spend a warm winter day walking on a beach looking down.

I have found glass of every color. Some that I know was once simply a beer bottle transformed into a small gem. Others I know are OLD and remnants of a day long gone by.

I have brown, green, white, clear, pink, purple, red, dark blue (like the old milk of magnesia bottles) and everything in between.

Most are white and brown but the thrill of finding a rare color is hard to explain. 

Although I know it’s just a piece of glass whose story I will never really know, it is a treasure and a delight to find those rare colors and imagine what the story behind each piece might be.

It’s a very fun hobby! 

The sad part to this story is that over the past 15 years Lisa and I have searched for Sea Glass on every stretch of beach we have visited along the Maine coast, and we have yet to fail to bring home treasures. 

Although we consider each piece a treasure to collect and save (see picture) it’s a testament to exactly how much glass trash there is in our Maine oceans. 

The good news for treasure seekers is that every coastal storm or every extreme high tide sweeps in potential new treasures waiting to be found. 

Pieces that have been cast about our ocean for who knows how long, waiting to be found and appreciated by someone who can see the treasure within the trash. 

In the pictures below, one is Lisas hand with a recent gathering from a beach near owl’s head light house. We visited Owl’s head last week and decided to try our luck at a beach nearby. 

It was about 30 minutes’ worth of searching for the two of us.

The other is what we have collected over the years in a Quart canning jar.

It is time to start a new jar!