How Time Flies ~ November Tides and Full Moon

Wow, time is flying by.

Today, I was just wasting time, playing on the computer and I came across a site that listed info on
the moon. Some of the info showed when the November full moon is and that it closely follows the
moon in perigee (Perigee is when the moon is closest to the earth). I'm sitting there with my laptop, telling
my DH, that it's almost going to be a perigee moon in November.. His response was....it is November.

It's already November...where did October disappear to? And omg, I better get moving on some sea glass
jewelry for my shop...and the perigee tides started yesterday. And the full moon is Thursday...lol. And of course, my next day off from work is Sunday, so I will miss it all. (Sorry no pix yet...just some jewelry)

)

Luckily, DH went to the beach today and was gone for almost 3.5 hours. I was a little jealous that I couldn't
go and although he said he really could have used my patience, it didn't help much. He told me the shell beds were back...spread all over the beach! The kind of beds that I can spend an 30 minutes on, closely examining what the tide left behind (my DH is a scan and move on type of sea glass hunter...I like to see the shells & the driftwood while looking for sea glass...I might be able to use them in my creating)

So DH comes back with a pocketful of seaglass. And a pocketful of tops of bottles, nicely worn down from tumbling around in the ocean for who knows how long... a couple of soft blue tops, probably old Coke bottles and one with a very large opening...maybe an old gallon milk jug? It wasn't quite done, the outside is frosted, but the inside is smooth and not frosted at all (he brought it home for me to see) He also found a piece of pottery...our first piece in almost 5 years! I don't know how much time it was in the ocean...maybe it could have used a little more time, but the edges were very smooth, so home it came.

He probably came home with more sea glass than we found on the beach all summer and early fall. Nothing that is really jewelry quality, but a few pieces I am happy to add to my collection. Besides the bottle tops, there is a partial bottle bottom, an quarter size olive piece and a smaller light honey or maybe citron-ish piece. There is also a few nicer browns and a green that will go into a decorative jar. The rest will go into a pail, waiting for a project that needs browns or greens.

So the moon is in perigee...it's closer to the earth than it probably has been in the last 4 or 5 months and a full moon is due on Thursday. The tides will be extreme and hopefully they will leave behind a few more treasures.

I wonder if I can talk him into going back again tomorrow? I love coming home to see my table loaded with new sea glass waiting for me to look at.

'til next time...
R

Sea Glassing After A Full Moon

On New Year's Eve, we had a Blue Moon which was accompanied by a brutal blast of cold air with vicious winds from Canada. The combo of western winds and a full moon led to something I don't recall ever seeing before... a low water level warning that was in effect for about 60 hours over the past weekend.

Now there was no way I was going out searching for sea glass, but Kevin doesn't have any problem roughing it (I guess all those years of playing hockey has made him a bit tolerant of the cold, but...)
And boy did he ever "rough it".

25 degree temps with 30 miles (wind chill temp was a brisk 9 degrees) per hour winds, gusting to 40mph+...at least the water was a balmy 38 degrees. Worse yet, the low tide was in the late afternoon, so very little warming effect from the sun.

The first trip yielded about 75 or 80 pieces of sea glass including several blues (cornflower, cobalt) a bunch of greens (mostly kelly, but he did find a couple olives and a pretty lime green) and lots of browns and whites...one of which was already turning lavender in the setting sun.

One of my favorite finds of the that trip was a blue shard with printing on it. Kevin found it behind what was once a barrier placed in front of the dunes. The last time I was out on the beach, I went behind this barrier to search the shells that were left behind from the Nor'easter that wiped out the dunes. Kevin happened to be passing the barrier on the way back to the car (trying to get close to the dunes to cut the wind) when he noticed a huge pile of shells left behind from a recent high tide...and there is was, a huge shard- very light cornflower blue, and about 2.5" in length, by 2" wide. It is lightly frosted, but I'm not sure if the shard was buried in the sand and uncovered by the severe tides we've experienced this fall/winter, or if it washed up.
But trying to uncover the mystery of what this shard was in it's original life will be a fun winter project!

The 2nd trip for Kevin was a bit rougher... steady winds in the 30-40 mph range, an hour later in the day and it was pretty much overcast...so not even the slightest bit of warming from the sun. And that isn't even the half of it....

When Kevin arrived, he was a bit disappointed that the ocean didn't appear to be as far back as he thought..but there was still opportunity for sea glassing. As he walked to his favorite stretch of beach, he noticed a blue piece of sea glass in the surf. He was timing the waves and made his move... as he was reaching for the piece (which he estimated at nearly an inch in length...and cornflower blue) he felt a rush of very cold water soaking his right foot. Distracted, he looked down to notice that the water was only about 3-4 inches up his boots...as the receding current took the shard back into deeper water. Walking back out of the water, he wiped the sand off the boot and noticed two gashes on his right boot, about an inch long...he must have had a shell or something slice into the boot on his last trip out : (

Despite the cold water soaking his foot, he stayed out on the beach, searching the shell beds and came home with nearly 50 more pieces of sea glass. But he was quite disappointed because he said there were at least that many more in 5 or 6 inches of water that he couldn't get to. The winds, dropping temps and a soaked foot made it tough for him to stay out much more than an hour (I would've been back in the car after 10 minutes) but he did bring home a couple more cobalts, and a 2" piece of very dark olive green. He still upset for not snagging the blue piece that got away, but the two day outing yielded over 120 pieces of sea glass, and a couple are jewelry quality pieces.

I guess I should grab him a new pair of boots... : )

Happy New Year everyone!

'til next time....

R

The Last Full Moon of the 2009

New Years Eve will offer a third full moon for the month of December...and offer a prime opportunity to add to our sea glass collections on New Years Day.

I was able to get to the beach during November's full moon and the conditions were almost perfect for sea glassing...west wind, severe tides...if it weren't for the late afternoon low tide with the sun quickly sinking to the west, it would have been as close to perfect as possible (as close as temps in the mid-to high 30s will allow)
Illness and foul weather wiped out my chance to get to the beach early in December, so I'm really looking forward to hitting the beach and hunting for some ocean gems to start off 2010.

Here's hoping for a stiff western wind, 30 - 40 minutes of light during low tide and a severe low tide... Cobalt Beach is where I'll be heading and I'll be dreaming of finding that elusive orange piece...wow, that would be a great way to begin 2010!


til next time...

R