Foto Friday . . . trash or treasure?

Yesterday, I went to Galveston, to the beach . .

and there it was, the seaweed. Lots, and lots of it.

I would say that the majority of people find the seaweed, well nasty.

On the other hand, I'm over the moon when I find masses of it.

I got out of the car and headed towards the beach.

The first thing I did was start picking up clumps of the seaweed and shaking it.

You see, it's not just seaweed, it's life.

It provides shelter and food and is such an incredible habitat

that plays an important role in the life cycle of hundreds of marine animals.

Shortly after I started "shaking" a man came over and was curious as to what

I was doing. I explained to him that I was looking for the critters that live in this sargassum seaweed.

 As we were talking a few sargassum shrimp fell out and he called

his kids over to look at it. Our excitement peeked more curiosity and before I knew

it there was a handful of people shaking the seaweed!

He confessed to me that when they first got there that their thoughts were, ugh seaweed.

And now that he knew there were things living in it his perspective has changed to, wow seaweed.

I love that.

The first photo is a sargassum shrimp - it looks just like a frond from the seaweed.

The second photo is a sargassum crab, and she has an egg sac under her tail!

The first photo, and I'm just guessing here, looks like an egg sac of some kind. All of those yellow

ribbons are actually made up of what looks like little yellow eggs.

And then....he came over to show me something I have never seen before, and we figured it was some kind of snail or slug.  It's called a sargassum nudibranch or sea slug.

I decided to leave this spot and head to my "go to", park right on the beach and back up spot

so that I didn't have to carry my chair and had better access to my car for my nets and buckets and . . . .

Wow, there was so much seaweed that there was no direct access to the shoreline except for walking

over all the seaweed and wading knee deep in it. And in order to find anything I had to be where all the

fresh seaweed was. Hmmm, at first it was a little strange having so much seaweed thrown against my legs

by the waves, but . . . and hang on to your seats, I finally found something I have looked for but never seen.

My eye caught a glimpse of of something white so I quickly grabbed a large clump and through it on top of

the already piled up seaweed and there it was, a sargassum fish also known as an angler, or frog fish.

And it was beautiful!

I was at first hesitant to pick it up or handle it with some many appendages, not knowing if it would sting,

but, I'm still alive! lol  It was so calm, most small fish just try to flop around but he was so gentle.

My only disappointment was that I had no one else to share it with, I was the only one there, but

now I get to share it with you.

{Foto Friday - shadows}

Meet the sanderlings . . . one very fast flying bird and hard to capture!

{shoot, edit, submit}

This week Bonnie gave us the challenge of making photo art from our favorite book or our choice.

I'm not much of a novel reader, but in keeping with words I decided to add a quote to mine instead. I didn't

do much to this other than a pencil sketch, I just liked the simplicity of this.

{Photo Art Friday}

You have no idea how hard it was not to share all my pictures from this last week.... I think I have enough to last me a lifetime. There is just something about the beach (and flowers) that I simply can't get enough of.

"The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient.

One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach - waiting for a gift from the sea."

-Ann Morrow Lindbergh

I met some really fabulous people yesterday on the beach. I loved sharing with them my love of nature

and I love that they were curious. I even daydreamed about having an explore the beach class with children.

You know, I titled this post trash or treasure because it's all in how we look at it.

As the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure, but only because

we lack the knowledge to understand why.

Happy weekend!

Love Kim,

XO

  

Foto Friday - A sunrise and a beach walk

 

The sun rises,

and nature wakes up

there is an instant reminder

we are alive

The ocean,

it has the ability

to heal our hearts

and to bring joy to our minds and our souls.

 A common sight among Galveston beaches between May and August is a gulfweed, or seaweed called sargassum which grows in dense intertwined mats in the Sargasso Sea. The Sargasso Sea, in the North Atlantic Ocean, is surrounded by ocean currents and is the only 'sea' without shores.



Different parts of the island vary in their management of the seaweed. There are some areas that are raked and others like the Galveston Island State Park which is a natural area and no raking occurs. The seaweed that ends up at the base of the dunes is important in helping to establish other dune systems, which absorb wave energy during hurricanes and protects the sand from wave erosion.

 

Foto Friday - A sunrise and a beach walk

 

The sun rises

and nature wakes up

there is an instant reminder

we are alive

The ocean

and its ability to heal our hearts

brings joy to our minds

and wakes our souls

-Kim

Finally, after three visits to watch the sunrise, we actually got to 'see' the sun rise!
I really do wish I could watch it everyday,
because it's painted with a different brush
and a different color palette
on each new morning!

Three minutes later.....

And then another 6 minutes . . .

After the sunrise, we drove to Galveston for a walk on the beach, and to relax. But it's that time of year again for the seaweed, which between May and August is a common sight along Galveston beaches. It's a gulfweed, called sargassum which grows in really dense mats in the Sargasso Sea, and this year it's the worst it has been in 10 years. The Sargasso Sea, in the North Atlantic Ocean, is the only sea that has no coastline. Yep, it's completely surrounded by water and known for its deep blue color, very warm and very clear water. When large masses of it break off and hit the gulf currents, it's brought to the Gulf of Mexico.

Now depending on what part of the Island you're on will depend on how much you find because each area manages the seaweed differently. There are some areas that are raked and others like the Galveston Island State Park which is a natural area and no raking occurs. After it dies some of the seaweed ends up at the base of the sand dunes and is important in helping to establish other dune systems, which during a hurricane absorbs wave energy and protects the sand from wave erosion.

The amount of seaweed that comes ashore varies from day to day. The lighter color being the seaweed that is still alive and the darker which is dead. On this day there were more seagulls than I have ever seen at one time and they were as far as the eye could see. They were feeding on all of the marine life that also finds food and shelter in the seaweed.

But really, it's just a minor nuisance. And when you love the beach, you just work walk around it.

 Being watched by a sandpiper . . .

Sandpipers in flight . . .

Isn't nature is a wonderful thing . . . these guys are so well camouflauged

not only in the sand but in the seaweed too!

Notice her tool of choice, it's an ice cream scooper - Gotta love it!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Do something that makes you feel alive,

brings joy to your heart,

and wakes your soul!

Yep, you know where you'll find me . . .

Love, Kim

XO