Monday, June 02, 2008

Sea Glass

Found a new hobby of sorts - looking for sea glass along the New England shoreline. A friend grew up in Hull and used to looked for sea glass as a kid. I lived near the coast, but not that near, so I was unfamiliar with the hobby. Most of the beaches we explore have been pretty much been swept clean, but I have found a few shards.

Sea glass, for those who don't know, is a piece of broken bottle, usually a beer bottle that has been discarded into the sea at least 50 years ago and has been worn down, rounded, and sometimes made opaque by the action of waves, salt and friction on the sand, by the rip tides.

I have found one piece of glass tht has the word 'Trade' on it and according to antique bottles.com, it may be from anywhere from 1870 to 1940.

I spend a lot of time at the Library, but I have only taken out 2 books so far and one was about sea glass. You knew, that glass would be so fascinating. Especially since glass is made from sand and find a glass shard on the beach is essentially, the glass coming home to roost.

I think we should return to the era of the glass bottle. They are re-cyclable and the Pacific ocean north of the Hawaiian Islands won't become an ever larger dump for plastic bottles that will never degrade, just harm sea life.

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