Fresh shale-fall.
Lepidodendron (Carboniferous Period, approx. 310-325 million years ago).
Small rounded granite stones that must predate the fossil, based on the amount of erosion.
A still life window into eons past, taken in the very present, and published on the internet, where it should last for quite some time in the future. Isn’t time amazing?
The huge outcropping and boulders of fossil limestone created a bold tide line, a well as striking still lifes at Joggins Fossil Cliffs.
Joggins Fossil Cliffs, Nova Scotia
It’s not a still life that I would have chosen to photograph, but the collection of sand, pebbles, and seaweed within the upper side of this jellyfish was not totally unremarkable.
Whale Cove, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Nova Scotia
Bright sky, crystalline water, reddish sand, rainbow pebbles, and the most elegant and extravagant purple jellyfish I have ever seen. So much color on this small, isolated, and nearly empty cove. It was a spur of the moment, “Quick! Pull over there!” stop on our drive north on the west coast of Cape Breton from the Bay of Fundy area. So glad we did!
Almost a rainbow-full of color, but not quite.
These pebbles were not moved from how I found them on the beach, and the colors were not enhanced in any way. This is how the tide clustered them on the beach at Spittal, and the colors are true. Absolutely magical!
As if the sand and pebbles on Spittal Beach are not colorful enough, this bit of turquoise sea glass on the tide line added to the beauty. And the bubbles that remained from the last wash of the tide? An added surprise!
There are times to look closely, and there are other times when a person must look ‘big’. A visit to this beach, one of my very favorite anywhere, is of the latter.
A visit here recalls the small voices of my children as they scamper down through the dunes in the freezing cold. Soup in a thermos in a car being buffeted by winds. Looking for the perfect rainbow stones, and filling every pocket with them. Gazing across at Bamburgh Castle and Lindesfarne Castle in the distance, wondering about the incredibly strong people who built these places in such a forbidding place.
Mostly though, a visit here makes my heart dance as I think of my family that lives not far from here. Not family by blood, by family by heart for over 30 years. Every time I come I think, “Will this be my last visit?” Today, after wandering way down to the low tide line I came back up the beach and sat on a rock at the base of the dune. I listened to the echoes of those children’s voices. I found the perfect pebble. I looked down the coast at ancient castles.
And I knew I would be back.
The colors came second, after noticing this remarkable arrangement on the tide line.
Two nearly identical shell fragments. A parallel arrangement. Two pebbles, autumn colors. One brilliant blue coquina. There are many stories here. >
Sea glass is an uncommon find on this particular beach. How funny that this one piece, probably from an old beer bottle, should end up in a cluster of tiny pebbles in the same color family.
Tide Line Still Life 