Oh goodness, you have done it again, transported me to your beach. My memories of Orkney become so intense when I read your writing. We are clearly connected fellow beach comber, by a Quahog I found on my beach in Kintyre, complete and alive and sent back to the depths to live for a hundred more years. They must communicate through stories told hundreds of miles away. Magic for sure:) you do know if you hear the sound of a periwinkle today it may be me blowing one, just to see if it works you understand!
Oh you found a Quahog too!!! And still alive! Such magic. I thought I heard the sound of a periwinkle whistle travelling on the southerlies, it must have been you ;) thank you for the lovely comment x
Oh - that has real magic. Now I want to visit the Orkneys :)
All oceans are magical - that sense of an endless wilderness commencing right where the foam laps at your bare toes. And you have taught me about the Quahog! Wonderful new knowledge for me. Thankyou again, Rebecca.
One of my favourite things to find on the beach is marbles. I've found something like 50 of them over the last decade and a bit. Once I dreamed of standing on a beach made entirely of sea-worn marbles. Another thing I sometimes find is glass-blower's offcuts: I wrote about them, and sea-glass more generally, here: https://rosiewhinray.substack.com/p/beach-combing-notes-globs-and-prunts
off to practice whistling with my treasured periwinkles!!! how I miss living by the sea - this is a way for me to keep that connection! thank you for your words!
Great writing Rebecca! 👏 I'm interested in your recurring theme of losing one's way (disorientation) and perhaps one's self in the great wide world, and how this can be dangerous AND an opportunity to break through into a wider consciousness and find a new path/self. Echoes of crisis and the hero's journey in all that. We all must travel that road. 🌱
thank you, Baird! It has become a theme, although I must admit rather unintentionally, but there is certainly a thread of birth/rebirth and becoming lost/found weaving through these pieces. and I am so honoured to have your careful attention noticing these patterns! thank you for reading.
thank you, Natalie! and me too - I love the circularity of it - the shell plucked from the sea to call someone home, then returning to the water again x
Such a beautiful piece, Rebecca. I miss the sea, being 90 miles upriver from the nearest saltwater. I love the way you weave your beach walks, stories from another era, and these amazing finds.
The search image concept is amazing—I'm glad to have a term for it. I've found that feeling of pattern/shape recognition in foraging, and also fossil hunting on the Jurassic coast, when the guide had us look at and hold various fossils before wandering the beach.
I love what you say about that wonderful sense of writing about something, followed by the seeming manifestation of it. I'm always intrigued by this, always thinking of it as pattern recognition (now, search image), but it's wonderful to have those coincidences that sure feel like magic, like your ocean quahog. This piece conveyed that magic feeling perfectly.
thank you, Rob, I'm so glad this piece spoke to you and that you have experienced the wonderful (and sometimes disorienting) magic of a writer's search image!
Oh goodness, you have done it again, transported me to your beach. My memories of Orkney become so intense when I read your writing. We are clearly connected fellow beach comber, by a Quahog I found on my beach in Kintyre, complete and alive and sent back to the depths to live for a hundred more years. They must communicate through stories told hundreds of miles away. Magic for sure:) you do know if you hear the sound of a periwinkle today it may be me blowing one, just to see if it works you understand!
Oh you found a Quahog too!!! And still alive! Such magic. I thought I heard the sound of a periwinkle whistle travelling on the southerlies, it must have been you ;) thank you for the lovely comment x
Oh - that has real magic. Now I want to visit the Orkneys :)
All oceans are magical - that sense of an endless wilderness commencing right where the foam laps at your bare toes. And you have taught me about the Quahog! Wonderful new knowledge for me. Thankyou again, Rebecca.
thank you for this lovely comment! and I completely agree - all oceans hold their own magic.
Thank you for taking me on this magical journey❣️
thank you for the lovely comment Paula, I'm so glad you enjoyed the piece x
Lovely piece!
One of my favourite things to find on the beach is marbles. I've found something like 50 of them over the last decade and a bit. Once I dreamed of standing on a beach made entirely of sea-worn marbles. Another thing I sometimes find is glass-blower's offcuts: I wrote about them, and sea-glass more generally, here: https://rosiewhinray.substack.com/p/beach-combing-notes-globs-and-prunts
You can see all my marbles (at that point in time anyway, I've since found more!) embedded in here: https://rosiewhinray.substack.com/p/beach-combing-show-flotsam-and-jetsam
oh I can't wait to read, thank you for sharing! I love the image of standing on a beach made entirely of sea-gifted marbles!
Just wonderful writing. You convey the power of the ocean and let it smash down the boundaries of our minds. Thank you.
thank you so much for this lovely comment, Margaret, I'm so glad you enjoyed the piece.
You write soo beautiful, as you paint. I loved every word.
THANK YOU
Agreed!
thank you so much, both!!
I love the way you read - allowing every Word to breathe. I often visit another beach - or maybe it is the same: https://lordlohmann.substack.com/p/the-letterbeach?r=4b7rle
thank you so much! looking forward to reading this :)
Thank you!
I do suspect that you would like this one:
https://open.substack.com/pub/lordlohmann/p/goddamn-the-kings?r=4b7rle&utm_medium=ios
I do love the wing of the goldfinch “jutting skyward”
gorgeous and so evovative -- the perfect Sunday reading.
thank you, Jan, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Beautifull written. I've heard wonderful things about the Orkneys. Thank you for transporting me.
thank you for reading and being transported! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
thank you…I was transported…
I'm so glad, thank you for reading x
off to practice whistling with my treasured periwinkles!!! how I miss living by the sea - this is a way for me to keep that connection! thank you for your words!
and thank you for reading!! It took me quite a few practices to get the whistle working...
Great writing Rebecca! 👏 I'm interested in your recurring theme of losing one's way (disorientation) and perhaps one's self in the great wide world, and how this can be dangerous AND an opportunity to break through into a wider consciousness and find a new path/self. Echoes of crisis and the hero's journey in all that. We all must travel that road. 🌱
thank you, Baird! It has become a theme, although I must admit rather unintentionally, but there is certainly a thread of birth/rebirth and becoming lost/found weaving through these pieces. and I am so honoured to have your careful attention noticing these patterns! thank you for reading.
Takes my breath away, the weaving of the shells, the glass, the story. Quite something. 💚🙏
thank you so much James! I'm glad you enjoyed this piece.
This is magnificent. I love the lore of using a shell to be called home from the sea.
thank you, Natalie! and me too - I love the circularity of it - the shell plucked from the sea to call someone home, then returning to the water again x
I really enjoy your ocean and sea descriptions - they place me there and I can feel the breeze and hear the waves.
thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
Such a beautiful piece, Rebecca. I miss the sea, being 90 miles upriver from the nearest saltwater. I love the way you weave your beach walks, stories from another era, and these amazing finds.
The search image concept is amazing—I'm glad to have a term for it. I've found that feeling of pattern/shape recognition in foraging, and also fossil hunting on the Jurassic coast, when the guide had us look at and hold various fossils before wandering the beach.
I love what you say about that wonderful sense of writing about something, followed by the seeming manifestation of it. I'm always intrigued by this, always thinking of it as pattern recognition (now, search image), but it's wonderful to have those coincidences that sure feel like magic, like your ocean quahog. This piece conveyed that magic feeling perfectly.
thank you, Rob, I'm so glad this piece spoke to you and that you have experienced the wonderful (and sometimes disorienting) magic of a writer's search image!