Sea Glass Mystery #1!

The growing collection.

It's happened already! I have a case to solve.

Yesterday S.B. and I went beachcombing in nearby Blandford where I found a giant piece of sea glass with a bordered triangle insignia embossed in its centre. I thought it may be the bottom of an old Vicks Vaporub bottle, as the company has a similar logo, but the border around the triangle on this one is wider and flatter than those on an antique Vicks bottles.

Can you see the triangle mark?

Vintage Vicks bottle.

Due to its thickness, I now suspect this isn't the bottom of a bottle at all. I did some research and discovered that it may be part of a glass insulator used along Canadian railways and telegraph/telephone lines in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Take a look at this picture of a screw-top insulator made by the Boston Bottle Works Company:

Exciting isn't it? I'm not sure what next. Are there sea glass historians? Could a particularly keen antiques dealer date this ocean-warped artifact? Suggestions welcome.

Mellow Yellow

This year I've fallen in love with yellow, especially shades of goldenrod creeping toward orange. We have a garage that will one day become a guest cottage, and I've already begun to procure an assortment of yellow objects that will splash it with sunshine:

Vintage Sadler England teapot with folk art birds.

 The happiest cookware in the world.

Lamps from Value Village.

One had a small gash that I filled with plaster then disguised with yellow

nail polish I happened to have kicking around. It was an exact match!

 Future guest cottage.

What The World Needs Now (is love, sweet love)

 

Last night, S.B. and I had our first gig playing love songs during a fancy three course dinner at The Galley Restaurant & Lounge. The restaurant is in a spacious haunted house originally owned by a sea captain, and a camera crew had just been in to film an episode for a ghost-hunter type television show!

For a month we have been practicing a set list of thirty songs, everything from Oasis to Patsy Cline, and our harmonies were really tight. A surprising number of partrons stopped by to thank us for enhancing their Valentine's Day. They especially liked S.B.'s intricate finger-picking on 'I Can't Help Falling In Love With You'. Hopefully, this will lead to us getting more gigs when the restaurant gets crazy busy this summer with boaters from the marina. Our house needs a new roof, and we can always use the extra money!

Our stage outfits.

Treasure!

Things I didn't know about sea glass: A lot.

For instance, it can take the sea twenty years to soften the edges of a shard of glass. Our beach has very few rocks, just the odd mussell shell and a few tendrils of seaweed along the packed sand, so it's very easy to spot the coloured gems of sea glass that seem to wash up with every new tide. I started harvesting the beach a few weeks ago and have collected pieces in opague white, green, amber, a tiny slice of blue. 

The prime time for collecting is the first low tide following a storm.

Take a look at what S.B. retrieved after Saturday's snowstorm!

S.B. has an eagle eye. He found sea china!

According to my online sleuthing, "sea china" originates from 18-19th century pottery, earthenware and porcelain made in Europe and America. Some pieces contain markings that can help history buffs (like me!) trace their origins. In my fever, I joined the Sea Glass Association of North America. They hold a "Shard of the Year" contest.

When I was a child, I had (and lost) a large round piece of sea glass that was an exquisite ruby red colour, and now I desperately want another. Short term goal: Find the ruby. Long term goal: Gather enough sea glass to make a patio floor mosaic. I envision a giant bowl on the coffee table that our friends can help fill over the years. So far, we've got half a mason jar.

To think - I put roller derby on hold in order to pluck at the novel and pick sea glass off the beach. I'm really getting in touch with my inner old lady. I should get a shawl. And a walking stick. And a basket. 

Snowshoes!

Until we moved to the beach house, I'd lived in cities my entire life. After my childhood years, the wintry outdoors was just a frigid tunnel I had to endure to get from one indoor location to another. But winter is everywhere out here, and it's tempting. Snow doesn't get promptly removed by trucks and plows the instant it hits the pavement, it's not confined to dirty piles, and you don't have to suck in car exhaust to be out in it. So I've decided to go outside and play more. 

Last night, S.B. and I went snowshoeing on Graves Island. We signed up a few weeks ago for a hike followed by chilli and hot chocolate, which was served around a stove in a shelter (a Recreation Nova Scotia event that cost us a paltry $5). I was a snowshoe virgin expecting wooden contraptions, but while they remain one of humankind's simplest innovations, modern snowshoes are metal and more streamlined. I tried them out in deep snow, and they really did keep me afloat. Our guide was an astronomy student who pointed out constellations as we trekked. I can usually spy Orion and the dippers, but now I know where to locate Taurus, the Seven Sisters and Jupiter - currently the most brilliant thing in our winter sky.

Back at home, we warmed up our toes with a hot bath and two tumblers of whiskey.

P.S. - One of our fellow hikers was named Cosette, as in the Les Miserables character! Thought you'd want to know.

Winter Wonderland

We made a skating rink! With a lake practically lapping at our front lawn, it was easy; well, maybe not for S.B., who did the bulk of the snow-removal. I haven't skated on a lake since childhood, and it feels extra surreal with the sunset and the sound of the sea crashing on the other side of the lake.

My vintage Hudson's Bay Company coat is made with 100% virgin wool and was a $40 thrift store find. I love the brown doves on the pockets and hood. It was missing a button when I bought it, but on inspection I found an extra sewn on the inner lining (I love it when designers include such courtesies). This coat rarely leaves my closet for fear I'll spill something on its whiteness, but ice skating is the perfect venue!