Beautiful natural designs

I've shifted into full summer mode, waking at 5:00 when it's fully light, maybe lolling abed for half an hour but up by 6:00 and, when weather permits, taking a two mile walk on the beach before 9:00. I carry my camera and often am glad [snapped a white shark the other day -- see my other blog]. I see so many beautiful patterns as a result of the tide or the constant grinding of shells and sand. The pieces of seaweed are laid out very gracefully sometimes. Other times they look like the tangled strands of a mop.

Shells are endlessly fascinating, their shapes, their colors, and the colors inside -- only when they are very fresh does one find wonderful blues inside shells and on crab claws, just at the edge of the surf usually. But there are browns and pinks and pale yellows inside broken shells. And the wonderful ones that have been totally bleached to chalky white.

And then there are the patterns of the spiral inside the conch shells, which are sometimes honed to only the spiral. Often wonderful patterns have been etched into the shells -- click to enlarge both these shells. The circular patterns on the outside of the one larger one are from smaller crustataceans adhering to the outside and then falling off. The lacy pattern on the bottom picture is repeated with endless vacations, every one astonishes me.