7/22/2024 1 Comment Encourage a Sense of Wonder I spent a week at a cottage on the Sheepscot River, Maine, to finish the edits of my manuscript. While there, a group of children were combing the rocky shore for sea life. Their father was in the military and they had two weeks off to stay at the cottage next door before they were moving again. One of the boys, named Finn - ten years old- spent hours exploring the tidepools, finding sea urchins, baby lobster, and hermit crabs. His enthusiasm was contagious. He wore a group of necklaces that looked handmade around his neck, and bounced from one rock to another with the dexterity of a mountain goat, managing not to slip on the slick wrackweeds. Tidepools are formed during the low tide and the creatures that are left behind have adapted to living at the edge of the sea. The species that reside there are entirely different because for a period of time, twice a day, they live in suspension until the sea comes back to greet them. Their ecological niche and ability to adapt to the harsh conditions of the tides is awe-inspiring. Pull back the curtain of the wrackweeds and you’ll see whelks and blue mussels clinging underneath, a great place to hide from predators such as gulls. During the week I'd find Finn, his siblings and two corgis named Lucy and Snoop, scaling the boulders along the shore; peering into the tidepools, pulling back the weeds, and lifting rocks to see what lurked underneath. My friend and I had taken a guided tour of the tidepools in Kennebunk where we were given a sheet with pictures and descriptions of common species found in the pools. We gave it to Finn and he was so excited about it. His mother explained that the cottage they stayed in was built by her grandparents. She said when she was young, the neighbors had a hand made viewing scope made out of wood and a piece of plastic that allowed them to view the bottom of a tide pool. I knew what she was talking about because I had one at home I used to look for invasive plant species in the lake near where I live. An aquascope. I asked my husband to bring it with him when he came later that week. It offers a way to view the pools more clearly by stilling the water. When it arrived, I used it one morning to take pictures of the pools and then lent it to Finn. I told him to not drag it along the sand because it might scratch. I showed him how to use it and explained how I put my phone inside on the bottom to take pictures. He solemnly took the piece of equipment and told me that he'd be careful because of the granular nature of the sand would be abrasive. For ten years old, he had quite the vocabulary. He and his two sister ran off with the scope and I didn't see them using it because we went into town. We had to leave the next day so I went down to the beach to retrieve it and found the plexiglass cracked. It didn't bother me at all. The scope only costs around $30. I was hoping to see Finn to tell him not to worry about it because he seemed like the type of kid who would. But their cottage was empty, they had probably gone out for the day, and we left at noon. I was just happy they used it. And while staying in Maine, I read Rachel Carson's A Sense of Wonder. I think she would have approved of the children rattling around on the rocky shore with the aquascope banging at their knees. The whole premise of her book, written for her great-nephew, was to encourage parents to get their kids outside to explore nature. It can get messy at times, that's the way nature is. Messy. And we live in a world so tethered to our technology that taking a moment to sit under tree, scoop up creatures that crawl under rocks, and get the soles of your feet dirty is becoming more important than ever. I hope this message reaches Finn one day. That he knows how much joy he and his siblings brought me and my friend as we watched them explore the edge of the sea. I hope they never lose interest.
1 Comment
Dyer Pickett
8/2/2024 10:28:35 am
Thanks for sharing. Great story. It is an amazing world if you slow down & look. Hopefully you will hear from Finn.
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AuthorHi, I'm an author of contemporary and historical fiction. My next novel features a young protagonist from a lobstering family living on an island in Maine who pretends she's doing research for Rachel Carson to impress the people in her small town. Join me as I procrastinate writing the novel by blogging about Rachel. Archives
September 2024
CategoriesAll 3 Body Problem A Sense Of Wonder DDT Dorothy Freeman Environmental Movement Failure Mariner Books Publishing Rachel Carson Silent Spring The Edge Of The Sea The Sea Around Us Writing Writing Life |
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