During one of the daily excursions,  I found a huge orphan shell stranded on the part of the beach I travel most often. I was thrilled because it is perfect, the inside nacre is untrammel by what’s, no doubt been, a rocky ride. A lady passing said “Oh I have nine of those.” I was stunned. I had made up all sort of symbolic preciousness about this one shell which found me.

An old guy with a metal detector said “If you want hundreds more of those you just have to walk the other way,”

So I did and came across a cache of shells all of them just lying there like a bunch of flotsam. Suddenly my own shell lost some of its enormous luster.

I went back the next day to look at the shell pile but not one was to be seen. “Depends on the tides.” Said a passerby who offered me a small shell in compensation. My shells became valuable again.

So this reminds me of how we love to have rare plants, how when we see the same plant piled up in big box stores it becomes less interesting. But of course this is as foolish as me with the shells. Whatever nature presents us is a miracle of design, of craftsmanship and should be treasured for its individuality.

These shells I like are sea snails, great big slugs one person said. Make sure you get it out or it will stink. But why would I want the home of a living animal? I put a lot of them back because they were still inhabited. Life’s tough enough for a sea snail without some dope dumping them into the sink.

I’ve learned a lot about the beach in these weeks in Carpinteria. And the beach here as every shore is at risk. We were startled by the size of the waves that hit here when the tsunamis fanned out from the horrors of the Chilean earthquake. We got only a small blip by comparison. But the waves were big enough to breach the very large (two storey high)  berm outside our building. Now that’s wave action.

Raising the berm at Carp Beach

This could be idyllic but what’s also happening is that the ecological structure of the beach is being changed. The next morning shore birds were pecking away in the tracks of this machine.  But today they have found their rightful place along the shoreline.

Horrifically it looks like nothing has changed except that the berms are higher and rains are expected.  Those little condos you see on the right are for sale or at least several of them are (we’re taking two bedrooms here). The average price is 2.4 MILLION dollars.

So keeping the sea under control is to their advantage. No one has asked the birds and the animals that live in the sand their opinion.

The storms passing through this area have mean huge mud slides further south and more predicted.  This was taken on Monday which was a glittering sunny day with air  so intoxicating it made me feel giddy with joy.

I couldn’t get out and walk enough times. Beyond this beach is a wildlife sanctuary and I was lucky enough to run into a knowledgeable volunteer named Andrea who walked me through the native plants they are trying to restore in this fragile coastal wetland.

Here’s our  building on the ocean. The berms that hold back the rising waters are HUGE. Nothing I’d want to jump off since they come up to the 2nd storey of the building.  Storms have wracked the shores and changed the look which we are just beginning to explore.

Today:  it’s pissing down rain again and we’re out of food. Astonishing since all we seem to do is going out to shop for more. But indeed sparse pickings so we’re off to Zookers resto once again in a rain storm.

Here’s the sky our first day:

Well what fun the book launch at Teatro Verde turned out to be.  Here’s Sarah Maclachlan the president of House of Anansi with me and my daughter Jennifer Harris (aka prof at U of T) on the left.  this picture was taken by Mark Disero of  gardentoronto.ca who arrived early with Yvonne Cunnington  and covered the event. Left: Michael Pellegrino and Shawn Gibson of  the maestros of TeatroVerde with the enchanting corner they made for me. I was ordered to wear the same colours as those on the cover of Thrifty.

Lots of wonderful old friends dropped in, some new friends made through the book and near as I can tell everyone had a great time. I was too busy signing book or hailing people as they came in the door to enjoy the crowd whooping it up at the bar which was where everyone else was gathered.

The wine was donated by FuZion and it was delicious and no one left til the last drop was drunk. It was a wonderful evening for me.  Go to Mark’s site and have a look at the rest of the party.

You can find the book in all sorts of different places including Bianco Plus on Avenue Rd near Davenport and of course at Teatro Verde where I’ll leave lots of signed books if we don’t sell them tonight.