Speaking sand

Tara brought me some sand from RODEO BEACH in California for my sand collection. The sand is not grounded into a fine granules, but rather, really, really tiny rocks. A really small version of the ones you would pick up and put in your pocket. I was looking at them with the magnifying glass ... and you can see tiny veins in some of them. Isn't is fascinating to discover each beach or area has it own sand breakdown and own rocks and shells? There was a beach on the Oregon coast that had the most unusual, really thin, flat, gray rocks because of the constant grinding from the strong surf. I have a jar full of white, thick-outer-shell sea shells from Scotland ... I has assumed they were so thick because of the very cold water there.

I wish now I had collected sand/dirt from all the places I had lived in the world. Like this beautiful golden sand in Gozo or the Silver Sands of Morar, Scotland. I am very surprised not to find a website or some obsessed person that hasn't defined what kind of sand and seashells you would find on every beach in the world. I looked. Or at least a breakdown of a bunch of beaches.


Beaches around the world and Seven of the world's most interesting beaches.

Beauty in every grain sand photographed by Professor Gary Greenberg.

In St. Thomas, there was a beach that was mostly made of Apple Blossom Shells Seashells. I remember not wanting to walk on the beach in fear of crushing them. I didn't take too many, now, I wish I had.

"Caribbean Pink Sand Beaches is the result of the colorful red shells of tiny sea creatures called "foraminifera". These tiny creatures live beneath rocks and inside caves. Their red shells are broken up by the surf into fine, soft pink colored sand."  

"Where does white coral sand originate? Believe it or not, from a colorful green fish! The Parrot fish use their beaks to scrape off coral rock. The fish digest algae and expel the algae as fine white sand. One fish can produce tons of soft white sand each year."  

David gave me a Victorian Viewing Jar a long time ago. It is filled with tiny black and white seashells. So tiny you can hardly see them with the naked eye. I also keep my treasured little Apple Blossom Shells in there. I think the black and white seashells could be Zebra Shells or Nerites, maybe Bumble Bee Seashells or Black Moon Seashells.

I have a Green Turbo Sea Shell, that I am in love with. 

World's Smallest Seashell Collection!