Thank you and you are welcome!

July 15, 2013

Although we pick up a lot of trash from our beautiful beach, we realize that we have much to be thankful for.

We are thankful for a man that we see every week with his own bag collecting trash.  We talk to him every time we see him, though we still don't know his name.

We are thankful for the sun or the moon or the clouds or the rain, whichever greets us when we arrive on the beach.

We are thankful for all the birds and other beautiful sites that we encounter when doing our morning walks.

It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:

“Even after all this time
The sun never says to the earth,
"you owe me."
Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky.”

― Hafiz of Shiraz

 That kind of love also had me thinking this week as I went to the beach to just enjoy a couple of hours and witnessed people who did not seem to get the connection between the tides and how items (such as plastic bottles and plastic toys) could easily be swallowed by the ocean.  I was at first discouraged as I was the one who got up and rescued these items which left me thinking that I am so tired of picking up trash.  Then I thought, we who pick up trash love the ocean like no other.  We don't just accept gifts from the ocean, but we truly protect her, defend her, and love her.

So, on our walk, I am thankful for the ability to defend the ocean by picking up 2 reusable bags of trash with my husband.  Some of what we collected included the following:

22 butts
22 food wrappers
11 plastic bottle caps and 2 plastic rings
5 plastic lids
1 five gallon plastic bucket
1 towel

 18 straws/stirrers
5 pieces of plastic cutlery
3 fireworks remnants
17 foam pieces (lots of foam on the beach today)
3 plastic pieces
4 plastic bottles
1 aluminum can
5 plastic bags filled with sand used to weigh down a tent or something (COME ON!!!)

 3 other types of plastic bags
2 plastic cups
1 plastic plate
3 glass tumblers (we kept these)

1 condom wrapper
2 pantie liners (oh joy)
4 socks
1 shoe that had obviously been in the ocean for a while because it had living organisms on it

10 toy or toy pieces
1 toy netting
2 pairs of sunglasses
2 tubes of chap stick
1 canvas chair cover
1 outdoor pillow (I have been watching this pillow for a couple of weeks thinking someone would get it b/c of its location.  No one did, so on this third week,  I removed it)

Kind of looks like a sea turtle in the sand sculpture beside it, doesn't it?  I did not notice that when I took the photo.

On our walk back, John picked up a piece of trash to the loud noise of a very verbal seagull.  To this outburst, John responded, "You are welcome".  I love the way he perceived the seagull as saying, "Thank you."

And as always we are thankful for our animals that have all been rescued.  Here is Sasha trying to help me document the data from the KIC volunteers onto my Ocean Conservancy forms.  You can not even imagine how helpful she is!!!! (just a little sarcastic)

THANK YOU!
Ginger