It wasn't me, promise! Water spout at Hastings

Remember! Remember!

I know, but I couldn't resist posting this, from a book I am reading. It is by Annie Brassey and called "Sunshine and Storm in the East"

"The sea was rushing up violently like an immense fountain jet, while from the cloud above, which was intensely black, an inverted cone came down to meet the sea. Another waterspout, farther off, looked like a long back trough, pouring down from the heavens above into the cone shaped fountain in the sea beneath"

[Alex, somewhere between Paxos and Corfu - is this near you? Though this happened in 1874!]

Umm - from Sandy

I know what Alex said about the blog and I understand why, but just wanted to share this. (May be my only contribution!)

THE green flares of the aurora australis seen on Saturday night were the brightest they have been in seven years, says Astronomical Society of Tasmania spokesman Bob Coghlan.

Mr Coghlan said the natural light show was caused by photon oxygen emissions in the Earth's upper atmosphere reacting against strong solar winds, causing an eerie green glow.

Aurora Australis lights up the night

The Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis

Hail and Farewell.

Dear Readers,

there are things afoot which make it difficult to keep up this blog currently. It is not dead, just in abeyance (it's an interregnum - Lexie)

I had hoped to score last minute English points with 'abeyance', but maybe Lexie will get them for 'interregnum'. (Joke)

Thank you for visiting,

Alex

Another delicate beauty.

A Thing of beauty is a joy forever

Join the dots!

A crab - but what sort?

Looks like a knight in armour going full tilt.

Underwater playground

My mind boggles - so I blog!

No one knows what dark matter is – astronomers merely detect its gravitational pull on normal matter..........

.....Earth's velocity relative to the surrounding sea of dark matter changes as the planet orbits the sun.

New Scientist

And I thought we'd put paid to all that! See The Stone Summons

What makes these odd low tide 'slugs'?

Bearing in mind this was originally an IT project.......

I read somewhere in passing that you could now add static pages to blogger. I decided to look into this (on the search for extra points maybe?) So I did a search and the first I don't know how many hits came up with completely clueless hits and laborious (marks for English usage?) instructions. So I was very glad when I eventually followed this link http://technicallyeasy.net/2010/04/how-to-create-pages-in-blogger/

And maybe, if I had been doing more blogging lately, I wouldn't even have needed that (not that I want to sound ungrateful.)

When you click on New Post you get options -

• New Post
• Edit Posts
• Edit Pages
• Click on Edit Pages, add your content and follow instructions/choices - Simples Lexie!

Tracy Island?

Heart Muscle?

Didn't make it!

I so wanted to get to the 3,000 mark, by 19th March, or 1,000 visitors for the past year, but not even there yet, despite Lexie's hard work. But I've just checked - didn't put the counter up until over a month after I started the blog, so maybe enough visitors beforehand to count?

Google Stats say

Pageviews all time history

2,695

and they didn't start until May 2010!

Beachcombing - low tide

Smallest sea glass collection in the world?

Something's afoot, as you truly say.

Just as well you told me about that weird language. I had enough trouble with 'summat's afoot'! But, me too. Or should I say Emay ootay! Atwhay aboutway Exielay?

Summat's afoot!

Iway oundfay Eterpay!

Hi Alex,

There is the other point too, mentioned after the photo (great photo!) which people who've read the book (The Stone Summons - - - - also on Kindle )
will realise.

Sorry, will get back to beachcombing soon - promise! (Though, it is YOUR blog!)

Hello Anonymous!

But I think I know who you are!

The photo is relevant to beachcombing because:

• Moon affects tides
• Tides bring in Flotsam & jetsam
• Flotsam, jetsam and other items are what beachcombers collect (along with the odd treasure or two when the gods are kind.)

Super Lunar Perigree

This photo is everywhere on the net, so I hope Anthony Ayiomamitis. does not mind that I share it also. See his fantastic website at http://www.perseus.gr/


I looked very hard, but there were no signs. Yes, I know it is the wrong side, but it felt like you should be able to see.

It's out to get you!

It's a pebble!

When I first saw it on the beach I thought it was a lamb's head, but then I thought a calf, it made me think of Keat's Ode on a Grecian Urn for some reason. Maybe because I have to learn it for school, and trying to learn it, I wondered it it was describing Alex's village.

In a fret!

"'T'is beginning to rain

"No, 'tis only fret off the sea."

["Rudolf the Red knows rain Dear!"]

At first sight the seagulls almost look like writing on the sand (yes, sand!)

Bad photo!

This is a very delicate shell, with the letter 'S' quite clearly showing on it, but the photo makes it look m ore like a fish!

Is this someone famous - or is it you?

Beachcombing with a vengeance

Cannons found in Panama believed to be from Sir Henry Morgan shipwrecks
Archaeologists have recovered six cannons from the ships of Welsh privateer Sir Henry Morgan, the first artifacts found in Panama to be linked to the man who remains a legend there...................

At the edge of the Lajas Reef, the team found what appeared to be a field of six cannons, all covered with layers of sedimentary rock that had built up over centuries...............................

At least two more guns are buried in the sand, along with an anchor, ceramics, bottles and other artifacts

Apparently this is a freaky flicker!

Treasure!

Alex's Mum's judgement of Solomon in case of claims!

He sells seashells on the seashore - not to mention fish

Drfitwood & pebbles

Weird piece of driftwood, like some arcane animal.

Aboriginal art on the Sussex seashore!

Not bragging but... by Alex

"Previous research had shown that the Earth's core rotates faster than the rest of the planet. However, scientists from the University of Cambridge have discovered that earlier estimates of 1 degree every year were inaccurate and that the core is actually moving much slower than previously believed – approximately 1 degree every million years......"

We could have told them that! Though it is possible that original estimates were right, and it was our actions that slowed it. Read about it - The Stone Summons

Petrifying wood?

I have found wood that looks like it is on the way to pertrification, and stones that look like they were once wood, so have been hoping to find, and think I have, a mix of the two. The top of this is hard to the touch and feels like stone, sort of calcified, but underneath it is clearly still wood.

What do I see?

At first I am unsure, it is a blowy, blustery day, and suddenly I glimpse this glint in the shingle.

Amazingly, it is a golden Christmas tree bauble, dunped by this sea > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

but undamaged.

Shinglescape by Poseidon

I took this photo thinking that Poseidon was a great artist, the way it was arranged, then looking through the lens I realised it looks like a dog , or maybe a deer.

Hag Stones

Hag Stones, also known as Witch Stones, Fairy Stones, Holy Stones and Eye Stones, are stones with naturally formed holes running clean through them. These, all collected from the beach, protect my Gran's front door and back wall.

From: http://mcrocks.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3041429
One of the most widespread magic devices to protect both man and beast was a pebble with a natural hole in it, also called ‘hagstone’, ‘witch-stone’, or (in the north-east) ‘adder-stones’. They were believed to repel witchcraft, and consequently any disease caused by spells or the evil eye; in particular, they prevented hag-riding. The earliest allusion is in a 15th-century charm against nightmares.Small ones could be carried in the pocket or hung up over the bed; larger ones were used in stables over Horses to prevent witches from riding the horses at night and bringing them back sweating and frothy. A variation, still known in the mid-20th century, was to hang the stone on the stable door; usually the doorkey or a bit of old chain would be attached to it, reinforcing its power with that of iron. Boatmen in Weymouth fastened them to the bows as charms to keep their boats safe. Small fossil sponges of the species Porosphaera are commonly found with natural holes in them; in Victorian times, necklaces of them were sold ‘for luck’ in Brighton (Sussex), and were much worn by women of fishing families.Some cultures believed that you could see Fairies or goblins by looking through the hole in the stone.

Another face!

The left eye has a pebble in it, which makes it look alive.

Deck the (underwater) halls.....

I walked along the tide line and there was all this greenery - more than this! Yew, pine, bay; it was as if the sea creatures had been having a party, and the decorations had washed ashore!