Painting beach stone (that otherwise would be a good skipper) and sand dollars from Ocean Beach, SF...

The story here is a bittersweet one. A little under two years ago, I realized I was falling in love with my friend, J, but from all indications she was not available for a realtionship. I took a long walk at Ocean Beach one hot day, and drew this silly, romantic image in the sand. Then I photographed it with my digital camera, printed out the image at home, and painted it with water colors.

I emailed a bunch of friends that I had taken this walk and written secret messages in the sand. I confided my feelings for J to one friend. She said this was the best of times, knowing I loved someone but not knowing how it would turn out.

She was right.

A month later, J and I were lovers. Two years later, we have broken up. I have lost her. All that is left now is my small collection of memories and images. This is one of them, from an early, hopeful moment.

When anything was still possible.

Sea Wall, Big Island, Hawaii, July 2005.

All of my Hawaii photos are from a trip we took there last summer. My girlfriend really wanted to see the active volcano, and we did, but that is another story. Most of the time we roamed the quiet beaches. I didn't find much seaglass, but I did shoot lots of photos...

Turtle by Log, Big Island, Hawaii, July 2005

Red Crab on Rock, Big Island, Hawaii, July 2005

Little Brown Bottle from the Pacific

Bottles from the sea. Lots of mythology around bottles. In my wanderings, I have found notes in bottles, though nothing very romantic -- mostly scientists measuring currents, etc.

Sanibel Island -- a small collection of shells found along Sanibel's Gulf beaches. Sanibel is one of the best shelling venues in North America.

Scroll down to see some of the reasons I love her...

Our browns.

Our greens.

Our blues.

Around two years ago, a friend came over to my house for the first time and said she needed something to do. She sat on my living room floor and sorted my seaglass collection. I am a collector. This was the first time someone had offered to help me in this way since another special friend sorted my stamps, years ago. This photo is of our Whites.

Recent Haul
San Francisco
Spring 2006

Bottom of a green bottle

Off Oahu

Circles and Squares

Fossils in Clay

The original. September 2004.

Bringing my secret to my wall. Nobody knows, but later she tells me she suspected this is what I was doing. September 2004