Yesterday morning I decided to head over to Siesta Beach, the beach billed as the #1 Beach in America, for my morning walk. As soon as I got over to the beach I noticed some dead fish on the beach - washed up by the tide. I sniffed the air. Sure enough - smelled quite a bit like red tide. But I wasn't sure. After my walk I followed my plan to sit and read for awhile in my new book Your Immortal Reality, purchased the evening before at a local Barnes & Noble. People around me were coughing, and I was coughing. My throat and nose burned. Enough! I realized I didn't have to be there. That was when I noticed the sign advising people of the naturally occurring existence of Red Tide at this beach. (btw...red tide does not occur naturally on it's own to that extent)
This morning I went back again to walk - in part, out of curiosity. I wanted to see how much worse it was, and worse it was! Both in the amount of fish on the beach, and the stench. I noticed that after a bit the stench was less noticeable. The sense of smell can turn off at will. Walking along, I notice some people have chosen to make visual art using dead fish, eels and seaweed with sand as a background. That moves my attention away from "dead fish" to "interesting dead fish". Regrettably, once again I had forgotten to take my camera along. Among the many ordinary looking fish one blue/brown fish repeatedly caught my attention. It had hexagonal markings on it...like the pattern used to make a Grandmother's Garden Quilt. Now, I really missed my camera! But, Wikipedia to the rescue. Research suggests it is a Thornback Cowfish. I don't know how long the fish was dead before it washed ashore, or how long it's been lying there, and how all that has affected the colors I saw. If I wanted to make a quilt based on the colors and pattern then I would definitely have to go with a watercolor look.
I'm tempted to head back with my camera. It's rainy and windy now. Would they still be there? Does anyone clean up the fish? I don't know.
This morning I went back again to walk - in part, out of curiosity. I wanted to see how much worse it was, and worse it was! Both in the amount of fish on the beach, and the stench. I noticed that after a bit the stench was less noticeable. The sense of smell can turn off at will. Walking along, I notice some people have chosen to make visual art using dead fish, eels and seaweed with sand as a background. That moves my attention away from "dead fish" to "interesting dead fish". Regrettably, once again I had forgotten to take my camera along. Among the many ordinary looking fish one blue/brown fish repeatedly caught my attention. It had hexagonal markings on it...like the pattern used to make a Grandmother's Garden Quilt. Now, I really missed my camera! But, Wikipedia to the rescue. Research suggests it is a Thornback Cowfish. I don't know how long the fish was dead before it washed ashore, or how long it's been lying there, and how all that has affected the colors I saw. If I wanted to make a quilt based on the colors and pattern then I would definitely have to go with a watercolor look.
I'm tempted to head back with my camera. It's rainy and windy now. Would they still be there? Does anyone clean up the fish? I don't know.
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