CFFC: Sandy and shelly

I focused on sand out of Cee’s offered theme Sand or Dirt because I found just the quote to go with something that I can always find on the 12 kilometres of sand right here, the last beach in Tuscany. And I don’t mean dog.

The other reason for choosing sand over dirt? I must confess that I thought dirt meant dirty ground such as dirt road, not soil.

Sand, then. If someone told me that I’d be living less than 2 km from the longer sandy beach than I could walk, I’d suggest staying off drugs. Slovenia has zero sandy beaches. Croatia has one (Tanja will kill me now. Maybe five?). The only ones I saw in my previous life were in Greece. And yet, it happened.

The beach is indeed 12 km long, has only three accesses and is part of a nature reserve in the very south of Tuscany. Rarely a boat passes. The sand is dark and gets really hot under the sun. Father once burned himself in October even though he had just a short distance to pass barefoot.

And now the quote:

I have a collection of seashells – I keep them on beaches all over the world.

Steven Wright

Our beach can be clean on occasion, or full of trash and driftwood more often, but always full of shells. Almost each shell has a hole, which means, I believe, that a predator was at work.

It is often occupied by offshore fishermen which break my balls because they leave their hooks around and dogs can suffer. But I still let bestia run and seeing him do so is one of my favourite sights, as you will see.

All these photos except the last three were taken on our beach between 2013, when I moved to Tuscany and we got bestia, and 2015. See him grow and earn his nickname.

The three photos in the end are from December 2015 when I learned of the shell cemetery on the Slovenian coast (which in total is no longer than four times our beach) and had to check it out with my family. More photos from there (accompanied by an opinion piece on Lord of the Flies) can be found here.

Before we go, today celebrate two of my multi-year blogging buddies. No, they are not Sandy and Shelly from the title but rather Cee, the host of this challenge and a few others, and Dan, the host of Thursday Doors. Long live and cin cin!

And now, in chronological order, here are my really happy early years on the beach.

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  The sea and the beach always spell therapy. The question-mark is added because such is the name of an Irish rock group. If you know them, you’re my wo-man.

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  First it was just me. Amore is far from a beach bunny.

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  Then the sea brought this monster. (Nahh. He is earth-born.) We got him in June 2013 at 2 months. Two weeks later he had to go to beach already.

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  Three weeks later. Amore came with us a few times as well. By now he has fully stopped.

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  The first monster dash that same day. I love his intensity.

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  Almost three months later among the shells. The first couple of years he loved to swim and then he suddenly stopped.

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  Three weeks later parents came over. Photo: Father.

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  My pack among the shells. The end of November 2013, probably the last joint beach photo.

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  More shells and a happy bestia.

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  February 2014. He looks like some French starlet in Cannes.

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  A shell in the driftwood. We have some shells all over the house and car.

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  This coast is called Costa d’Argento, Silver Coast. Maybe this is why.

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  In the north our beach ends with remains of a Roman port in Ansedonia, a peninsula full of villas and no town to speak of.

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  More of the same.

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  Some shells are tiny. Uncle thought they would be good for artificial nails.

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  Here we go again, in February 2015.

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  And again in November. Above his head the remains of Roman settlement Cosa.

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  To Slovenia now and the only shell cemetery that I know of. It’s actually a shell dune.

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  They are really tiny. Maybe the bigger ones have been taken already.

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  But it’s a beach full of them. Father wishes to speak. I wish you all happy days.

For Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Sand or dirt

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This day in my blogging history

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  2016: Three window photos from Via Appia Antica

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  2017: One fearless bunny. And that animal on the right is harmless too. 😀

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  2018: If you’re the only one, it may just mean that you are the first.

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  2019: See, it really is a door! Thursday Doors and art from Ostiense, Rome

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