Ocean Treasure

One of the things that I look forward to about my visits to Cape Cod, is our time at the beach. For me, being at the beach is not about sunbathing, in fact I do everything possible to limit my exposure to the sun- clothing, #70 sunscreen, hat , sunglasses- I must be quite a sight!. Many of you know that I DO NOT tan and being of scandinavian heritage, I get terrible sunburns and I do not want to get skin cancer. I have finally reached the age where I really don't care about how I look- health is more the issue. I digress.

You all know what a surfer chick my Becca has become, we spend alot of time at the beach, preferably at the best tides for "primo "waves!! The best waves for surfing happen to come at low tide and that is also the best time for treasure!!! Now for me, treasure is tumbled rocks, shells, flotsam and jetsam with the occasional ultra treasure of sea glass!! Well this year Becca outdid herself!! She has become amazingly good at spotting special shells with holes drilled in them (by other sea creatures) while the peices are being tumbled around in the surf. This year on a break from Boogie Boarding , she snatched a peice of Blue Willow porcelain out of the waves!! All who were present proclaimed that she had found the prize of the summer. The piece had been beautifully tumbled and had obviously been in the water for a long time. The gloss glaze was gone and the piece is quite thin. Back in the days of sailing ships, porcelain was used as ballast for the ships- these pieces were usually rejects and therefore were considered only useful for their weight. During the 16-17-18 hundreds there were up to 80 ships a year that were lost off Cape Cod!! So the piece that Becca found could be quite old- I wish that it could tell us from whence it came!!!

Becca's Godmother and my dear friend Rebecca Bunting is a Jeweler. She does amazing work of all sorts, mostly custom and all original designs with amazing gem stones. She is working on her web site but to date has been far too busy keeping up with her customers to get a site up and running.

Here is dear Aunt Rebecca with her namesake and god daughter Becca!! They are great friends.

When we leave Cape Cod we always stop in to vist Rebecca and Rob and their sons in their wonderful home in Guilford CT. Becca asked Rebecca to create a small pendant using her porcelain treasure. We matched Becca's piece up to the gate section on a Blue Willow plate that Rebecca had in her collection! At the top of the pendant you can see the tiny section of gate.

This is what Rebecca created and we are thrilled with it. Now this wonderful beach treasure will become a Woodford family heirloom that Becca can share with her children when they wlk the beaches looking for treasures!!!