By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea (Fuzzerbee and me)

I joined Fuzzerbee of Etsy, whom I met and immediately befriended (it was as though we had always known each other) at Art Is You in Petaluma last fall, for a little 4-day beach vacation in Rockaway Beach, Oregon.  There the great Pacific rolls into the shore this time of year with cool winds and a battering surf.  Magnificent and a little too grand.  And it was windy and rainy.  And US 101 is lined with many antique and thrift stores and the car kept stopping at each one, until we were well and truly satiated.  So, no seascapes here, just pictures of The Rockaway Hoard, which follow.

You'll see some bones that did come from a backshore prowl along the jetty that produced wonderful driftwood and bits of things that had succumbed to the sea or predators.

  

Here's an overview of some of the good pickins.  We were easily able to justify all this effort because we were pretty sure we would find something we wouldn't find at home -- fresh old things, you might say.

 

These antique clay pipes were found in a dusty box in the back of a store in Wheeler.  I have since learned they can be dated by the size of the hole at the base.  This one seems to be a copy of something that would have been briarwood, maybe.  I love the spiky little knobs and the smudge inside where the tobacco had been smoked.  These are found mostly in the British Isles, where sailors had imported the Foul Habit from the Americas.

Bird bones found in a jetty backwater, well bleached and clean.  The center one appears to be part of the neck vertebrae.

Nice crusty old tea tins and a tray with a Chinoiserie motif and black background on all three -- calling for something, not sure just what, yet.

Fuzzerbee and I agree that, despite the rare charm of the pipe bowls, these percolator tops took the cake -- found in another dusty box in a back room; someone had collected them and given up an unusual collection.  It was hard to get away with just these two, but there were very few of these smaller ones, most were more like lids.  Well, some people will collect anything.

Another nice piece of porous bone, arranged with the vertebra and a ginormous fishing lure and hook that appears to have seen quite a bit of action.

I have to thank Fuzzerbee very, very much for these glorious Mahjong counters, so special and delicious it will take me a bit of time to internalize them enough to do something with them.  Whatever happens will have to be spectacular!

More of Fuzzerbee's largess, with Mahjong tiles and chess pieces, along with a piece of pottery I found on a retired railroad track.

Beautiful bleached bones!



We enjoyed a righteous burger and wifi service at The Whale Spout, and I recommend a visit there where you will meet The World's Sweetest Waitress, if you ever get to Rockaway Beach, Oregon.