Bookends of summer

 

As the sun rose this morning in the east, the full moon was setting in the west. We got up early and walked along the shore, the moon to our left, the sun to our right.

When I packed my bag for a trip to the Outer Banks, I packed my beach earrings...shell cross-sections, sea turtles, star fish, and crabs.

This morning, I chose the crabs for my early morning walk. I remember watching crabs scampering about the beach whenever I got up early to go beach combing as a child. (Ghost crabs, spider crabs, not blue crabs, but crabs nonetheless.)

We saw no crabs, but then we didn't see star fish, sea turtles, or shells as big as these earrings, either.

I was amazed at the amount of development in the Outer Banks. I guess I should have known, given that every other car in Northern Virginia sports an OBX sticker. I also guess that if I were a wild animal, I'd have found it difficult to survive there along with all of the humans. 

So here are the two crabs seen on the beach today in Kill Devil Hills, NC. I brought them back to Northern Virgina tonight.

This pair of Jabebo earrings was a gift from my friend and colleague Susan who earned studied marine science in Wilmington, NC. She bought them for me at a science conference some 12 years ago. The first stop on my summer vacation was Bellefonte, PA to see Kevin Abbott, the creator of Jabebo earrings. Today, I returned from my final vacation adventure wearing a pair of his earrings. Bookends of summer, balancing like this morning's sunrise and moonset.