Through The Sandglass

Sand on TV in Europe: Le sable : enquête sur une disparition

Sand: an investigation into a disappearance. Shown last night on ARTE, the European culture channel, this superb documentary by Denis Delestrac has already made waves. It has also provided me with a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction – last year, Denis filmed a long piece of yours truly holding forth on the topic and extracted a number of choice selections for inclusion in the documentary. So, last night, for the first time, I sat and watched myself on TV…..

The film also includes wise words from, amongst others, Orrin Pilkey, Professor Emeritus of Geology at Duke University, whose work I have highlighted several times in this blog. The documentary can be viewed in its entirety at http://www.arte.tv/guide/fr/046598-000/le-sable-enquete-sur-une-disparition – in French, but it has been taken up by PBS in the US, so watch out for the English version being broadcast. Originally titled Sand Wars, it does a great job of raising awareness of an environmental issue rarely brought to the public’s attention – the way that we exploit our unsung hero is not sustainable.   

Thank you Denis!

 

Guest post: One Grain of Sand, by Susanne Rieth

 

“One grain of sand, it is all that remains of my vast empire." This line is from the classic film The Never Ending Story. When the mythical land of Fantasia is destroyed, the protagonists are able to wish it back into existence using that one grain of sand, which had escaped destruction. If I could have wished Rockaway back to normal using sand I would have been in luck. Because of our sand? Instead of disappearing it climbed into our houses, streets, cars, beds, bathtubs and just about every other imaginable place.

As Memorial Day approaches one can feel the return to normalcy knocking at the door. Some of the signs of destruction haven't quite left us yet, although more and more our hometown is starting to feel like itself again.

One of the ways that I kept my head through the storm and the winter months that followed was by remembering what I love most about living here. The beach. Every morning, I walk the shoreline with my pooch. Today I invite you to join me, to see what we find in the sands of Rockaway.

Our first find, a paper plate with a child’s drawing on it.

Next, Nina and I encountered this guy, in quite a compromising position.

It’s a bit of a hobby of mine to rescue horseshoe crabs that end up flipped over and helpless. After he was vigorously sniffed, he was re-released into the wild

Next up, this purple broom head.

Lines in the sand that remind me of tree branches.

A series of seashells and sea glass.

A little patterned feather.

And a shred of yellow caution tape.

So there you have it, the best of one morning’s exploration in the sand along the shore. And should the day ever come when I can wish upon a sand grain, I’ll be in luck. Right now, there are about a thousand of them in my shoes.

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[As I wrote in my previous post on the rebuilding of Breezy Point, Susanne, a resident of neighbouring Rockaway, contacted me about using Larry Deemer’s photos on her Rockaway Rises blog (which she started because she “was tired of looking at all the negative news stories and photography about Rockaway.” Larry was, of course, delighted, and Susanne used some of his Wave to Wave photos from his book of the same title. It also seemed like a great opportunity for a guest post, and Susanne kindly agreed – this is the very enjoyable result. Susanne grew up in Breezy Point and is a freelance photographer and photo editor who “spent several weeks after Hurricane Sandy digging out my parents’ flooded basement before driving to Florida where I had to stay for 6 weeks because my office had also been flooded and my job temporarily moved down there.” Thanks for this post, Susanne, and best wishes for a great Memorial Day weekend to you and everyone in Rockaway and Breezy Point.]

The waves roll on - and Breezy Point tries to rebuild

Back in the very early days of this blog, one of the great and rewarding pieces of serendipity was getting to know Larry Deemer, sand aficionado and photographer extraordinaire. I first published a selection of his stunning images back in April 2009, and there have been subsequent collaborations on ice, horseshoe crabs, and scale. And in the meantime, he has published a glorious book of his sand pattern images. Most importantly, also in the meantime, we have become good friends and it’s a great pleasure to post a selection of his latest photos of the creative conspiracy between waves, foam, and sand.

But there’s a backstory, and a dramatic one. In that first post I wrote that Larry is “lucky enough to live in Breezy Point, a coastal neighbourhood in Queens, the borough of New York City,” and indeed my wife and I were lucky enough to visit Larry, Lou, and Buck and enjoy their company, their home, and their beach. But then, in October of last year, Hurricane Sandy rolled the dice and the luck of the residents of Breezy Point changed – catastrophically. They were hit not only by damage from the storm (which would have been relatively manageable), but by a devastating fire that raged out of control and destroyed over a hundred homes. Over 200 more were terminally damaged and have been bulldozed. Larry was, in this sense, lucky: the water damage to their house was reparable and they have been back home since the middle of January, feeling, as Larry has commented, “like pioneers.” But not home as it used to be – houses around them are no longer there, and the process of rebuilding is stalled by the absurdities of bureaucracy. We use the term “community” somewhat loosely these days, but Breezy Point was – and is – a real community; just read some of the stories on the web to appreciate what the word really means.

But nature continues her activities, oblivious to human hardship, and the beach, although “the 6’ dunes are now 2’ dunes',” continues to be an inspiration. Thanks, Larry.

[Soon after writing this post, I heard from Susanne Rieth who runs a blog called Rockaway Rises - Rockaway is right next to Breezy Point. The blog is well worth a look, described thus: "Rockaway Rises is a community for sharing and enjoying the positive aspects of life on our fair peninsula.  We welcome submissions of photography, art work and uplifting stories that remind us why we love it here, and why we will continue to thrive here in spite of Hurricane Sandy.  No devastation and destruction.  Only gratitude for what we still have, the ocean and our community."]