Thursday 18 September 2008

Today's pebble

I am always searching for that elusive 'perfect pebble'. I often find it, because the criteria for 'perfect' changes on a daily basis, entirely at whim. Sometimes it's the perfect smooth oval, sometimes it's round. Sometimes it's speckled and sometimes it's chalky white. And sometimes it'll have a pattern of lines that just catches my eye. Like today.


Tomorrow's pebble will probably be completely different. I'm lucky enough to live a ten-minute walk from the beach. This is what we call our 'town' beach, nestled below the prom, and then stretching westwards to Newlyn. It's a pebble beach and as such is also a treasure trove of sea glass. Sea glass is even more important to me than pebbles - I'm forever on the look out for these little jewel-like fragments. I rarely collect brown glass, and am not that taken with green, either. Clear glass, blasted to an opaque white, is precious, and aqua and turquoise even more so. But the real treasure is cobalt blue - a rare find indeed. Today's haul was fairly average, by all accounts.


Pebbles and sea glass are arranged at home in little still lifes, bowls and glass jars, whatever suits my mood of the moment. My greatest inspiration for the perfect pebble spiral somes from Kettle's Yard. Here is a quote from the website: "On Castle Street in Cambridge, is a beautiful and unique house containing a distinctive collection of modern art. Kettle's Yard was founded by H.S. 'Jim' Ede as a place where visitors would 'find a home and a welcome, a refuge of peace and order, of the visual arts and of music.' "

A glimpse of the pebble spiral can be seen on the top left of their home page. If you've never visited Kettle's Yard it's a journey worth making.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the comment. I love the colours in your post today. I love turquoise. Very nice!

Love Emma xxxxx

PS If I had chickens I would definitely be buying them a beautiful coop.

Anonymous said...

My favourite pebbley place is Barra - there is a fabulous beach there where every pebble is more interesting than the last. In a previous life I took tourists there and tried to limit the number of pebbles people collected so that the bus could still move ! ( But I sneaked a few extra into the pockets of my jacket when noone was looking !

dottycookie said...

I love sea glass. I have a sea glass hanging over our stairs - one of the very few pieces of art I have allowed myself to buy!

We are usually at the other end of town from Kettle's Yard, but now you have reminded me, I must take the girls there soon - we just need to park at a different Park & Ride from our usual stop and we'll be there! There's a teeny tiny church nearby that is rarely open but I'm sure they'd enjoy that too.

Tilly said...

I have a bowl of pebbles - one from each beach we have visited. I love them. (Also love Ben's chicken coops - gorgeous).

Heart in the country said...

Lovely colours Diana, and they tone beautifully with the background of your blog...very artistic.

thank you for helping out a newby blogger it was very much appreciated. I've even managed to upload pictures, although now you can see my hen house is very 'rustic' compared to Bens, they are beautiful!

Have a lovely weekend

Meadowlark Days said...

A woman after my own heart! When we lived in California, I always came home with pockets full of pebbles and shells, and the rare bit of sea glass...Most of my finds are in memory boxes now - will have to share a photo! These days I collect acorns, interesting twigs, etc., since those are what's available...

alice c said...

I love Kettles Yard too - although I find the sense of precious dust and cobwebs a bit overwhelming.

Your pebble is perfect. I have the identical twin pebble outside my back door!

kristina said...

I'm so jealous you're able to collect sea glass :) And I agree that is a perfect pebble! K x

this is my patch said...

It is a ten minute walk to our beach too, although no sea glass amongst our pebbles. I have a few bits of green glass which I have collected over the years. How wonderful to have these lovely objects on your doorstep. x