Random August Thoughts...Disappearing Sea Glass, Etsy Gets Busier

We're halfway through the last month of the summer, and the last 2 trips to the beach have yielded zero pieces of sea glass, and only 5 pieces for the last 4 trips to the beach. I don't think I ever came away from the beach empty-handed for two straight trips! And only 5 pieces in 4 trips is also pretty shocking.

The NJ shore has been showing signs that the sea glass supply has been drying up in the last few years. Fewer and fewer pieces have been turning up, and most of what does appear on the beach, tends to be thinner shards of green, brown or clear...and that usually means that people are still discarding their beer and wine bottles in the ocean...and most of these pieces tend to be what my DH likes to refer to as "undercooked" or not quite sea glass. The pieces with sharp edges will never get a chance to become sea glass, as I toss them in the recycling cans along the beach. The more rounded edges, tend to be thicker pieces, and close to being finished, so I'll take them to an area of LBI that is not open to swimmers and give the ocean a chance to finish it's work.

Most of the "undercooked" pieces do get thrown out, because a large percentage of them are the thinner glass (almost always from recent discarding) Perhaps one day in the future, I'll regret not giving the thinner pieces a chance, but I would hate to think some unsuspecting swimmer had a day at the beach ruined by a severe laceration on the foot or leg.

So as summer winds down, and the vacationers head home for fall, hopefully there will be some sea glass turning up soon. At least the beaches will be void of cigar smoking, loud-mouthed bennies that leave their trash behind when they leave the beach for the day. I'm looking forward to Labor Day...can you tell?

Has the hot weathered helped or hurt your sales on Etsy the last 2 months? Or has the weather and the weak economy caused your sales to grind to a trickle? In part 2 of Random Thoughts... what I've noticed occurring during the dog days of summer. The images above are a few pieces that will be working their way into my Etsy shop this week!

'til next time... (probably Tues)
R