REPORT: May 30, 2010 - Sunday - 6pm

Observed: Lots of debris and trash

Collected: seaweed, sand, sea pod, shell piece, hard plastic piece, clear plastic

It's the Sunday of a 3-day weekend, Memorial Day weekend, and it shows. More people out means more trash. It took me 3 trips to carry all of the trash I collected in just the small area my son and I were playing near. I don't know what angers me more -- the oil spill which will take years, perhaps even a generation to clean and repair, OR the inability of everyday people in any given weekend to pick up their own wrappers, bottles, and junk. It amazes and disappoints me--the degree of ignorance and abject disinterest in the lack of personal responsibility we as a culture and nation for the very environment we DO have control over.

In spite--or rather,despite--the trash in and out of the water, I decide to focus on the fact that I am first and foremost a mother of a little boy who only wants to get in the water and swim. We go in. And not only do we make the best of it, we enjoy every wave, every moment to its fullest. He has bites from sea lice all over his chest, but he is completely unconcerned.

The smell of brine is heavy in the air. One brown pelican flies over-head near the shore line. The water is laden with seaweed near the shore break and strewn on the sand. The surf is choppy, and the break is strong.