The Pluff Mud Incident

Though the wind had a bite to it, DiOnna and I repeated our walk to the "Sands" again today. DiOnna is so great at staying close to me if I make that command. She loves to get out and poke her nose in everything. She also loves to chase seagulls and crows.

Today I took a bag of pecans in the shell and chose a squared piece of sea wall to sit down on. As soon as DiOnna heard the first crack of one shell against the other one in my hand, she was as close as her little lips could get to the pecan. She did not move for fear of missing a tidbit and I must have cracked more than a dozen before we had each had our fill.

As we sat, we watched the visitors to the beach bent obsessively over the clusters of oyster shells in their bed, some down on their knees with knee pads and onto their elbows, going for a better range to eyeball any potential finds, in particular, shark's teeth. I was told that in the thick of the oyster beds, with the tide at low, it is more likely a serious seeker can find a larger sized shark tooth than the baby ones found along the tide line. Indeed, a perservering little blond-headed girl, skinny as a rail, showed me her band-aid box of a good 10 or so baby shark's teeth. I concluded the best talent for finding shark's teeth is patience, next to the obvious gift of keen eyesight.

I sat on the cold concrete and wrapped my cherished blue Pashmina wool headscarf around my head and ears, tucking the remaining lengths beneath my chin. At just after 2 p.m. the wind was whipping not only my face and ears, but was creating a froth in the waves, leaving them whitecapped as they wrestled each other to get away from the shore as the tide struggled to find it's way out.

The sky was overcast and the grey day was enough to make me shiver, without the added wind from the northeast. I wondered at the growth of oyster shells in the exposed bed, how they they curled in the same pattern as most all things on earth seem to grow, as seen in the pattern of the pinecone. I couldn't help but compare the growth pattern to the same pattern I'd seen recently in a cluster of fungus or mushrooms, I'd seen on the courthouse lawn just down in the town. I took a picture of the fungus. Did I take a picture of the oysters growing?

I only found out the day before, that oysters need the hard shells of empty oysters to attach to in order to grow. For that reason, oysters already mined by hungry humans for their delicious content, are recycled by most communities like this one, back into the beds to facilitate further growth.

Before I was ready to trek back to the house, the sun came out and provided some much needed warmth and it added a bit of rosiness to my cheeks. Day 2 of this new outdoor adventuring and already I felt the benefits of the fresh air and exercise; but, not before the "pluff mud" incident. I always wondered exactly what pluff mud was. I had heard about it a few times since moving to the "Low Country." Until you experience it for yourself, though, it just sounds rather romantic. While it is pretty in paintings, if you step into it, you sink; and so, I did. The beautiful taupe colored mud ate up about six inches of the black suede of my boots, and a few inches of the hem of my CLEAN black jeans. Now, if anyone should want to know exactly what pluff mud is, I can tell them it is a lot like quicksand. The harder you try to get out of it, the more you sink.

I don't want to jinx this experience of outdoor adventuring by making it a resolution. I will just remember the exuberance that comes with with interacting with nature. That is motivation in itself to embrace the great outdoors with all its surprises.

DiOnna is exhausted. So am I.