Saturday, January 11, 2014

Seashore Puttering

Just as I love puttering along the seashore in my kayak, other people and animals putter along, too. There's an old saying among the Tlingit people here on the West Coast -- and other folk -- that "When the tide is out, the table is set." That expression of wonder in all the edible things revealed at low tide can be found on the East Coast, too. There's a wonderful little folk song with that line in the chorus, written by Brian Richardson. (You can find other nautical songs at the website of the Victoria Nautical Song Circle.)
My brother used to joke about going clam shooting at the beach, and named some holiday trips "Clam Shoots" -- even writing about it in his and John's award-winning zine Under the Ozone Hole. There are photos galore in Stephanie's albums, with only one clam and nary a gun to be seen. Maybe Karl overheard somebody calling a shovel a "clam gun" as Virginia Kraft does here when describing clamming for geoduck clams.

There are good seashore cooking comments here at Valerie Segrest's blog. Right now she's got a very short video showing how seaweed changes colour to bright green when dipped in hot water! Cooking is a pleasant thought when my kayaks are all tucked away, so for now I'm cooking and puttering on the computer, instead of puttering along the shore in a kayak.

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