It’s basically never too cold to keep me away from Lake Erie.
Except maybe tomorrow when the temperature is supposed to be a whopping one degree. I think I’ll just stay home and drink coffee, cozied up under a blanket in my office instead.
xoxo
A colorful little something that brightened my cold, dreary winter day. Nothing more, nothing less.
I lol-ed hard at that butt. It’s a G.I. Joe butt.
A quick found on the beach FAQ
- You found all of these in one trip? Sadly, yes.
- What do you do with all after your done? Normally I toss it in the trash or recycle if appropriate. Sometimes I may take certain pieces with me if I think they’ll look cool in a future arrangement or if it’s something I collect. Toy soldiers & all other tiny plastic characters come home with me! I also collect plastic plants, leaves and flowers.
- Do you wear gloves when you pick all this trash up? No, I don’t. These are things that are washed up from the lake, not just left on shore. They’re no dirtier than the sand or water. That’s not to say I don’t sanitize my hands as soon as I get back in my car though…
- Are all of your beaches this gross? No, absolutely not. We have lots of gorgeous, clean and downright picturesque beaches along Lake Erie. This one in particular just seems to collect all the debris from the lake. I have yet to find another this bad in the area.
CHECK OUT MORE ‘FOUND ON THE BEACH” POSTS HERE!
If you like my ‘found on the beach’ collections – prints, phone cases, and more can be found here.
It’s been a busy few days with Thanksgiving last week. Jeff had off Thursday, Friday, and of course, the weekend so we essentially had a four day weekend. Lots of food, and time spent with family and friends. It was lovely. I also managed to convince him to go to the beach with me twice(!!) – which makes it sound like he doesn’t have any fun but I think he might even enjoy looking for treasure more than I do. When I asked him to take a few photos of me he kept getting distracted by fresh finds the lake was washing in. At least I can pull myself away for a few seconds…
Beachcombing is one of my absolute favorite hobbies. I’m so happy my husband seems to be really getting into it as well. It’s a blast to share that with someone, especially someone who is just as hyped about the cool things I find as I am. It definitely takes a special kind of person to agree that finding a tiny shard of pottery with only the teensiest bit of color on it is cool.
After we throughly comb the sand, our routine has been to come home and spread out our finds on the kitchen table. It’s the best. I treasure our treasure hunting time together. I’m quite sad that we’ve fallen into this little pattern just as the weather is starting to change though. While you can definitely hunt for beach treasures all year long – I’ve certainly found great glass in the dead of winter – it’s a heck of a lot less enjoyable in the cold. Hopefully the coming year will hold lots of nice weather, treasure hunts… maybe even a metal detector and youtube channel? Who knows!
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details
coat – c/o Modcloth
sweater – c/o Modcloth
jeans – c/o Modcloth
camera bag – pink backpack via Amazon
boots – no longer available but here’s a light silver glitter pair!
PS. Modcloth is having a huge Cyber Monday sale! 40% off EVERYTHING. Includes already marked down items too!
A few recent favorite finds. The green piece above is probably my all time best find. It’s such an incredible piece of beach glass. Perfectly worn down, big, and that color!?! Gah! So good. And below, my very first piece of jewelry found on the beach. Nothing special but there is definitely a thrill to sifting through the pebbles and seeing a ring hiding out.
For years I’ve been intriqued by the number of lighters that wash up on the beach. I find a wide variety of things in the sand, as seen in my arrangements, but the lighters! There are always just so dang many of them.
The first time it really stuck out to me was 2014, I noticed there seemed to be a lot of them and ended up picking up 50 lighters in one pass of the beach. Earlier this year, I decided to do another lighter exclusive photo and ended up finding 52 lighters total. This trip? 63 of them total! 56 in these photos and another seven on the way back to the car.
There would be times when I’d bend down to pick up one and spot another one or two that I could reach from my squat. It just blows my mind.
bee boots by Joules
A quick found on the beach FAQ
- You found all of these in one trip? Sadly, yes. This isn’t even half of it either. I also picked up a full tote bag of trash on this visit.
- What do you do with all after your done? Normally I toss it in the trash or recycle if appropriate. Sometimes I may take certain pieces with me if I think they’ll look cool in a future arrangement or if it’s something I collect. Toy soldiers & all other tiny plastic characters come home with me! I also collect plastic plants, leaves and flowers.
- Do you wear gloves when you pick all this trash up? No, I don’t. These are things that are washed up from the lake, not just left on shore. They’re no dirtier than the sand or water. That’s not to say I don’t sanitize my hands as soon as I get back in my car though…
- Are all of your beaches this gross? No, absolutely not. We have lots of gorgeous, clean and downright picturesque beaches along Lake Erie. This one in particular just seems to collect all the debris from the lake. I have yet to find another this bad in the area.
CHECK OUT MORE ‘FOUND ON THE BEACH” POSTS HERE!
If you like my ‘found on the beach’ collections – prints, phone cases, and more can be found here.
like spending time doing the things that make you happy.
This post? It’s really just an excuse to share some photos from recent beachcombing trips. My love of the beach has a natural ebb and flow dependant on not only the season (cooler weather is always better!) but based on what I’m finding. Obviously, there’s no rhyme or reason to what you find on the beach on what day. It’s all random and no one can control what the lake decides to wash in. But one good day of finds will lead to me being there a lot more often the following days.
That’s what happened here. I spent the afternoon at the beach with my husband and sister-in-law over the weekend. She’d never been beachcombing before so Jeff and I were both very excited to share with her how fun and relaxing it is. I did not expect to hit the jackpot like we did though. Aside from lots of great blues, a couple red and yellows, and other awesome odds and ends, we found marbles! I’ve never seen a marble on this beach so when she raised something green in the air and said “what’s this?” I never expected that’s what it would be. I was super jealous but very excited for her and very excited to know that it was something I could possibly find some day.
Ten minutes later, I’m squatting down to grab a piece of beach glass that caught my eye when I watched a marble get washed in with the waves. It was SO incredibly exciting. I spend the next couple days going to the beach each day. Not specifically to look for marbles, although I certainly wouldn’t be upset if I found another, but because it reminded me how much I enjoy being there. Consider me 100% addicted to the beach at the moment.
I realize it’s just trash. Trash that the lake has tumbled and washed back onshore but there is just something so darn satisfying about it all. I love spending even the smallest portion of my day beside the water, listening to the waves, and searching for treasure. It’s so relaxing. It’s easy to just stay in, lay on the couch, scroll on my phone, and call that relaxing but actually getting out and doing something I love really does wonders for my mental health.
Lake Erie, I love you!
Life is busy and can be stressful but don’t forget to take some time for yourself!
xoxo
For more of life’s wonderful small moments, check out the tag “it’s the little things”
If you’d like to find some beach glass of your own – 7 tips for finding beach glass & 3 best spots for beachcombing in Cleveland.
I’m sharing top secret information with you here today. Are you ready? I’m giving up my three favorite spots for beachcombing in Cleveland! This information isn’t actually a secret. These beaches are all popular spots but perhaps never shared in this manner? What I mean is that when people think of Cleveland, I’m sure their first thought isn’t ‘I’m definitely gonna have to look for beach treasures while I’m there!’
Part of me feels like I shouldn’t disclose this information since beach people are normally fiercly protective of their spots. As someone who travels fairly often though, I do wish this information was easier to find. When I’m researching areas that I’ll be visiting, I’m not looking for the best beaches to swim or sunbathe. I wanna know where your trash is! Where can I find random treasures that wash up on the shore?! This is the information I’m sharing with you today. If you’re looking for some tips on where to swim in Lake Erie, this isn’t the post for you. If you want to find beach glass, old pottery, and other strange bits and bobs – I’ve got ya covered!
Wendy Park
2800 Whiskey Island Drive, Cleveland, OH 44102
Wendy Park is my main haunt. It’s the first beach I fell in love with when I moved to the area. It’s off the same exit as Cleveland’s most popular beach yet, somehow, manages to be worlds different. Waves wash in all sorts of random things from pottery to drift wood to miscellaneous trash. Sometimes there’s even an abundance of beach glass as well but not all of it is as worn down as I’d like.
I’m a big fan of Wendy Park because it’s fairly quiet (and of course, because I find lots of fun stuff in the sand!) Every once in a while I’ll show up and there will be a bunch of people but the majority of the time it’s usually just me and a random dog walker. At the park beside the beach you’ll find a neat view of the city, and a pier that leads out to the old coast guard station that is currently being renovated.
Best for : trash, driftwood, pottery pieces + birdwatching
Bradstreet’s Landing
22400 Lake Rd, Rocky River, OH 44116
I discovered Bradstreet’s Landing shortly before moving to the area and actually regularly took the hour drive just to come here. I had never seen as much beach glass as I was finding here. I was used to finding four to five pieces of glass per trip but at Bradstreet’s I could fill a sandwich baggie in an hour or so.
Depending on what time of the day you go, Bradstreet’s Landing can get kind of crowded. It’s an older, friendly crowd though. A great spot if you’re a social beachcomber who likes to chitchat. Even when there are others there, it’s still super easy to find lots of great pieces of glass!
Best for : beach glass
Perkins Beach
Upper Edgewater Park – 41.48752919,-81.75115557
I found Perkins Beach by accident. We were geocaching around the area and one led us to this quiet little beach. It was getting dark but I liked the view of the city I could see so I made it a point to go back the next day to check out the beach. What a great discovery that was!
I almost already regret sharing this spot because the beach glass here is so good! There isn’t a lot of really large pieces but the small pieces that cover the shoreline are perfectly frosted. I have never seen such beautiful glass in person as I find at this beach. There’s also an abundance tiny blue pieces!
Best for : beach glass, driftwood + a great view of the city
an hours worth of glass from Perkins Beach
A couple honorable mentions…
(Not included in the top three mostly because of distance to Cleveland.)
▴ Mentor Headlands. People rave about the beach glass here. I’ve never had great luck but I think Mentor Headlands has some seriously impressive rocks!
▴ Sherod Park Beach. To be honest, I only recently discovered this beach. Consequently, I can’t really give a fair review of the beachcombing scene there. I actually didn’t see much beach glass at all. The reason it makes the list though? I found my first marble there. I will say that there were lots of great rocks as well!
Two last things before ending this post!
- If you see a green haired girl hunched over searching for treasures at the beach, please say ‘hi!’ I’d love to meet other folks who enjoy poking around in the sand!
- Pass on the knowledge! Know of a neat ‘trash beach’ near you? Let me know! Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, finding these places online isn’t easy, it’s almost like you just have to be in the know which isn’t really possible if you’re just traveling through somewhere. I’m always looking for new places to add my to-visit list. If you’d rather keep it a secret, feel free to email me.
Good luck!
xoxo
Back in the beginning of May, my best friend who lives in Canada and her family came up to visit. We had a busy weekend of eating and watching her kids play at the park. Ya know, super important stuff! We also made it a point to head to the beach. Obviously, it’s one of my favorite spots in the city but her son, Milo, had brought me some beach glass from Croatia so we needed to find him some from Lake Erie.
I hadn’t planned on making an arrangement since they do take a bit of time and I didn’t want to make anyone wait around on me. Buuuut then I noticed Elycia was picking up random colorful bits and bobs. On top of that, I overheard her say something to Milo about laying things out in color order. It was on!
PS. For anyone interested, my sandals are Teva and I LOVE them. They’re like walking on clouds.
I guess that makes this my first collaborative beach trash arrangement. Half picked by Elycia, half picked by me plus a few bonus pieces Milo handed to us that he thought were neat. I think it turned out pretty darn awesome. I’m very happy with how the photos turned out as well, especially the one below. I love that you can see Cleveland in the background.
Before we left Elycia mentioned to me how she starting picking things up when we arrived originally because she just wanted to help clean up. She quickly realized that there’s just too much of it.
It sounds so pessimistic to say that it doesn’t matter but there really is so much that picking up even 49 lighters doesn’t make a dent. More will wash up tomorrow, or even later the same day. The issue isn’t that people are leaving things on the beach (although I’m sure lots of people leave litter there after seeing the condition.) These are all things that get washed ashore from the lake. According to this article I found, 22 million pounds of plastic enters the Great Lakes each year. Lake Erie receives 5.5 million of those! Picking up trash on the beach is great but the only real solution is prevention. It seems like an overwhelming task but even something as simple as using a reusable straw helps! Check out these two sites for more info on just how huge of a problem plastic straws actually are – strawless ocean + the last plastic straw.
Also, if you’d like a better idea of what the trash on the beach actually looks like outside the frame of my pretty little arrangements, I recommend checking out this post + this one too.
Favorite finds of the day! I apparently hit the toy cowboy jackpot. I’ve never seen a single one on the beach so finding two was a treat. My collection of plastic figures is getting pretty large. I’ll have to show y’all sometime soon…
xoxo
CHECK OUT MORE ‘FOUND ON THE BEACH” POSTS HERE!
If you like my ‘found on the beach’ collections – prints, phone cases, and more can be found here. Handmade zipper pouches + postcards can be found here.
I think this just may be my favorite found on the beach arrangement!
When I first started doing these arrangements five or six years ago I always made them in the sand. It was super important to me that I found a clear little section of sand with no other debris. I was really nitpicky about finding the *perfect* spot. A lot of the time I would even use a piece of drift wood as a rake to clear an area and smooth out the surface. After a while those felt kind of boring but it really took until last year for me to realize how much I enjoyed placing them on other natural surfaces. This arrangement on the rocks of the breakwall set the tone for my recent work. I just loved the way my colorful finds looked against the dark rocks, and the juxtaposition of something natural paired with the trash.
Since the weather has started to just barely warm up, they’ve been taking better care of the beach, or at least making it look like they are. They plow all the trash, driftwood, miscellaneous debris, and sand to one end and then scoop that all up into a dumpster. It doesn’t actually clean the beach because I’m willing to be at least a portion of that ends right back up in the lake since it isn’t being recycled. Even freshly plowed, I still managed to find 49 lighters in one walking pass of the beach. Plus three more on my walk back to the car. I don’t think I’ll ever get over how many there are to find!!
bee boots by Joules
Let’s end this with a quick shot of what one little section of the lake looks like. Fun to pick through for me but honestly, so sad. Could you imagine being a fish in that? Earth Day was yesterday but this is something we need to be thinking about everyday if we ever want it to get better.
CHECK OUT MORE ‘FOUND ON THE BEACH” POSTS HERE!
If you like my ‘found on the beach’ collections – prints, phone cases, and more can be found here. Handmade zipper pouches + postcards can be found here.
Just some colorful beach finds for you today. What can I say? I’m a sucker for trash organized by color.
Everything in these photos was found on the same day, on the same trip, within the same hour.
I usually decide on what kind of arragement I’ll make after being at the beach a few minutes. I like to take a bit of time to look around and see if anything is jumping out at me. Like the color yellow, hair barrettes, or teeny tiny pieces. On this particular trip I wasn’t seeing much. Obviously I was seeing LOTS of trash but nothing super interesting so I decided to just pick up lighters. There’s always an abundance of them! If you recall, back in 2014 I actually saved all the lighters I found throughout the summer to do one huge round up photo. 199 of them by the end of the season. Check it out! I was shocked to only find twenty on this trip. I mean that’s a huge number but I guess thats just how desensitized I am to the amount of things that wash up. It’s sad, really.
