Page 51 - Discover Summer 2020

GEMS
Of The Ocean
There is a blessing for beach lovers that
goes something like this: “May you always have
a shell in your pocket, and sand in your shoes,” it
is one of those sayings you might find painted on
driftwood or on T-shirts, and sold to tourists at
beach-side shops. It doesn’t really take on much
meaning until you meet someone like Lynn
Giammattei, who will always have a shell in her
pocket. However, her favorite “shoes” are flip-
flops, which don’t collect sand.
Lynn is a self-proclaimed beach comber.
Although she no longer lives near the beach,
she’ll always live as close to water as she can get,
and always have shells, star fish, and other small
treasures from the ocean with her or near at
hand. When she moved from her favorite beach
in Rhode Island to the shore of New Jersey, she
took her beach-finds along. Likewise, when she
decided to make her home at Smith Mountain
Lake, her collections came here as well, even
though her collections are quite heavy.
Actually, most of her sea shells are from
Greece, tiny little works of art that are an unusual
pink color, and absolutely fascinating. They fit
easily inside a plastic sandwich bag. She also has
a collection of rocks as mementos of that same
Greek vacation.
“When I was leaving and checked my
luggage at the airport, the attendant looked at me
in surprise when he lifted my suitcase. He said,
‘What have you got in here? Rocks?’ You should
have seen his face when I told him, ‘Yes, actually,
I do’”.
By Kate Hofstetter
The Greek rocks are unusual and pretty,
and the shells are adorable. But it’s her collection
of sea glass that blows the mind away. In case
you’re not familiar with sea glass, also commonly
called “drift glass”, it is nature’s way of dealing
kindly with humanity’s trash. It comes primarily
from broken bottles that have been discarded
along the shore or directly into our oceans and
water ways.
It is estimated that it takes from 20 to
40 years of tumbling in the ocean against rocks
and sand for these shards of glass to be turned
into something that artisans crave. Sea glass is
often used to make jewelry and mosaics. It’s also
put inside a glass container such as the globe
of a lamp or a vase, to be admired for its subtle,
frosted colors. Lynn has also found several “cool”
ceramic pieces.
If you’ve ever tried to find just one piece of
sea glass while spending a day at the beach, you
can somewhat appreciate Lynn’s vast collection.
It would more than fill an over-sized suitcase,
in which case it would weigh too much for the
average person to lift. Some people compare
finding sea glass to finding a four leaf clover.
Actually, four leaf clovers are probably more
prevalent. Certainly, most of us know at least
one person who can spot a four leaf clover while
casually walking past one.
Lynn says that finding your first piece
of sea glass is the most difficult. She credits her
interest in photography and sketching for helping
to train her eye to spot things and details that
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