Coastal Clean Up

Last Saturday morning we did our civic duty and took part in the coastal clean up that was happening all over San Francisco.  Last year Cole worked at one of the beaches, so this time we chose a bay-side area called Warm Water Cove, over on the edge of Potrero Hill in a semi-industrial zone.  We thought it'd be more interesting than an idyllic, sandy beach, and it was!  We worked around defunct industrial buildings and warehouses, a sad little forgotten park, and dilapidated piers and pilings...all of which is right up my alley.  Despite these industrial aspects, we were still working right at the water for part of the morning, and it was peaceful.

The group we helped out with gave us gloves and pickers, and we set off to fill our bags with debris, keeping track of what we found on a scorecard of sorts.  Here's a short of list of the more interesting items we found:

• A woman's Steve Madden heel in black
• A knob to a stove
• A small, metal letter E
• A strange, unidentifiable piece of organic matter that loosely resembled part of a brain
• Tires
• Bike tubes
• A wide selection of mustard packets
• A Presidio Pines golf ball
• A large tangle of rusted chain
• Tons of glass shards, styrofoam pieces, and cigarette butts :(

You might be glad to know that I faced up to my persisting fear of spiders once again in order to pluck many of these items from the rip-rap (little term I picked up during my days researching Army Corps of Engineers wetlands practices).  There were some crazy webs spun in between the rocks and concrete pieces that we were working around.

All in all, it was a great thing to be part of.  And afterward, since we were close by, we stopped at Flora Grubb, my beloved garden center, and picked out a glass terrarium to hang in the living room.  'Cause you can't have too many plants.