WEATHERING CLOSE-UP

Close-up views of sand from around the world: These miniature pieces of rock (about 1 or 2 millimeters across) are broken off from larger rock outcrops close to the shore. The tiny rocks are further dismantled and weathered by the streaming and pounding of the water over thousands of years. They become grains of sand that are kept between the water and the shore by the force of water and the opposing stability of the land. Light green tiny quartz pebbles were just in between my toes in Kauai this January. The sands in my southern california backyard are made of clear quartz and shell. Sands vary in composition according to which rocks they came from--rocks that are part of the landscape at the shoreline. Clear silica (in the form of quartz rocks) is the most common sand particle. Pink and green crystals are garnet stones. Shiny black stones often break off from volcanic rock.

namibia

zushi beach, japan kauai

glacial sand. Lake Winnibigoshish, Minnesota

PINK IS RELATIVE

in the 17th century, the word pink was used to describe a muted yellowish-greenish color of grasses and wheat, not the dreamy color of these rocks and sunsets. from the 1920's to 1940's the color pink was associated with boys, and thought to be more masculine, and blue was associated with girls, and thought to be more effeminate. in the 1940's the convention suddenly switched, unbeknownst to rocks, skies, and flowers everywhere. "In the pink" is being in good health. A "pink novel" is synonymous with a Spanish sentimental romance. "Pink" is an american pop singer. Pink is the color of the Portuguese socialist party. In Thailand, pink is associated with Tuesday. These beautiful rocks and skies are oblivious to our unsteady musings--there color is inextricably tied to the position of the sun. We see pink light in a sunset because, as light travels all the way from the horizon, all the blue tones get filtered out. Reds are left (of which pink as we know it is a muted tone). This happens every day--different patterns and wavelengths cast different shades of pink on our retina. In geologic time, our categorizations of color are just a blip.