Scalloped Seashore

Well, I wish I could have given the surfer the pic, as he looked to be just starting, and stood upright for a moment!...rolled out to Crystal Cove, gathered the gear, but only got as far as the Bluff Bench...it was cool enough for a walk down to the Beach, but the sign on entry said 'sunset at 6:29', and Crystal Cove closes at sunset, signs say!, so I didn't want to get caught behind a gate (this can happen at the Merced Wildlife Refuge, I think--it was always a concern thereabout anyway), and so I sat on Bluff Bench to be near the parking lot, and dutifully left at 6, and took note for next evening visit that the entry side has a gate, but the exit side just the tire strip barring entry, so one can always exit...which means I can linger to actually see the Sun go below the Horizon next time!...anyway, on the return, I looked South towards the Cottages, and the lighting highlighted the Beach Scalloping from the Waves...and I had been thinking about how the Orange County Coast from Big Corona to Doheney is scalloped with coves...see bluffs pic...a self similarity in scale!...that's what comes to mind when I see something on a small scale that looks like something on a large scale!...in fact, there are some pics illustrating this in the book Power of Limits, a book I often reference...in the book there are pics of water waves, ripples on the sand of the seafloor, herringbone clouds in the sky, and, I think, a scalloped beach like I was looking at...I kinda know how this happens, and looking for something to link by way of explanation, "Bascom: Waves and Beaches" popped into my head like I read it yesterday, rather than forty some years ago!...it's still in print...it was one of the texts when I took my marine science classes at Orange Coast...a thin paperback I'm sure the other students gave thin attention too!...I liked it, probably because it wasn't as thick as Light's Manual!...but anyway, on the ride home I got to wondering about Scallop Shells, where the term scalloped comes from, and if the ribs on  Scallop Shells are formed on a very small scale like ripples on sand dunes and ocean bays and sandy bottom streams, and leaf windrows---the windrows self similarity I just found, trying to  sort out things with the searches!...very cool...but I can't find a good explanation of Scallop Shell ribbing, or how it happens...seems Shells from rough water intertidal zones often have more ribs than shells from quiet bays or sandy beach bottoms...but in search I went to wiki's Scallop Shell take, and it has some curios from the lore of Scallop Shells!

quotes

When referring to St James, a scallop shell valve is displayed with its convex or outer surface showing. In contrast, when a scallop valve refers to the goddess Venus (see below) the scallop valve is displayed with its concave interior surface showing.

...

Alternatively, the scallop resembles the setting sun, which was the focus of the pre-Christian Celtic rituals of the area. To wit, the pre-Christian roots of the Way of St. James was a Celtic death journey westwards towards the setting sun, terminating at the End of the World (Finisterra) on the "Coast of Death" (Costa da Morte) and the "Sea of Darkness" (i.e., the Abyss of Death, the Mare Tenebrosum, Latin for the Atlantic Ocean, itself named after the Dying Civilization of Atlantis).^[14] The reference to St. James rescuing a "knight covered in scallops" is therefore a reference to St. James healing, or resurrecting, a dying (setting sun) knight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scallop

end quotes

insomuch as I have been going on about sunsets, sunrays, and questing knights, I thought the wikis as pretty cool...self-similarities!

quote

Many objects in the real world, such as coastlines, are statistically self-similar: parts of them show the same statistical properties at many scales.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-similarity

well...wiki thinks coastlines a good example too!

and this...

quote

Among the minor forms of the shore zone none has proved more puzzling than the cuspate deposits of beach material built by wave action along the foreshore. Sand, gravel, or coarse cobblestones are heaped together in rather uniformly shaped ridges which trend at right angles to the sea margin, tapering out to a point near the water's edge. (Johnson, 1919, p. 457)
They are usually ephemeral features with a lifetime on the order of hours and seem to occur on beaches all over the world (in fact, the source above mentions an early description from Lake Huron). They tend to occur on steep berms or beach faces when waves are striking the shore head-on. (Ibid.)

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2005-07/1122039055.Es.r.html

Perched on the Bluff Bench, I thought to take out my iphone compass...I knew I was facing South, but looking out, I could see the Waves were coming straight in, and was curious just exactly what direction they hailed from...and have learned now they're  straight in direction was responsible for the Beach scalloping!

clear warm a few clouds...the Buddha Shrine in the living room corner is gone...I looked dismayed when I asked the kid why, while his mom was boxing things up...I think I am more attached to it than she is...I said it could stay, but kid said it was okay...I offered the kitchen with its shelves for a replacement place after I've painted and cleaned...living room all empty, 'cept for my pics on wall, so ready for cleaning and painting...kid and mom only have one another in this big world to care for one another...and peripherally me with the roof...oh, but in that assessment is left out their White Dog--the pishan...and Buddah of course...anyway, I got the utility sink drain to stop leaking, after four back and forth to the hardware stores to repair the drain pipes...and left off cleaning, prepping for painting, for the evening rollabout...I cant work but an hour or so without getting antsy to gear up and roll out!...speaking of Ants, while hosing off the window blinds on the front lawn, I watered the Ficus Tree, and  Ants scrambled and grabbed Ant Eggs--The Ants of the Front Step and me go way back!