Jingle Shells

When I was young we spent a large chunk of our summers camping. We camped at an oceanside campground, and spent hours playing on sandstone rocks, swimming in the ocean, building sandcastles, building rafts and exploring tide pools. One of the things we always searched for was jingle shells. Turns out these are the shell of a type of oyster, one that almost no one eats as it is apparently very bitter. The challenge was to find the shells with the hole still complete – not easy as they are very delicate shells and the top hinge part is often broken apart. The memory of finding these jingle shells is closely tied to my mum, as she would make wind chimes out of them if we found enough. I only occasionally find them on the beaches up here, but every time I find one they take me back to those summers on the beach.