Oh my goodness! Never would I have imagined that children I taught Whale Workshops to in the 1970’s or who contributed paintings to my Save the Whale book would find me decades later and write me lovely notes of appreciation.

I am thrilled to have heard from Douglas Carrier who was 11 years old when he sent me an amazing painting of a whale funeral. I received his painting through the mail in 1974 and was stunned by his interpretation of the dying whales. I included his painting in my book: “There’s a Sound in the Sea – A Child’s-Eye View of the Whale” (Scrimshaw Press, San Francisco 1975). Scholastic Magazine published front page stories about the plight of whales and asked children to contribute to my book. Fifteen thousand children responded, and I chose about 96.

Please see Douglas Carrier’s and my correspondence under “How Whales Pop Up”.

April 3, 2012

Nearly two years ago my daughter, Maya and I created a ceremony to “let go” of our home and the land we cherish, and to embrace our new life in town. We had relinquished all hope of getting a Conservation Sale through the Nature Conservancy of Canada and BC Parks, after working diligently for 4 years. Now we were placing Bold Bluff on the open market.

Maya and I found a beautiful huge moon snail shell on our low tide mud flat and brought it reverently up to our home. Here we dug a hole near the bank overlooking the cove and buried it wrapped in my Mother’s flowered napkin to protect it, and we put a glittering white quarts stone we found on our land inside it. We talked about how much we loved Bold Bluff and all it has given us, and cried buckets of tears. We asked that the land be passed onto people who will grow to cherish and protect it. We promised that when the land was sold we would dig up the moon snail and place it in a prominent place of honour in my new home.

A year later I accepted an offer to buy Bold Bluff from two young Canadian families, and fortunately they gave me over a year to bid goodbye to this sacred place. Now the time is closing and we will be moved by June 30, 2012.

Digging up the Moon Snail Shell

This lovely spring afternoon in sunshine with the daffodils in bloom Maya and I dug up that moon snail. We had forgotten where we had buried it, but I thought it was nestled between two bleached maple branches of an old maple that fell in 1992. Into the black, rich earth my shovel went in a tiny careful circle. The earth was squirming with fat spring earth worms! And there was the shell! Ever so carefully we brought it to the light. Its opening was filled with dirt and when we shook it, it rattled with the quartz inside.

Moon Snail we Dug Up

Maya washed it with a tooth brush and we held its beauty in our hands, contemplating it will be a reminder of our past life at Bold Bluff and a messenger of the future – an entirely new life opening up for me without the challenges of boat access and maintaining a large estate. This time we shed no tears. We are ready to move on.

Moon Snail Cleaned and Exquisite!

If you are moving and selling a cherished home, creating ceremonies to let go and move on can help heal your spirit. Letting go of stuff and places is challenging. Ceremony creates a pathway to acknowledge the present and welcome the future. Shedding tears and laughter are part of the journey!

Biology of Moon Snail (Euspira lewisii)

The Moon Snail is a slow moving gastropod that lives between the high tide and the low tide on sandy and muddy beaches. It has a gigantic fleshy foot that it inflates with sea water when it moves, and squirts out when it wants to withdraw into its shell (which is its skeleton). Moon snails eat snails, clams and oysters by drilling tidy holes in the shells and pouring an acid which dissolves the weak tissue of the bivalves. Then they suck up the juicy meal!

Some of you will have seen sand collars on the mud flats – the egg cases of these lovely snails. They are made from a layer of sand, a layer of eggs, and another layer of sand. About 100,000 tiny moon snails hatch out of one egg case!