Back in 1967 Carol and I moved to Depoe Bay, Oregon where we lived in a house for 62.50 a month at the top of a cliff about 70 feet above the Pacific Ocean -- above Sandy Cove. At low tide I loved to scramble over the rocks and seaweeds photographing hundreds/thousands of creatures so strange and mysterious it couldn't be believed. We are yet to communicate with any of the millions of animals that inhabit our planet with us. I constantly wonder why we assume we'll be able to communicate with any extra terrestrial life form we might encounter some day.

One day I found a CHITON at least a foot long and 6 inches wide. It was covered with long hair-like seaweed and/or algae. This was early in the morning shortly after sunrise. I had to let Carol see what I found so I climbed the bluff and tossed the chiton into bed with her. Well, she looked at it (and the many worm parasites that inhabited it) screame, hit me a terrific hit, ran into the bathroom and slammed the door. I calmly retrieved my chiton, took it outside and photographed it from all angles. Then I climbed back down the cliff to the tide pools where I replaced the chiton into it's watery habitat. Then I waited for a flower shop to open, bought Carol one red rose and this coming January 3rd we will celebrate our 35th anniversary.

And there they tied a true love knot,
The rose around the briar.
(Barbara Allen)

Art Thieme