The "Adding To My Collection" Story

My hand-made funnel is used to put sand
into the hand-painted bottle.  The 1/2"
opening on the Ma DouDou rum bottle
limits what can be placed in the bottle.

It was an ordinary day.  Putting the finishing touches on my very small Ma DouDou hand-painted rum bottle.  These little bottles I gather when Carol and I take our annual vacation to the island of St. Martin.  The rum comes in different flavors with the Banane Vanille being my favorite.  Bottle is good for maybe half a dozen shots, but afterwards I use them for a variety of things.  For about 15 years I have been using them to hold spoonfuls of sand that I gather from some of my favorite beaches in the world. The bottle I am filling now is my 13th bottle for my collection.  The sand that I am filling it with has all come from beaches in Hawaii from my recent trip to the islands.  I only gathered sand from four beaches this year, but by adding the spoonful or two of pebbles from Glass Beach in Kauai, it filled the bottle to the top.  

Final result.  A small label on the rear
tells where each layer was found. Notice
the colors of the different layers.

Bottom layer is from Lygate Beach on the island of Kauai with the next from bottom layer coming from Kaanapauli Beach in Maui.  The layer on top of that is from Poipu Beach on Kauai with the top two layers from Glass Beach on Kauai.  The reason for two layers from Glass Beach is that the beach is black volcanic sand with a layer of crushed glass from years of glass being weathered on the beach. My only regret is that I forgot to get a spoonful of sand from Waikiki Beach on Ohau, one of the most famous beaches in the world.  I do have some from another visit, but not from our recent visit.  I am now out of glass bottles so I will need to buy more rum or stop collecting spoonfuls of sand. Guess what my choice might be.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.