Sea shells on the sea shore

A quieter day with time for a little beach work.

In a typical piece of serendipity I've learnt that the well-known tongue twister

She sells seashells by the seashore,
The shells she sells are seashells, I'm sure.
So if she sells seashells on the seashore,
Then I'm sure she sells seashore shells

was written (long after her death) about Mary Anning (1799-1847) who, untutored, pioneeered the collection and study of fossils in the little Dorset town of Lyme Regis where she grew up in humble circumstances. Her geological work paved the way to the revision of the belief that all life forms were created simultaneously by God. You can read about her here.

And here she is with her dog Tray who was an invaluable part of her work. When she found a new fossil site she left him to mark the spot while she sought assistance. Not surprisingly he was eventually killed in a rockfall, a martyr to geological science.

(These mussel shells are not fossils and no dogs were harmed in the making of this blip.)