Frosted

Having missed the boat with the previous two weeks' challenges I've been determined to have a go at this week's which is macro, despite the fact that my camera has a rather limited ability in that respect.

Here it is: a couple of mussel shells each with a fringe of ice crystals in the bitter chill of today's frosty morning. I found them on our own 'shell midden', the term used by archaeologists for the mounds of shells left by prehistoric mollusc eaters who simply dumped the debris from their meals right next to where they ate. Generations of shellfish diners doing this over thousands of years created vast shell middens in coastal regions the world over, sometime measuring many metres in length and depth. Ours hasn't reached those proportions yet but this weekend's low tide will be the opportunity for me to collect more mussels and add the shells to the heap when I've enjoyed the contents.