Nov. 2 SCENES FROM THE BEACH

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Today’s incoming tide brings a hickory nut floating high, sinking for a moment or two when a wave breaks, but soon it rolls ashore. There are few hickory trees in the area, so we assume that the seaborne nut has traveled far. Within the nut is a seed that may germinate into a mighty tree. Holding it in my hand brings to mind Thoreau’s words, “I have great faith in a seed…; if you have a seed, “I am prepared to expect wonders.”*

— Diary, autumn 2009

* “Faith in a Seed” by Henry D. Thoreau, Edited by Bradley P. Dean; Island Press, Washington, D.C. (1993).

From the diary of beach walker George Thatcher, a retired banker, of Gulfport. E-mail: fishcrow@aol.com. A fourth volume of Thatcher’s work, “A Decade of Beach Walks,” is available in bookstores and gift shops and at the South Mississippi Store link to sunherald.com.