So I was enjoying a nice walk on the beach along the Lake Michigan shore (very peaceful, saw not another soul) on a brisk 35 degree cloudy morning…..not even footprints of others marring the sand….just enjoying the solitude and looking at the pretty rocks at the edge of the beach….

(Yes, I do, in fact, like Long Walks on the Beach)

And there, at the water’s edge, in amongst the rocks and sand, was a pristine pull ring from an aluminum can. These things were phased out about 1975, so it has been in the lake for at least 48 years (or more). It has likely been buried and uncovered countless times by the wind and the waves. A year ago, there was no beach there, just the edges of the dunes. Today, there was almost a hundred-feet wide actual beach. Such are the vagaries of the Lake. But finding the ring tab was kinda cool.  Who knows where it entered the lake, and what path it took (and how far it travelled) to get to where I found it.

The neat part was that I found very little other trash. Usually I get about a plastic shopping bag full of refuse for every mile I walk along the beach. This time, nothing to speak of (and no Covid masks!)