The following images are of rocks and shells and bits of colored glass found on different New England beaches this summer.  I photographed them yesterday after placing them in a bowl I had rediscovered, a beautiful dark clay vessel lined with ridges.  Eventually I filled the bowl with water.  I snapped photos throughout the day whenever whimsy struck.  Near dusk I decided I should empty the bowl before mosquitoes began to breed.  Just as I drained the last drop, the bowl cracked in my hands.  An unseen flaw had been exacerbated by the weight of water.  In an instant, I was reminded of the beauty found in fragile things.

Today, as I worked with the images, admiring the visual expression of soft colors and hard edges and glimpses of the bowl now gone, I was reminded of a series of conversations I’ve been having with people about empathy and compassion…