undulating swash

undulating swash 

and backswash of wavelets mold

sinuous sand tracks

After a sumptuous breakfast at the inn near Akaroa, I walk down the country road to a little beach. The tide has recently receded, leaving the silver sand glistening with sinuous patterns. The swash and backswash of tiny wavelets breaking and receding have molded the fine sand into undulating tracks. It looks like hundreds of fingertips have pushed thick paint into wave-like crests, leaving their still-wet imprints. This tenuous finger painting will be erased when the Sun and Moon pull the waves back to cover the shore, only to be recreated at the next low tide.