This week Sofia takes us on the last “Looking Back” challenge of 2026. She chose Challenge #125 – You Pick It, offered by Tina. However, Sofia selected Tina’s pick “Wabi-sabi” as our subject. In her explanation of the challenge, Sofia includes this definition: “Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional.” – Leonard Koren
In his answer to this challenge, Egídio, offers another explanation: “Wabi-sabi nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.”— Richard R. Powell, Wabi Sabi Simple.
With wind and waves a constant presence on the sand of Long Beach, WA dune grass etches delicate patterns, while critters leave their tracks on and under the surface. Photographing these natural sketches has been a pleasure of mine since I first noticed them in 2017. I call them Dune Runes, because to me they have a mysterious or magic significance.
Fungi are plentiful during rainy and warmish months in the Pacific Northwest. I was surprised the first time I noticed mushrooms growing in beach sand. Though not common, the moisture in the atmosphere is enough to bring them to life.
Thriving on driftwood bark, this mushroom has been nibbled on by some critter
The ocean has no favorites. Eventually everything is consumed and returned to earth.
Each visit to the beach offers a changed landscape, as the waves churn along the shore, sometimes pitching up to the berm, sometimes way out toward the western horizon. With each cycle of ebb and flow, traces of the previous tide remain to be shaped by wind.
