The sea-wash never ends. The sea-wash repeats, repeats. Only old songs? Is that all the sea knows? Only the old strong songs? Is that all? The sea-wash repeats, repeats.
[Sea-Wash by Carl Sandburg originally appeared in the February 1920 issue of Poetry magazine. Listen to Sea-Wash at the Poetry Foundation.]
13th March 2012
On this day, six years ago, Algy’s adventures began… here on Tumblr @adventuresofalgy
As you can see, Algy was a much younger bird in those days. Like most birds, Algy’s appearance was somewhat different when he first hatched out of the egg, but in due course he acquired his adult plumage 🙂
Even as a very young chick, however, Algy loved poetry, and he loved the sea, which washes up on the beach beside his home in the wild west Highlands of Scotland. So his very first post for The Adventures of Algy featured a photo of him perching on a rock in the surf close to his home, reciting Carl Sandburg’s poem Sea-Wash.
Algy has been sharing his adventures on Tumblr for six years, and although they are now published on other platforms too, Tumblr is his first love and his true home, and the place where he finds the majority of his friends. Over time, Algy has acquired many thousands of friends, from all around the world, and it has been his great pleasure to get to know you, to share this Tumblr world with you, and to see all your wonderful images and your unique points of view.
Algy hopes that this happy situation will continue for a very long time to come 🙂
He sends his fluffiest thanks and hugs to you all – for your friendship, your “likes” and comments and reblogs, your enthusiasm, and for brightening his life with your own wonderful images and thoughts. He loves you all, and so now…
Let’s Party!
Algy’s Amazing Tumblr Birthday Party is just about to start over on his sideblog @lovefromalgy 🙂
The party will include a fantastic exhibition of images and greetings from Algy’s friends, a very special offer on all Algy’s books, and many fluffy surprises…
The weather was wild and unpredictable, and Algy had flown inland to escape the worst of the coming storm. As he approached the great sea loch he was caught by a sudden gust of wind and swept across the water to the further side. Landing on a slippery pebble beach strewn with seaweed, he perched uncomfortably on the damp stones and gazed at the moody water and the threatening sky. The great loch was behaving as though it were the ocean, with waves crashing on its shores, and he wondered how much more violent the breakers might be on his own beach, which faced the open sea…
Most of the time it rained. Such is life in the wild West Highlands of Scotland. But on the few summer days that it didn’t rain, Algy ensured that he made the most of the finer weather, and the best way to do that, in his opinion, was to perch on a handy rock beside the sea and watch the perpetual motion of the waves, forever washing back and forth, without a care in the world.
Algy hopes that you will all be able to take some time to relax this weekend, and spend a few happy hours just watching the waves, or the sky, or the wind in the trees 🙂
Algy moved close to the water and gazed at the waves as they rolled up against the rocks. In a world of constant trouble and strife, the perpetual motion of the sea provided a perfect antidote – even though Algy knew that the ocean itself held plenty of dangers for creatures not adapted to living in it…
But despite the perils of the deep, perching on a rock on a fine day, just watching the ever-changing pattern of motion and listening to all the wonderful sounds that the sea made, was profoundly soothing. In Algy’s opinion, this was a perfect way to spend an afternoon… a fluffy bird’s idea of peace and contentment 🙂
Algy wishes you all a peaceful, safe and happy week ahead xoxo
Algy hopped over to the rocks, where the incoming tide was surging and gurgling through a narrow channel in a most delightful way. For a short while he perched on a rocky seat in the sunshine, just watching the water rushing backwards and forwards, although he knew that he would not be able to stay there for long…
It was a wonderfully sunny day at the very end of winter, heralding the start of an unusually early spring. Algy perched on a rock in the cool afternoon sunshine and gazed at the waves rolling in to the small bay beneath his cliff-side nest. Masses of cloud were building up over the islands to the north, and Algy knew that the fine weather wouldn’t last long, but he was determined to enjoy every minute of it while he could…
It was such a beautiful scene, on such a lovely day, that Algy persuaded his assistant to quickly make a GIF of it, in time for the wonderful @imiging imigif event on 1st March – the first day of the meteorological spring in the north 🙂
The storm arrived on schedule, and as the gale roared across the ocean it whipped the sea up into a frenzy, creating huge, overtopping waves which crashed and tumbled over each other as they raced to batter the shore. Although Algy enjoyed watching the spectacle, the weather was undoubtedly harsh, and maybe just a wee bit dangerous for a fluffy bird, so he pressed himself tightly against a sheltering rock and kept as low to the ground as possible. From time to time, frantic swirls of snowflakes whizzed around him in every direction, driven by sudden, huge gusts of wind. There was no doubt that it was not a fit day out for man nor beast, and before very long Algy decided that it might possibly be wiser to retreat to a more sheltered spot while he still had the chance…
When the gales moved away to visit Algy’s friend @funnyful in Sweden, the wind started to swing round and the weather began to change. Before long the world was full of colour again, and as Algy relaxed on the hard, storm-hammered sand, he could detect fresh new autumn scents and tastes in the air, mingled with the usual sea salt…
It had been exceedingly windy, and even after the storm had passed the sea still seemed to be quite angry, battering the rocks and the beach with considerable vigour. But at least it had stopped raining for a while, so Algy tucked himself in flat against the rock, holding on tightly with both wings, and spent a happy hour or two just watching the waves pounding on the shore.
It was a fine September afternoon, and although the south-westerly wind felt cold, the sun was bright and the sea was full of colour. Algy decided to fly over to a spot which he especially liked – a tiny beach on the headland, which was better suited to the scale of a fluffy bird than the big beaches across the bay – and he perched there on a rock, watching the ripples wash backwards and forwards across the pale sand as the tide came in. From time to time, a shiny silver head emerged from the water, not far from his perch, and a seal smiled at him for a few moments with the light flashing off its wet skin, before it dived again and continued to explore the underwater beds of seaweed.
The Adventures of Algy 