MARCH 27, 2006
One
of the most unique characters of my childhood was nature man Uncle Jim, of Camp Monomoy on Cape Cod Massachusetts. During the school year Jim was a physical education instructor, and during the summer the most wonderful teacher about natures treasures one could imagine.
Tan as a saddle, compact and energetic, Uncle Jim, rain or shine, stormy, cloudy or windy, could be seen swimming early in the morning parallel to the beach; that is if the tide was up. When the tide was out in Cape Cod Bay it was really out. One could walk on the flats of Brewster forever, or at least it seemed that far to a ten year old kid. Out in the distance was the old target ship used by World War 2 aviators to hone their skills with torpedoes. On some days it appeared as if you could walk all the way to the ship.
The camp schedule changed daily to accommodate the tides. Swimming was when the tide was high, exploring the life on the tidal flats captured our imagination when the tide was low. We would find horseshoe crabs, racks (skeletons of fish), hermit crabs who borrow shells and then go scooting around the sand, minnows trapped in little pools of water, and when lucky, and with hard work, a razor clam. Putting our hands together as if praying, and then opening them up when held perpendicular over the sand and where we thought the clam was hiding, we would begin to dig furiously, always digging with our hands in the inverted prayer position so as not to cut our fingers. A razor clam travels quickly with an ingenious motion system. The foot extends into the sand and then the shell is pulled back over the extending foot. You were lucky if you found one; especially without nicking your fingers.
Jim always taught us to put the clam back, respect the habitat of the crabs, and pick up what little debris that was found in their space. Back then, 1952, Jim taught us to appreciate the fragile nature of the tidal flats of East Brewster Massachusetts, and perhaps inadvertently in my case, respect for all of nature. Thanks Uncle Jim, may all of us act as a good uncle to a junior in our midst and teach them the wonders of nature.
He, above all others, was my environmental hero, though at the time I only knew him as Uncle Jim. Getting in touch with our environmental story places us in touch with things that are really important.
--Peter