A couple months ago, I met a woman who loves seaweed. She's a marine biologist and studies the stuff. Hurricane season was just kicking in, so I mentioned I'd been spending a lot of time struggling through thick beds of kelp brought in by the heavy surf. She lit up the same way I do when anyone mentions "cheese shop" or "o-chem." Just kidding, only the first one. To be honest, I didn't really get how any person could be so infatuated with the slimy brown nuisances.

Last week, I went surfing in San Onofre, California, near the infamous "Double D" nuclear reactors, and my sister photographed these.



I'm not exactly sure what they are, only that they floated in from the vast liquid yonder. Are they seaweed? Sea sponges? Delapidated, radioactive tennis balls? Whatever they are, I love them, and if you can tell me what they are, perhaps I'll love you, too.