For some people, sand is an inconvenience that gets stuck between one’s toes. For others, it is something fun to collect and display. Sand collectors are called arenophiles. They look for sand samples with a variety of textures, colors, mineralogy, and location.
Sun City resident Kari Freeman has a collection of small bottles filled with samples of sand from all over the world.
Freeman said, “I have a total of 140 bottles of sand from around the world, such as the Bahamas, Poland, England, Costa Rica, India, Russia, Ireland, Italy, Canada, Peru, Mexico, Jamaica, France, Australia, Columbia, Spain, Africa, Kuwait, Greece, Brazil, Venezuela, and Jordan.”
Freeman started collecting sand in 2001. Freeman said “I went to the Indiana Dunes for a birding trip. The sand there is made out of quartz and silica and is called singing sands because of how it sounds when you walk on it.”
Most sand appears to be pale to golden or caramel, but in select places, sands can be black, brown, orange, pink, red, or even green and purple. Freeman said, “The sand from Wyoming looks like pepper as well as the sand from Positano, Italy.”
Freeman labels her sand bottles.
Freeman said, “Each bottle is labeled with the location of where the sand was obtained and the date. Many of my friends bring me back a souvenir of their trips, and I add their names to the label. I have a spreadsheet listing all the sample bottles.”
If you happen across some sand on our travels, Freeman asks that you bring back a small sample for her collection. She would love to expand her collection. You can email her at sandcastlelife@gmail.com.
Freeman said, “Sand comes in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Basically, it’s just loose particles of hard broken rock, but it reminds me of places I visited.”
