Inspired by the always sharp-eyed Tina Hedin and her recent pics of gorgeous sand patterns on the beach in South Carolina, here's something I spotted the other day on the shores of Puget Sound here in Washington State.

Looks a lot like comets racing across the sky, no?

I thought they were formed by the wind; Brent thought it was ocean waves.

I did some research, and it turns out it's probably both!

This is actually a funny spot on the beach. 

A small sandbar juts out from the end of the peninsula at an angle that bisects the tide as it comes in and out. That sandbar catches the waves and turns them almost 180 degrees across this section of beach.

So perhaps the incoming or outgoing tide lines up the rocks in this bizarrely orderly fashion, then the wind comes along and blows the sand into the fan behind them.

Gotta kind of love the two working together!

Maybe there's a lesson in there for all of us.