Gift from the sea

We are like Robinson Crusoe here, out shore-shopping to see what we can pick up for little or nothing. Since anything we get on the mainland has to be carried over to the island in a multi-stage process, when we find something washed up on the shore it's like special delivery. 

Bait bags hold the chunks of frozen fish that lures lobsters into a trap, way down there at the bottom of the sea. But this one either made a dramatic escape itself or fell overboard on the way home. And it wasn't empty, either. At no additional cost it came accessorized with a bit of seaweed and a tiny feather. Very chic. We could find a lot of bait bags if we put our minds to it, and maybe we will. 

A lobsterman we know, who is too shy and retiring to be named, used to pay his own kids a dollar for every bait bag they scavenged on the island.  But he doesn't do that anymore.  So now they just lie out on the rocks, unloved and unclaimed (the bait bags, not the kids). Abandoned bait bags are a consequence of the current world-wide economic tailspin that not too many people have thought about yet.  

Ever the optimist, Greg says he'll start a market for bait bag purses. He is certain they will be a big hit as a bait bag is just the right size to hold a cell phone, and it has a wrist strap.  And bait bags come in great colours: this teal blue, and also neon orange, lime green and taxicab yellow.