What's with the background?

The thought may have crossed your mind, maybe, to aks what the background is with the seashell on the blog. No, it is not at the beach, nor at an environmental museum. It's not even in a seashell collection. This picture is of the dirt in Amsterdam. Weird? Maybe. Cool? Yes!

My cousin and I were there last May and we found a street unpaved due to some repair work. As luck would have it, there was a small collection of shells waiting for a photo op. The explanation I heard was that these are remnants of sea life when the land was actually sea floor. Some say the shell are carted in for the tourists, but after living there a few months and seeing shells in most dirt patches, including construction sites, I'm a little skeptical.

Either way, who would not think it was cool to find seashells while gardening? Pulling weeds, or cleaning out the irises, just got more interesting.