Today I remembered to bring a few magnets in a plastic bag with me to the beach, and lightly ran them across the sand. While Lake Michigan sand is mostly whitish silica (quartz), there are definite black specks that are magnetite… the most magnetic of all naturally occurring minerals on earth.
Bigger pieces of magnetite that have been naturally magnetized are called lodestones. It is how the ancients discovered magnetism, and were able to make compasses. Thus the old english definition of “lode” was “way, course, journey“.
Every day at the beach is different, every sunset different, and sometimes there are fun things to be found in the beach itself.