Ollie’s Puddle is a tide pool on the rocky shores of Massachusetts Bay, on the Bathing Rocks where, a 100 years ago or so the men came in the morning to skinny dip in the ocean. Ollie’s Puddle is named after Oliver Ames, the scion of a family of shovel makers and railroad builders and one of a long line of Olivers. It is said that young Ollie refused to swim in the cold ocean waters and insisted on splashing in this warm pool instead. A stern Irish nursemaid may have had something to do with this, but confirmation appears lost in the fog of time. It goes without saying that the expressive potential of the combination of granite, algae, mollusks, tides, sun, wind, weather and time is not inconsiderable.