"In this sticky web that we're all in, behaving decently is no small task." -- Novelist Stacey D'Erasmo

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Sea and Sand Festival

      We just got home from our Snowbird trip to Florida and South Carolina. Our last weekend in Charleston -- or at the beach outside of Charleston -- the town held its annual Sand and Sea Festival, which includes a street fair, live music, a sidewalk sale, lots of eating and drinking . . . and among the younger set, more drinking.

     The highlight of the weekend is the sand castle building contest, which started on Sunday surprisingly early in the morning. We sauntered out to the beach a little before noon, thinking we had plenty of time to watch the festivities, only to find that the show was almost over.

     Nevertheless, we got to see a few of the highlights. A several-foot-tall sandcastle.


     A mermaid lying on the beach.


     A hippo and an alligator.


     A sea creature. . . . maybe a giant squid?


     And this one crafted by a person with a macabre sense of humor . . . a man being chased by a shark.


     Then we saw the finale of the show, signaled by an invitation to the kids to jump all over the sand sculptures and kick them apart . . . thus restoring the beach to its natural state.


     Speaking of the macabre . . . well, shiver me timbers, a pirate washed ashore with his wench.


     And then, a couple of days later, as the landlubbers we are, we were forced to lower our Jolly Roger, abandon ship, and walk the plank right back to our regular boring life in the Pennsylvania suburbs, where . . . hey, that's not sand!



10 comments:

ApacheDug said...

Welcome back, Tom! Wow that was some vacation, very glad you had a good time and made it home safely. Thanks for sharing these sand sculptures... I'm honestly amazed how they do these, particularly that mermaid. Such awesome stuff. 👍♥️

Celia said...

Cool vacation. Love the sand sculptures and the restoral routine. Our snow finally disappeared over the weekend. Is spring in sight?

gigi-hawaii said...

I love those sand sculptures. How creative and imaginative! Lots of talent over there.

Rian said...

Welcome home, Tom. Travel is fun, but it's always nice to get back home. I liked the alligator sand sculpture best.

Ed said...

I don't have the right temperament to make art out of sand. Any art I make I want it to outlive me!

Tom said...

I too was amazed at how clever and creative they were. But Ed, they only took a short time to make, so no major investment of time or resources, and the kids get to enjoy them ... and maybe carry the memory for longer than any of us will be around.

Anvilcloud said...

Art is so adaptable. We do snow and ice sculpts and they do sand castles etc. It all impresses me.

Olga said...

But it's not enough snow to make a snow sculpture!

River said...

I love creative sandcastles. I usually just create a mound which I then dig a section out of to fashion a seat with arms so I can sit and watch the waves.

Meryl Baer said...

You got home a few days too soon, unless you like the snow. I like to look at the snow through my window. Not a fan of the cold.