The Sandcastle Lady

Wednesday’s castle, with my friend, Cecilia 7 yrs old, from Wilmington, DE. She was good company!

Thumbs up for Cecilia’s castle!

It was so nice to be back on the beach! I went a little after 1pm, and was welcomed by Molly, Colin, Jameson and their mom, Michelle (from Toughkennamon, PA) whom I had taught last year, and also Laurie, Steve, Georgia and Heather Grab, from West Chester, PA.
Although it was very hot (97 f), there was a strong wind coming out of the West.
My ‘cabana boy,’ Jack, came down to the beach around 3:30pm, and brought another bag of sand tools for me. (There are two more bags that need to come down tomorrow.)
We stayed till 4:30pm, with a promise that we could go to Irish Eyes, to have the supper that I declined on our first night. After showering, we went early to Irish Eyes at 5:30pm, and we were ahead of the crowd who started filing in around 6pm.
I had their Vegetable Spring Rolls and some steamed shrimp; Jack had their burger with crumbled blue cheese.

This is one of my grandchildren (Jonah – just turned 2), inspecting the ‘fish tank.’

My neighbor, John, had a wonderful wooden sign on his outside shower that said “Whalecome”, but it was so worn and chipped, you could hardly read it.

I decided to ‘sneak over’ with my paints, and give it a bit of life!
John hinted that I should sneak over again, and paint some seagulls on his white flower barrels….

Yesterday, I built my last castle of the summer of 2014. It was my favorite, by far (of course almost every day I have built a castle, I said it was my favorite.) But this one really is. Jack sat with me, as I built (which is unusual for my favorite beach vampire – who only goes there early morning or late afternoon.) I finished building in about 2 1/2 hours, and left, looking back, so I’d remember.

Very nice building on the beach – a nice breeze and sunshine made it very pleasant.

I haven’t been to the beach since Sunday, and just didn’t have the energy to build. But I did today!

I went to the beach yesterday (Saturday) and worked slowly in the heat and humidity, accepting help for carrying water. But I didn’t get beyond the top towers. I’m hoping this congestion and crazy heart stuff will dissipate, and I’ll get back my energy soon.

I got up to the beach a little after 12:30 (thinking that I would try to get there earlier, when it wasn’t as hot.) The key words there are ‘thinking’ and ‘try.’ I’ll keep thinking positive, and maybe I will!
It’s such hard work to carry 40 pounds of water (5 gallons), again and again! And scoop up the sand (I know water weighs 8 pounds per gallon – but NO idea what sand weighs!) Today, a very gracious bystander who admires my work offered to carry water for me, and of course, I accepted most appreciatively!
Once I start building, it’s fun (but I have to remember to unfold my body, lest I get ‘stuck’ in a position I can’t get out of!
Here’s my castle today – I like it, and hope you do, too.

I had tried to build on the beach on Tuesday. It was very hot and humid, and I started having problems being light headed. I left everything, and tried to get home, stopping to sit down in tiny places of shade on the dune crossing. Not sure what got me. It hit me hard – and I couldn’t go to the beach yesterday, but I’m pretty much back on board now.
Unfortunately, Jack had my camera today, and I had to wait till 7:30 to get a picture of my castle. (By then the South wind had blown almost all the detail away. God willing, I will build again tomorrow – and take my camera with me!)
Here’s the windblown South side of the castle

The North side fared a little better.

Here’s the East side, showing people fishing behind the castle.

The sunset made up for not getting a picture of my castle before the wind got it!