Not Your Everyday Sand Castle

Posted on July 30, 2017July 27, 2017 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

Sand Castles or Sand Sculpting

Don’t come to see sand castles at Revere Beach, Massachusetts. These sand artists traded plastic buckets and toy shovels for coal shovels and palette knives. Each artist gets 12 tons of sand and an 18’ x 18’ exhibit area in which to mount their own sculptures. This year, 15 artists from the United States, Canada, Russia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Italy competed.

14 Years and counting

This is the 14th year for this competition. More than a contest, this is a festival with live music, food trucks and carnival rides. A DJ keeps the action pumping as the beat goes on. All around the sculptors beach goers swim and splash. The artists have from Friday at 10 am until Saturday at 2 pm to create their masterpiece. That’s a great time to get action photos of these sand magicians. This year there are no teams, no duos. It’s all solo sculpting.

The Team Effort

The centerpiece sculpture is a team effort. All of the competitors worked together to create the main attraction, a twenty-foot-wide recreation of the U.S.S. Constitution. It even has cannons that fire. They are only water cannons but that just adds to the fun. Unsuspecting visitors get a good soaking when they linger in the “splash zone”.

Making a Statement

Just about all of the sculptors use the venue to make a statement. Some are more clear than others. Some make you think others may make you sad, or angry but like any good art, they all move you.

I think my favorite was this one titled “Who are you?”. A griffin makes the acquaintance of a little human boy. Whimsical and provocative. It made me smile and feel warm all over.

One known simply as “Save the Elephants” was very powerful. It disturbed me. I admired the workmanship and agree with the message, but I can’t say that I liked it. The image was sad and depressing. I guess it made it’s point.

And the winner is…Soul Evolution

The winning sculptor was from Russia. Like all of the sculptures it was thought provoking. I thought it was a beautiful piece of art. It reminded me of the great Greek sculptures. What a shame they don’t last long. Here today and gone tomorrow, water is a part of each sculpture at the start as well as part of the end. With a good rain it all dissolves away.

D.T. Fleming Beach Park

Posted on February 10, 2017February 10, 2017 by Dusty Roads

The sun came back out after that pretty amazing rain storm. Wind and torrential rains and five minutes later, sunshine. Wow!

Since the day looked to be a good one, I took off north on Rt 30. I wanted to see if any surfers were out. If there were rip tides it would probably be quiet but it was worth taking a look.

I wasn’t sure I’d remember the exact turn off so when I spotted a left I took it. Immediately I knew this wasn’t the one. This was a paved road. The one I was looking for is a pretty rugged dirt road.

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I decided to see where this road went before I turned around. The sign said D.T. Fleming Beach Park, voted best beach in 2006. There was a rest room and maybe a bath house for changing???Also a life guard stand.

The beach seemed pretty popular. More and more people were coming while I was there. I suppose once the weather lifted everyone headed for the beach. You could see the weather was still very unsettled as rain squalls passed in the distance.

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I was surprised that so many children were there. Don’t they have school?

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The beach was certainly a pretty little beach. I found myself thinking that if these kids could handle the surf here maybe I could too.

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I’ll have to think about it after I get my whale picture.

A Mix of Sun and Laundry

Posted on January 31, 2016January 31, 2016 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

On the ride back from Holiday Park the sky opened up again. The rain that had been holding off came down in buckets. By the time we pulled up in front of the resort it was raining so hard that I was once again soaked to the skin before I could cross the street. This was starting to get habit forming!

Once again I arrived dripping wet at the Purple Penguin. It was raining so hard that they had closed the patio and meals were being served in the combination lobby restaurant. I didn’t care. The staff was starting to recognize me, at least when I was wet. I’m not sure they would if I was dry and put together.

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My afternoon was quiet just hanging out in my room with a book.

But finally Wednesday dawned sunny and warm! By 9 am it was already in the 80’s.

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This is what I’ve been waiting for. I’m hoping some lazy sun on the beach will toast out my cold.

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One other housekeeping item that I took care of mid day was my laundry. Now you may wonder what was news worthy about doing laundry but I assure you it was the most interesting laundry experience I’ve ever had.

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The public laundromat was several blocks away from the resort so I took a cab over. The facility was the usual except it looked like it had just suffered a roof leak as water stains were evident on the ceilings and walls. As you can imagine it was all local folks and Spanish was the dominant language. I located a machine, tossed in my things and located a chair to wait out the wash cycle.

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As I was sitting there minding my own business a tall, attractive woman came in. She found a machine, added her bundle of clothing but then she started stripping. Off came her shirt, then her pants, she was down to her undies and clearly debating if she could take those off. As she stood there fingering the waistband of her panties one of the attendants came over and sprayed her with Lysol! Instead of being offended, the woman just ignored it. I don’t know what was being said because it was all in Spanish.

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Apparently whatever was said convinced the woman not to strip further and she took a seat a couple of chairs away from me. Soon after another attendant brought over some shorts and a T shirt. Apparently from the lost and found/abandoned clothing bin. She handed them over and the woman put them on.

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If she was embarrassed she didn’t give any sign of it. It was like it was the most natural thing in the world to sit there in her underwear! I suppose it was no worse than a bikini on the beach but I admit, I was surprised.

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I am guessing that she was one of the homeless people that seem to be everywhere. It’s quite the contrast with the high class “beautiful people” parading up and down Ocean Drive and the homeless sitting on benches and napping in the park.

To The Beach and Beyond!

Posted on January 13, 2015January 13, 2015 by Dusty Roads

Gurnet Light came into view shortly after we left the snow buntings behind. That signaled we had to be approaching our turn-around as this was the end of the road. To my surprise Dave parked the van and invited us all out to follow him over the dunes to the beach beyond.

There was a lot of bird activity here. No Snowy Owls but enough other feathered friends to hold our attention.

Ducks bobbed on the waves. A seal popped his head up for a quick look around. Several Cormorants stretched their wings to the sun drying their feathers before their next dive. A flock of snow buntings winged past, banking sharply as one before swooping back past us.

Through all this activity the deep blue ocean made a breath-taking backdrop.

Closer to shore the breakers were dropping their bits of sea grass before receding.

A Sandling raced up and down the edge of the waves.

A relative to the Sandpiper this comical little guy didn’t stay still for one second.

Finally it was time to go back to the vans for the return trip. We spotted a finch and a sparrow and Dave began to explain the difference when a flock of snow buntings swooped over the van and settled on the fence next to the road. Dave pulled the van to a stop but before anyone could move there was Mr. Copper’s Hawk dive bombing the little gathering. We didn’t see him catch anything but he got an A for effort as Snow Buntings scattered in all directions.

Show over we moved on a bit further until Dave once again stopped the van. He set up the scope and all he said was take a look and there it was. Our Snowy owl was still right there on the ice but he was a bit more active now. He still had the remains of his breakfast and he hopped up and down on the carcass. Even as far away as we were he seemed to sense us and slowly his head swiveled around and he latched that golden-eyed stare right on us. Those of us at the scope let out an audible sigh before he turned his attention back to his meal.

We watched with scope, binoculars and cameras for quite awhile as he put on his little rapter show but eventually all things must end and we left Mr. Snowy to his lunch.

This was a great experience. I was disappointed that we only saw one owl but it’s better than none. I was also disappointed that he was out of my camera range but at least I got to see him. The hawk was a great encore. I loved the hawk! The sandling and snow buntings were a plus as well…and I was warm the whole time!