First Sand Castle of 2014

Ellen’s family is visiting for a long weekend, and yesterday on the beach we did a group-effort castle. Here are several views. this one feature’s Dave Greene’s design with S.H. for Stone Harbor, where we go to the beach.

This side features bridges by Zach Greene and some decorations by me on the hillside. I also did most of the castle towers at the top.

This side shows more decorations by me as well as some by Anne Greene.

A closer view of the main gate with “Stone Harbor” in stones and shells by Ellen Klein over the doorway (hard to read in this light).

Flanking the main door are dripped Gargoyles by Anne.

Here’s the castle-making crew, also giving a sense of scale. Took us several hours, but they were hours when it was cloudy and raining lightly, so a good way to pass the time. Once the sun came out, we all went swimming.

As the tide came in, the castle first became surrounded by water…

…and then began to succumb to the waves. We didn’t have time to watch the entire castle fall, but such is the way of this ephemeral art.