Hello friends, I hope you had a good week!

Today I wanted to share my second Fleeting Thought with you. If you’re reading one of my blog posts for the first time (hi/friendly wave) and if your back and happy to read more of my ramblings (massive hug and a beaming smile!!). 

For the uninitiated Fleeting Thought is something I’ve come up with while trying to post more of my feelings and be a bit more blog-ish, these wordy posts might sometimes include stories or poetry or maybe be a place were I can put photos/doodles that are a bit random and wouldn’t get a full post.  

Now, I’ve also written a haiku – you’ve been warned!

Ready here we go!

Have you ever watched someone create something and thought Yeah, I’ll take a whack at that, it doesn’t look too hard!

Well, I came across sand sculpting online when I discovered that Cornwall hold a few sandcastle competitions in the summer and couldn’t resist having a go on a recent trip to the beach…even though its February and at the very most 13 degrees! 

Was I the only lunatic playing in the sand, whilst wearing a wooly jumper…absolutely.

I haven’t built a sandcastle since I was little – one of my favourite childhood memories is my mum, sister and I used to build a boat when on the beach that had a bucket steering wheel, and we’d sail it on various adventures. I thought sand sculpting might be fun to try…it is very much enjoyable, but is much harder than it looks! So on that note I thought I’d share my first (and only) sand sculpting effort.

Also, while I personally love the idea that the human fascination with sandcastles began when mankind first stepped on a beach, there’s an eternal mystery in not knowing who built the first one.

Now for the grand reveal…

Ta-da!

Now bear in mind this had taken me the best part of an afternoon to create but I was actually really pleased with this castle and thought that I was doing quite well at this point, it kinda reminds me a little of Winterfell – I hollowed out the inside and everything. 

It was only when I stepped back that I realised how small the thing I’d spent all afternoon making was in the grand scheme of its surround, up close it seemed so much more impressive.

I love to be as in touch with nature and our wonderful planet as possible and the beach was so beautiful and really quiet, it was like having the place to myself – although I was really concentrating so maybe I just didn’t notice the other beach goers. It’s really very therapeutic and almost mediative, just focusing on the sand. 

Surprisingly cutlery made the best sand castle tools…even if I looked a bit weird digging with a tea spoon.

I’ve never been one of those people who can just lay there and sunbathe, I’d rather be exploring the caves and rock pools! But actually being quite still and narrowing the world down to a little pile of densely packed sand was really quite lovely. Especially seeing as it will only exist until the tide comes in before being reclaimed by the planet and lost forever – which is quite romantic when you think about it.

So now for the poem…

Castle in the sand

reclaimed by the flowing tide

remains in our mind.

As a useless bit of info. Did you know that beaches are made from their surround and can be identified by the materials they are made of – like a finger print, how cool is that! A beach in Australia and a beach in the UK may look the same if the conditions are right and yet are can be made of totally different base materials…literally mind blowing!!

In the end I decided that it’s quite nice creating something that will only exist until the tide erases it from the landscape, but is probably best left to the creative people with the knowhow/all the right tools and possibly a team of helpers to pack the sand!

Well, that just about wraps up this post…I really hope you enjoyed it! Ever had a go at sand sculpting? As always thank you so much for reading my friends, and have a lovely week!