April, Officially Spring Now

chairs waiting for warmer days

While it is officially spring now it is still a bit too cold to sit very long near the water nevertheless someone has decided it is time to put out the red chairs.

alone again

 The beach is largely deserted now.  The visiting gulls have moved on along with the Brant geese, seals and sea lions.  There is hardly a trace of the frantic activity that accompanied the herring.  It is quiet again without the barking, squawking and muttering of the recent visitors.

Now you can hear the pair of local eagles calling to each other, the rapping of the woodpecker, the ravens throaty croaking and the calls of the smaller birds.





For a short time children free from school take over the beach.  They have some primal urge to build sandcastles but it is too cold to wade out onto the sandbars where the damp sand can be packed so they improvise with materials available beyond the tide line.

fortress with tunnel

The construction can be quite elaborate and even a miniature engineering project.  The one to the left includes a basement dug out of the sand.  The "roof" includes sticks and stones.  The one on the left is a "starter" castle or perhaps a prototype.

"starter" rock castle

             








The urge to build quasi shelters on the beach doesn't stop when you grow up.  When you can lift the logs (with the help of a friend or two) you can make much bigger "castles".

shelter with extensions

The structure pictured above is large enough for a small child to sit in.  The roof may not stand up to a good wind but the artistic extensions suggest the builder might have a future as an architect of iconic buildings.