Castles in the sun

Blomidon. It means family to me. I know it is a Miqmac word for some sort of God, or something but to me its family warmth, and family fun. Its warm (and sometimes wet) memories. We have gone there to the shore for as long as I can remember living here. Its an undiscovered beach of miles. We take advantage of this beach to build sandcastles and then watch them get destroyed by the fast moving tides. The tide rolls along the beach at a rate of 15 feet per minute, and while it is really fun to build the castle... its so much more fun watching the tide come rolling in like an army... and totally take it down. We have learned so much over the past twenty years about castle building. Its not really about the castle... its about the breakwalls and the mot!

Below is a series of pictures that James took at our family outing last week. Kelly, James and the girls come to Nova Scotia about every second year, and since the girls were born, they have been a part of the Blomidon custom of castle building. We are not expert castle builders... its all about the destruction of the castle and how long we can prolong it!

First let me share the vast beauty of Blomidon through the eyes of James, who I am so thankful to have in our family...not just for his great photography, but for his creative take on just about everything!

Blomidon has some of the longest tides, as everyone knows, the Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world. We take that for granted around here, but they are spectacular. When the tide is fully in, the water goes right up to the rocks. Every 6 hours, the beach changes from a kilometer long to about 100 feet long. We gauge how much time we want to spend on the castle and how long we have to spend at the beach in general. Then we pick a spot on the kilometer worth of red clay to start the creation. That is a job for the parents... we pick the spot..... then Daddy starts the big pile of sand in the middle and mom and kids start the mot and walls. Then positions change when things get boring. And the castle creation takes shape. Its such a fun and fast task and even when you think your done, your never done, cause there is always one more decoration to lay or another wall to build! (Sort of like Xmas shopping) Meanwhile, the panic is on as the kids (and grownups) watch the ever advancing tide. This year, we had an "early warning fort" too, since we had quite a crew to build.

Michelle and Scott took on the task of picking the spot this time, and we figured we had about 2 hours of creating before the onslaught of tidal destruction.

The moms started on the breakwalls and the mot.

The older girls discussed possible fort decorations and someone dug them a pile of loose clay and they started on the decorating. The walls were built, the castle was raised, the bridge was made and rocks were gathered. Seaweed and crab shells adorned the top and walls, and the turrets were reinforced with rocks (and seaweed... and crab shells)

Gillian kept a keen eye on the tide, and the progress of the whole production. She was in charge of shells and seaweed (although reluctantly, at first...ewwww) By the end, and near the crashing point, she was sprinting across the beach for one more slimy piece of seaweed!

Check in tomorrow to see the slaughter.....