The annual beach-sand vacation sculptures!

To all my fellow kitty-lovers - that's my son on top of the cat we made today at beautiful Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport Maine. The kitty is ready to pounce across a little ravine and capture her prize - a sizable mouse. Below are some photos of the mouse/cat standoff.

Here's how it all begins, with my son (and also my husband, though not in the picture) digging and tossing shovelfuls of wet beach sand into a nice big pile for me to shape into something ridiculous. I am the primary sculptor, and luckily my family humors me by doing what I cannot and providing me with material to sculpt with in this beautiful place. But today, my son proudly made the mouse himself, with just a few hints and suggestions from me.

Yesterday, we struggled trying to decide what to make - ideas that were nixed included a dead alien and his flying saucer; a mermaid; a frog. In the end, we picked a dragonfly.

That's the Dragonfly Rider of Goose Rocks (my apologies to Anne McCaffrey).

To see last year's giant octopus, click here! We've also, in previous years, built a crocodile in 2010, which I posted about here, a dragon (of course), and a turtle, and another cat that I referred to as a 'Buddha cat' - it was sitting up, fat, and definitely enlightened looking.

Below is the pretty little yard in front of our motel room.
Has Louise Bourgeois been in the garden?

And since I'm here posting, I'll leave you with a couple of images from my morning walk in the neighborhood. We love you, Kennebunkport! I just wish these morning walks burned enough calories to counteract the effects on my body of lobster dipped in butter, fried whole-belly clams, yummy oysters, New England clam chowder, steamed mussels, and all the assorted side dishes, as well as the purchases made at the homemade candy store.