Revere Sand Sculptures

Sunday, July 17 my friends and I went for the evening to Revere Beach to see the Sand Sculptures. The Sculpting contest was the night before. We headed down about the time the sun was starting to set. It made for a lovely evening. 

Stephane Robert entered with "Fly Me to the Moon...Let Me Play Among the Stars." Robert is from Montreal.

Montreal's Jonathan Bouchard took not only first place, but the peoples' choice award as well for his "Empty of Turtle."

 The Sculptures are limited to what they can and cannot do depending on the characteristics of any given sand. This sand is from Hudson, NH and has the qualities that allow them to create more difficult, taller, sheerer sculptures.

"Iris" by Acapulco's Benjamin Probanzana.

St. Louis native Dan Belcher took home third place and was the sculptors' choice for his dazzling "Weather or Not."

Artists are usually sponsored by local businesses, with familiar Boston landmarks often being the theme for the festival.

The artists adhere to strict rules during the contest. Each sculptor is given 12 tons of sand and are assigned an 18’ x 18’ square exhibit area. Work by the artists is limited to 30 hours in total length, which is spread out over several days. Forms for molding components are allowed and must be removed prior to the artworks being rated by the judges. The sand sculptures are evaluated using six categories: 1. Overall impact/Wow Factor, 2. Originality, 3. Degree of Difficulty, 4. Quality of carving, 5. Finish, 6. Artistic Impression. Prize money is available for the sculptures, which will garner some of the best artists in the nation to the festival. 1st place $5,000, 2nd place $4,000, 3rd place $3,000, 4th-10th place $1,000 and the People's Choice $1,000. 

The themed sculpture was created by Sanding Ovations for your enjoyment.  It is called “Sponsor Sculpture” and it is a thank you to the sponsors, local businesses and organizations that make this event happen.

There was stunning detail in Michela Ciappini's "Origami Wish." Ciapinni hails from Faro, Portugal.

The aptly named "The Veil" won second place for Dan Doubleday, from Treasure Island, Florida

"Man of War" by Chris Guinto, from Key West, Florida

Revere's own Matthew Mattelli's "Octavia."

This one looked like something that came from Monsters Inc.

Sue McGrew, from Tacoma, Washington, created "Eternally Entwined."

Martha and Cathie Ballif

Christy Johnson, Cathie Ballif, Jullie Tracy, Martha Paxton

Cathie

The Turtle was one of my favorites. That and the big castle. 

Steve Topazio of Tiverton, R.I., created a crowd favorite with "Knock, Knock!"

This was also a close tie with the turtle. 

The sun dries the sand and the wind blows it away. For this reason they spray diluted Elmer’s white glue on the finished sculptures.  Although the solution is not waterproof, it does slow down the erosion process greatly.  If these sculptures were indoors or it was continuously overcast, they would not have to put anything on them.

Once the competition is over, the sculptures will be left to the elements.  When they are no longer recognizable the city will flatten them back to the beach.

What a beautiful view of the castle with the sun setting. It was a wonderful evening to spend with some fantastic friends and be able to enjoy the talents that people have. It is incredible the talent that is displayed through the ideas and detail of these sculptures. 

Shelburne Falls Camping weekend continues

After Williamstown, Daniel and I headed over to Shelburne Falls. They are known for the bridge of flowers. There is a bridge that crosses the river and on both sides of the walk way there are all sorts and varieties of flowers. It is a beautiful and most colorful stroll.

Best of all you can take in the view of the River while you are enjoying the flowers.

This tree looked like it was all tangled up.

View up the river, it is so beautiful here.

The "Glacial Potholes" began to form after the last glacier age when the Deerfield River first started to flow over these rocks, about 14,000 years ago. The formation of these river-eroded features thanks to the great glacial lake, Lake Hitchcock, that filled the Connecticut Valley and also extended into the lower Deerfield Valley. While Shelburne Falls was not under Lake Hitchcock, it was under the sediments of the Deerfield River that built a delta into the lake. Lake Hitchcock drained by 14,000 years ago.

Below the hydroelectric dam lie the potholes, an incredible geological wonder. Over 50 glacial potholes are clustered in one of the largest known concentrations of these natural sculptures. Ranging in size from as small as 6 inches in diameter to the largest pothole on record - 39 feet across - the variety of shades revealed in the metamorphic rock layers make it one of the most beautiful spots in Western Massachusetts.

When the last glaciers melted, the Connecticut River Valley was flooded, creating a huge lake - Lake Hitchcock. As the lake drained, it swelled the flow of the Deerfield River. The river, carrying in its rushing waters a large load of stones, sand and mud, began to erode the hard metamorphic rock over which it flowed.

Potholes formed when stones trapped in cracks in the riverbed were twirled and vibrated in the fast-moving current, drilling their way into the river bottom. If you look carefully, you can see some of the rounded stones that carved out these potholes.
In fact, they are still carving them. The process continues slowly, especially in the Spring when the melting snow again swells the river and the rushing water turns the stones and they continue their boring into the rock.

Here is a better view of the entire Falls area.

When I first saw the falls they reminded me of  the falls in Idaho Falls, ID.

I think it is just incredible how nature works. It is interesting to learn how things are created and what causes certain effects. Boy do we live in a marvelous world!

This is the top side of the Dam which is also a marvelous view.

To top off the trip we stopped at Daniel's Aunt Lucinda's house and we had a BBQ with her family. They are such great people. They are wonderful and always make me feel welcomed every time I see them. We really are blessed to have the opportunities to meet the people we do and to learn from them. I was reflecting on the people who have passed in and out of my life and thought how many have left a part of them with me due to them being an answer to many prayers either on my behalf or the behalf of others. It is amazing the influence people have on us from those we have one interaction with to hundreds. Make every interaction with people count because you never know what you can leave behind for them.

Williamstown Massachusetts continuation of camping trip

Sunday morning we packed up our campsite and decided to go explore the area while we were still in Western Mass. We drove over to Williamstown MA. It was a fun little historic town. There is a college there and as we were walking we started out on the college campus. We pasted the Science quad and we saw this really cool granite table.

I really liked the saying on the column.

"Climb High, Climb Far, Your Goal The Sky, Your Aim The Stars"

We stopped off at this store just to see what all it had in it. It had just about everything your could think of for entertaining purposes. They had all kinds of games, sayings on plates, mugs, bumper stickers, toys, books and books for dummies on every topic you could imagine. It was a very interesting place. 

I loved the vines on this building. It is so beautiful. 

This was another really cool looking building with the vines. I thought the sky behind the building was a very nice accent. 

Here was another really cool sky shot. 

These were a batch of eyes on the campus lawn. Steel eyes. They even had chair eyes. 

Here was a really old church and it made me think of the Hunchback of Norte Dame.

This was just a fun looking old building. I love the fence railing on the roof. For the 4th of July this year I went up on a friends roof to watch the fireworks. This is a house where it is intended to spend time on the roof. It was a fun little town to spend a few hours roaming up and down the streets. 

Camping in the Berkshire State Park (Clarksburg)

My friend Daniel and I had planned a trip to go to Niagara Falls for a weekend trip. It didn't end up working out for us to go there but we still wanted to get out of the city. We had a group of people planned to go and that also didn't end up working out so we decided to still keep the plans and go camping for the weekend. We went to the Berkshire for the weekend and it was so beautiful. 

This was the most beautiful sight. Friday night when we arrived it was raining and when morning came the fog was rolling off the ground and with the sun rays seeping though the trees and mixing with the fog, it was the most mejestic view. I just wanted to sit there and take it all in. It didn't last long and before I knew it, the view disappeared. 

Saturday morning Daniel and I went on a hike around the lake. We ended up taking a detour and decided to walk up to Vermont and then head back through the forest back to our trail. It was a beautiful hike and a lovely day. 

The lily pads were so bright and green. I love how slick they look. The flower next to it looked very pretty even though it hasn't bloomed yet. 

Here is part of the pond we walked around. Here we decided to go wading and cool our feet off. While we were wading here in the pond I was enjoying the cool water on my feet and legs, enjoying the breeze and the scenery. I turn and look over at Daniel and I look down into the water and I see something black swimming around Daniel's leg. I can't say anything but hurry and run out of the water. In my rush to get out of the water Daniel hurried and get out as well. I asked him why did you rush out of the water. He said well I know you don't like snakes and I thought maybe you saw one. I said something was around your leg, he pulled up his pant leg to make sure there was nothing there. I then told him sorry I didn't say anything to you and just ran out of the water. He just laughed. We later saw it swimming in the water and it was a leach. Earlier Daniel wanted to go swimming later that night but after the run in with the leach he decided maybe that wasn't a good idea. 

Daniel and Martha

Here is the beach side of the lake. I was practicing how to work the panorama view. 

I thought this mushroom was interesting because it was gold looking. 

Daniel trying to pop his popcorn. And our hobo dinners are cooking on the fire. 

The Hobo dinners turned out very tasty and very filling. 

Me with my dinner. 

And of course it is not camping with out a smore. I like to use the fudge stripe cookies because it gives a better proportion to the marshmallow and chocolate so it helps it to melt better. 

First time to use my camping chair that I got from work for Thanksgiving last year. Yup I am lounging. This is called camping in comfort in my recliner. 

Before dinner we decided to go to a near by pond that didn't have leaches and went swimming out there. We went to Savoy State Park and it was so beautiful and the water was the perfect temperature. We swam out to the middle of the pond and just enjoyed the water.