| The voice on the phone is familiar, but highly unexpected. "We're in town for today; I know it's short notice, but do you want to meet?" Well, I don't have a bus to catch. |
| Build number: | 98P-5 |
| Date: | 1998 April 26 |
| Location: | Venice Breakwater, south side |
| Start: | afternoon, building time approx 1 hour |
| Height: | 2.2 feet |
| Base: | 1.75 feet wide, 0.75 foot deep |
| Photography: | none, no camera |
|
I met Craig in 1970 when we were both going to Colorado University. Ever since then we've hiked, rolled rocks and done anything else that seemed like fun. After he and Carol married, the shared activities decreased but we stayed in contact.
The years went by. They had a daughter, a son, then another daughter. Amber was now old enough to attend college herself, and she and Carol were out here to investigate one in Santa Barbara. First they wanted some fun. We walked to the farmer's market, sampling what was there. I picked up what I needed. By that time the pizza place was open so we could continue that tradition. Amber had turned into a person in her own right. Not just a child any more, but fully capable of running her own life. I sat there, listening to her, smiling, remembering. Full of pizza and salad, we walked the beach, talking. By the time we reached the breakwater, we were talking about sand. Carol wanted to know how an arch of sand could possibly stand. It's always easier to show than to describe. The result was a nice little arch, with embellishments. Part of it twisted, part of it ducked under another part. Good sand made thin sections and good detail possible, but it was hard to make with just hands. The sun poured down. I asked Carol how long she thought it would take Amber to become southern Califoria-ized. On this radiant day such a conversion is easy. They had to move on. I washed the sand off and we walked back north. A few months later, Amber was enrolled at the Santa Barbara college. I don't know if she'll be majoring in sand sculpture.
Original: 98 October 31 (direct to HTML)
All contents copyright 1998 by
Larry Nelson | ||||||||||
98p05rpt.htm 98-December-31