Sunday, October 5, 2025

Wow! It’s been almost a year since I last posted here, since I last had something interesting to say. At least interesting to myself.

We did an impromptu trip to South Padre Island for an upcoming SpaceX launch. We didn’t even know that we were arriving just in time to catch the last day of Sand Castle Days, hosted by Clayton’s. This is the 35th year that the event has been held, and it has become a qualifying event for the World Championships of Sand Sculpting.

There were about a dozen sculptures on the beach, all of them very elaborate. The most impressive was sculpted by Master Sandsculptor Scott Dodson, of a large castle and surrounding woods. Dodson has been sculpting for over 40 years, and has had commissions from major airlines, cruise ships, resorts, beverage companies, state fairs and art shows.

Photos of Dodson’s work are on display at a local art gallery. One of them may make its way to our home.

Other participating artists are from Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Japan, Canada, and Belarus as well as from the United States.

If we wanted to, we could have tried our hands at Sand Camp, an area set aside for enthusiasts of all ages to build their own sculptures.