The Sand Angel

If you come from the land of snow, you know about snow angels. Every kid that grows up around snow has made one. You simply lie on your back in a fresh, flat area of the stuff and move your arms and legs in as large an arc as you can. Then you carefully stand up, without disturbing your imprint, and there you are…kind of a permanent imprint of your “spiritual self” to be admired by anyone with imagination who happens to walk by. It is intended to be a “work of art”, a temporary sculpture to inspire and cheer others during the long cold months of winter. Kelly (our daughter) had promised her friend Mike (the potter) that she would make him a sand angel on the beach during her visit. This I suppose was intended to cheer him in much the same way a snow angel would. She said that he had also agreed to make her a snow angel while she was away from the frozen, snowy tundra of Minnesota.

Kelly came down to Fort Myers to visit with us from Feb 18 - 24th. We had a wonderful time and the sand angel was what we did on her last day here. Late in the day on Monday, Feb. 23rd, we decided to go to the beach to make good on her promise. I had recently seen a very nice sculpture of a life-size horse that someone had made on the beach and suggested to Kelly that with her knowledge of horse anatomy, she might try that instead. At that point, we decided to do some research on Google. We typed in “sand sculpture horses” and “sand sculpture angels” and just for fun “sand sculpture dragons” We also typed in “sand sculpture tips” and picked up a few pointers from the pros.

Two hours later we arrived at the beach armed with a wonderful photocopied image of a stone sculpture of an angel (from the internet), some tools, a borrowed shovel, some buckets and spoons from Goodwill and we were set to go to work. We chose a location near the water then dove into our task at around 4 p.m.

Of course, it didn’t look like much at first…mostly we shoveled and piled sand, fetched water with buckets and generally worked on the proportions of the outlines and height of the figure. Eventually, with sunlight waning and the air cooling, our angel began to emerge from the sand and become more and more refined. People stopped and took pictures and asked if we were artists, how long we had been working on it, and if we did this professionally --- very motivating words to help us finish what we had started before sunset.

Finally, with the setting sun raking golden across what had become known as “The Arch Angel”, we were able to stand back and admire our efforts. Small crowds gathered. A family who had watched the entire process from their balcony nearby came over and took pictures with their small children hunched between the giant wings and explained to them that this had something to do with "Lent ". As we hauled our tools back to the car we noticed dozens of “street performers” relieving tourists of their money one dollar a time. It occurred to me that if we had put a tip jar alongside our angel, it might have paid for dinner :~)

Kelly spent her time here doing other things besides playing in the sand. She brought the 7th Harry Potter book with her (partially read) and managed to finish the 768 pager while here. She mourned the idea of finishing the last of the series and is hoping that the auther will consider writing more Harry Potter books. She did have some nice places to sit and read.

Wendy and Kelly also went horseback ridding on the beach up by Sarasota. They just googled the activity and found a small company nearby that offered the service. Isn't Google just amazing? They had a good time. On the way back, they stopped and had lunch at a little restaurant outside of Sarasota that is right on the beach. They sat by an open window and could actually reach out and pick up the soft white sand from where they sat. They had the special of the day (fish & chips) and a local Florida beer. The ocean was a beautiful pale greenish-blue. They went out to the shore, after lunch, to soak up the ambiance. The ocean breeze was a bit chilly --- thus the beach towel for a shawl. The 3 of us went downtown FortMyers Beach after a full day sunning, reading and swimming at the beach. It is a very festive place. There's lots of activity with street performers, sidewalk restaurants and bars and lots of souvenier shops with much of their wares out on the sidewalk.

The Captain and Kelly walking the streets of Fort Myers Beach