Sandcastles

My birthday family lunch was held right on the promenade at Portobello so of course we went prepared with bucket and spade. The Flumlet couldn't wait to get started and quickly built three buckets-worth of castle and adorned them with feathers.

We then searched the tideline for the decorations, finding among the myriad shells a few dead things - starfish and crabs (which we photographed) and a gull (which we did not) in varying stages of decay. The extra shows a few, including one crab encrusted with barnacles with a (live) ladybird tucked between them. In the main picture the Flumlet is behind S's legs, talking to Mr Flum, the girl and the gentleman at the shoreline are strangers and beyond them all is a glimpse of Cressida, the octopus sculpture.

When it was time to leave the Flumlet collected as many shells as possible and was most upset that his Mummy refused to take them home, so I took them and washed them all ready for his next visit. They appear in the extra as proof that they are safe!