A dog's life?

Should you wish to swim to the west, leaving Vancouver, and have a really good condition you would end up on the shores of Vancouver Island. So much for imagination when coming up with a name for this hump of land. I decided not to. Not only is the distance to the island long enough having to bring a packed lunch which is difficult to handle whilst swimming, but there are also creatures in the water that are hard to out-swim as a human. Orcas for instance. Although Michael Phelps would stand a good chance with his feet size 62. I may be a keen swimmer but, taking everything into consideration, opted for the ferry. As it turned out, I was not the only one that drew this conclusion.

Stepping of the ferry onto the soft sand of Vancouver Island's shoreline there is only one thing to do that seems appropriate. Build a sandcastle. Who hasn't got fond memories of childhood days when you ran onto the beach with a bucket and shovel to build the biggest sandcastle ever? I know, this aspiration often came to a grinding halt when you stumbled over the stuff you were carrying and ended up having your first mouthful of the beach. On the bright side, you were then able to grind your teeth properly. No, this time it would be different. Older and well ehhh older, precautions were taken and that really paid of well. Proper mud and fresh water were brought to the scene and of we went. Incidentally we Dutch are rather good with mud and water, as Helena Bangert demonstrated by winning the first price in the singles contest. I would have opted for the only proper sandcastle but I wasn't a member of the jury, unfortunately. 

 

To prevent any mishap from taking place, the Volunteer family was hired to take care of security, with Zack Volunteer being the big boss. And safe it was. The Volunteer family turned out to have a lot of members. 



Many different topics were portrayed in sand with the inevitable sculpture of humans most faithful companion, the dog. Now, I know for a fact that this so called faithfulness is strictly tied to being fed properly but some people are under the impression that it is all about friendship. Dream on I would say. Nevertheles, for some people building a simple sand sculpture to underline their relationship with their four legged friend doesn't go quite far enough. They seek different ways to bond with doggie. Where I would say 'try a steak', they try all different kinds of silly activities. Like throwing sticks, a ball, go for a walk or go skateboarding together. Well, together is not the right word I'm afraid. You skateboard and I watch is more like it.
Or to take it one step further and stay in a beachy mood, go skinny-boarding. I kid you not. Whilst scanning the beach, a curious spectacle caught my eye. At closer range it turned out to be an English bulldog, named Carmen as I found out later, riding a skinny board. It took nearly a year to get Carmen this far according to her trainer but now she had the moves of a professional. Trainer July threw the board across the puddle, Carmen chased it, jumped on it and rode the waves. Monsieur Bizet would have been 'en extase' would he still have been alive. And man, was she in good fig! The dog too.
  
A dog's life? Could well be, but I would trade mine in anytime...