August 17

One of my very favorite, Take a Break songs -- Come by the Hills by the very talented Loreena McKennitt -- she's probably my favorite singer ever. This is set in her native Ireland -- the home of my great-grandmother.




It's National Sandcastle Day! There are -- well, were -- amazing sandcastles. Do a search and you'll be astounded. Here's a site with their top 20 choices:
http://listverse.com/2008/02/08/top-20-amazing-sandcastles/
Here's one from Brazil:

And here's one for which they made a very cool setting:

Here's another site, which mentions August 14 as national Sandcastle Day which may be right -- I've seen different dates -- and it has charming pictures and also practical suggestions.
http://lanikae.blogspot.com/2011/08/sand-castle-day.html

Another cool picture! From Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ultimate_Sand_Castle.jpg , by Jon, of a sandcastle on the beach near St Helier in Jersey: