August 28, 1999, the end of my first week teaching writing at San Diego State, my teaching dream come true, I was going meet my good friend, Denis Joseph Francis Callahan, at Pacific Beach. Our plan was to eat sausages at a German restaurant. We were celebrating — well, Denis was helping me celebrate — Goethe’s 250th birthday.
Before dinner, we took an end-of-the-day walk on the beach. There in the near distance was an immense beautiful sand castle with candles burning in the windows. Dusk had arrived and the light from the candles reflected on the water left behind when the shallow waves retreated. It was marvelous.
“Goethe’s birthday cake,” I said to Denis.
On our walk back, Denis said, “Would you mind pie instead?” in his Staten Island accent. In Denis language “pie” = pizza. I thought, “Why not? Goethe loved Italy.”
Caveat: I didn’t take the featured photo.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2020/07/30/rdp-thursday-sand-castle/
Women's Wilderness Legend “Summer is the season of inferior sledding” - Inuit proverb 
Most definitely a birthday cake – how did those candles stay lit? I wonder. Very cool photo. Wow.
I stole the photo 😀we watched the ocean take the cake so to speak. It was very cool.
😄 I’ll bet it was!
PS the people who built it were nowhere in sight
First things first: The updated “home” photo makes me smile 🙂
Cool memory. Would love to see a sandcastle lit from inside, a brilliant idea.
That is an awesome photo, Martha. Mystical. Goethe would have loved it.
I wish I’d taken it. I stole it. But it fit the story perfectly.
❤
Sounds like the kind of celebration Goethe would have appreciated!
I think so. ❤