Fern flower tale

I was browsing DVDs in the children section of the Palo Alto library and noticed a movie based on the Fern Flower Polish folk tale. I got the DVD and really liked it: the animation style is very interesting; the story is told well and some elements of the related customs (like jumping over bonfires, floating wreaths of flowers with candles) are shown. I recommend it!

This DVD is a part of a 32-volume Animated Tales of the World Series published by Schlessinger Media. You can buy it separately or get if you're lucky, get it from a library that bought the whole 32-volume edition. If I understand OCLC correctly only six public libraries in the US have it but luckily for me one of them is the Palo Alto one.

Sand castles

The sand castle competitions start in the Bay Area next weekend. The first event is the Sand Sculpture Contest at the Capitola Begonia Festival. This will take place 8:30am-12noon on Saturday, August 30, 2008 at Capitola Beach. The following day, there will be the Annual Sand Sculpture Contest in Point Reyes National Seashore.

The third event I know of is the Sandcastle Classic that will take place on October 4, 2008 at the Ocean Beach in San Francisco.

Do you know of any other sand castle events in the Bay Area? Let me know!