Whirligigs

For a writer, visiting the places a novel is set can add that special detail that makes a story seem real. In Lost Beneath the Tide a key scene is set at a whirligig festival. This is based on an actual festival I attended in the town of Shelburne , Nova Scotia. The whirligigs I describe in the book are ones I actually saw.

What is a Whirligig?

A whirligig is a fanciful type of weathervane. Like a weathervane it is designed to point in the direction of the wind and almost always has moving parts that flap or spin. They are usually handmade from wood, wire, and pieces of plastic. They can be any design the creator can imagine.

Simple Whirligigs

Here is a list of some of the simple ones I saw at the festival.

Animals
Lobsters
Bees and bugs
Birds
Rowboats and dories
Butterflies
Fish
Mermaids
Whales
Windmills
Flowers
Flying horse
Seesaw
Dragons
Planes

Fancy Whirligigs

There were also complicated ones that involved several motions.

A man swinging a golf club
A woodcutter chopping wood
A gardener watering flowers
A whale with Jonah inside
Carton characters chasing each other
A man fishing
A man taking his hat on and off
A cowboy on a bucking horse
Swimmer
Pecking chicken

Here is how I described the whirligigs in the novel.

“Gusts from the south raised a smattering of white caps and spun the blades of clever wind-powered inventions of all designs. Wings fluttered on tiny hummingbirds. Lobster claws snapped and rotated. Inside a huge whale, Jonah desperately swam, his arms flipping around faster than the eye could see.’

from Lost Beneath the Tide by Zara West