Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

Perhaps you heard that we had an unusual flash flooding incident in Louisville on Tuesday, August 4?  It made the national news.  It’s not everyday that parts of the city receive 6 1/2 inches of rain in an hour!  This storm just hung over the city and wouldn’t budge.  The dark clouds poured it on and we experienced serious flooding damage.  I haven’t been to the Falls this week, but I’m really curious to see what’s different.  Is my studio under the willows still there?  Are there new materials washed up?  I had water come into my house via the basement and roof and so I have been busy with that.  My problems have been minor compared to some and so for that I’m thankful.  It’s just another meteorological moment in what continues to be the oddest of years.  For now,  I’m treading water ” blog-ilogically” and rather than offer you a brief interlude of pre-recorded music will submit these images instead.  I always have more photos than I can post.  This occasion gives me the chance to show the ever changing landscape around the Falls of the Ohio.  These are images from July 2009.

Looking east, I like the way the railing on this handicap accessible ramp echos the hard lines in the bridge beyond.  A visitor contemplates the exposed fossil beds below the Interpretive Center.

Looking at this trio of images reminds me of the 19Th century painter Georges Seurat.  Perhaps it’s the frieze-like quality of the trees and the people absorbed in their own forms of river recreation?  So far this year, this was the most extensive exposure of the fossil beds.  I heard the other day that we have had a ridiculous 20 inches of rain over the past couple of months.  I wonder if our annual precipitation record is at risk this year?

These logs have been rolled against other downed trees in the water.  It’s the grinding action of water and wave that peels the bark and knocks off the branches.  In this way, trees are reduced to being straight logs.  I’ll end with another view of the Ohio River flowing westward.  Several hundred miles to go before entering the Mississippi River.