Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

I knew we received a lot of rain…I can tell by how much makes it into the basement of our home.  I once thought it was the river’s way of trying to claim its own since I store many of my river finds there.  I have this mental image of Styrofoam and driftwood floating into my back yard from the bowels of my basement.  As much precipitation as we experienced, there must have been a heck of a lot more just northeast of us.  The river has been rising for days and will continue to do so for a few more.  Since yesterday, the river has essentially gone over the dam and large masses of driftwood and debris are flowing over.  Once the water recedes, I expect to find a completely different park.  I’ve put together a few images to give you a sense of the river rising over the last two days.  Let’s start with some larger views.

The rise can be seen from the height of the water on this Cottonwood tree.  Usually this tree is not touching the river.

This is the time of year when the Cottonwood trees release their fluff.  Wind catches this fuzz which harbors tiny seeds and disperses it everywhere.  In places cottony drifts are created.  Here is the broken tip of a branch showing how the Cottonwood tree earned its name. 

There are several places to access the riverbank at the park and one popular way is to use this set of wooden stairs.  The river, however, has covered the bottom two boards.  While I was there, I watched the surreal sight of a plastic castle go floating by!

Okay, here is the castle I mentioned…

…maybe I’ll find this thing later on as well as this huge Styrofoam chunk I saw yesterday!  Most of the pieces I find have been shaped by rubbing against driftwood in the water.  The abrasion creates these interesting biomorphic shapes I like to use in my sculpture.

Once the river crests, it will be a few days before I can get back down to the riverbank.  I heard it’s supposed to rain again this weekend.  In the meantime, I’m looking forward to the exhibit at the Oldham County Historical Center in LaGrange.  There’s a small reception Thursday night and I heard my pieces have been dispersed among the regular collection.  I’ll post from there next and try to give you a few views of the display.  Finally, here’s one more high water image I came across late today.