A beautiful spring day and a perfect time to sit by the river. The greening trees are alive with the fresh colors of migratory birds. Somewhere off in the distance is a sound or more accurately a vibration that piques your interest. Since the hearing is going you need something to focus the sound.
Where would you be without your trusty ear trumpet? You have come to rely upon it like a conduit to your brain and an aid for your memory.
A smile comes across your face as the vibration becomes more audible. It’s enough of a hint for you to recall the sound of…
… diesel engines crossing over the bridge………. Alright, so it won’t win any literary prizes, but it was fun to do. The train picture is recent, but the figure is long gone…was it last year or the one before that? I think I need something to focus my memory too. This figure, as usual, is made from various found elements…polystyrene foam, driftwood, and plastic. The nose I remember was the handle of a broken paint brush. One of the eyes is a fishing bobber and the other…who knows? I thought the found bottle of sports drink added a nice color note. This piece was up for awhile, before it was carried away by a flood.
From a previous post…you know I’m into birds and since this is migration season, I’m at the Falls of the Ohio as often as I can get a few hours to get away. I do keep a list of what I see in this park based on their official checklist that includes 268 recorded species. I’m almost half way there! I suppose I would have to live at the park year round to not miss any opportunities as long as the birds were willing to cooperate. The birds, however, have their own time-honored agendas and I try to be present in their moments. This season is shaping up to be a late one and I haven’t seen nearly the number of species I saw last year, but there is still time. The last two days have brought some surprises which I was able to get a few snapshots to share with you. Here are two new species for me at the Falls of the Ohio State Park.
I come across and photograph enough of these gasoline containers that they form a subcategory of objects that I pay attention to. Gasoline is such a sign of the times that it seems particularly relevant. Where do these containers come from? I have never found one that still had gas in it. Because plastic is made from petroleum, as is gasoline, does putting gas into these containers become a redundant act?
Working at the Falls of the Ohio is a reflective experience and thinking about the construct of “time” pops into my head a lot. To reinforce matters even more, less than a mile from my “studio” is this giant clock ticking away in a grand, but conventional manner. I once read that the largest clock face in the world was at another Colgate Palmolive plant in Jersey City, New Jersey, but it was demolished in 1988. Our clock, the one in Jeffersonville, IN, I believe is now the biggest. At night it glows red. The building was once a prison before the toothpaste factory relocated here. Recently, it was sold to another interest and we aren’t quite sure what’s going to happen with certainty, but it is everybody’s wish that the clock remain. From downtown Louisville, you can tell time by looking across the Ohio River. 
Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog 