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Posts Tagged ‘Ohio River’

Flood Birds

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, art and environment, birding, birds and birding, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, nature photography, Ohio River, Originality, recycled art, Styrofoam, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 1, 2011| 4 Comments »

For me, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is a signal that Spring is underway.  I believe I have seen this very same bird in the same Sweet Gum tree for several years now.  Before the tree fully leafs out, he drills neat rows of holes in the tree bark which fill with the tree’s sap.  Visiting often, he then licks up the sugary mixture.  I have seen other bird species utilizing the work of this woodpecker including other woodpecker species, warblers and chickadees.  Before the insects and new seeds appear, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker has accessed another food supply which he defends from all the other birds. 

Throwing his head back, this male Song Sparrow is expressing the feeling of the season.  Song Sparrows are year-round residents and have fully taken advantage of all the niches available at the Falls of the Ohio.  This year White-throated Sparrows have been more abundant than I recall from past years.  Every year is different from the previous ones and you never know what to expect next.  This year is off to a very wet start.

This is a male Prairie Warbler I came across recently.  I have “pished” this species closer to my camera’s lens by making little squeaky sounds that the bird found curious enough to follow.  I am hopeful of seeing other warblers before the Spring migration ends.  So far, I have seen Yellow-rumped Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, and a brilliant male Prothonotary Warbler attracted by the flooded bottomland trees.  There are thirty-five different warbler species on the Falls checklist and I have had the privilege of seeing most of them over the years.

The Warbling Vireo is another bird that is more often heard than seen.  It’s such a tiny bird and it has the habit of staying in the tops of tall trees.  I found this one on the exposed section of an oak branch.  If it weren’t distracted by trying to attract a mate it would be in almost constant movement in search of the small caterpillars and insects that it eats.

A new bird to add to the old life list is the Blue-tailed Robin.  It’s an infrequent visitor to these parts and so when one is sighted it becomes an event.  You can’t see this in the photo, but there are ten other birdwatchers with cameras and binoculars trained on this fellow as it dances and practices its courtship dance.  Everybody was extra quiet so that this bird wouldn’t spook and fly away.  Here are more images.

The Blue-tailed Robin male does an elaborate dance on a fallen log where it sings and flaps its wings in different positions all the while it struts its stuff.  The real test will happen further north in central Canada where its ability to display and attract a mate will mean the difference between passing on its genetic distinctiveness or not.  No wonder this bird can’t afford the opportunity not to practice!

Singing very high up in a Cottonwood tree, this male Northern Oriole is also singing loudly in its territory.  So far, it’s looking and sounding like a good year for this species!  Nearly everywhere I hiked in the park I either sighted or heard Northern Orioles.  The orange color is so distinctive and it contrasts so well against the green of the surrounding leaves.  There is so much moisture in the air that my camera records this as a slightly foggy picture.  I hope for better images of orioles and the other great birds here.

Another rarely recorded migrant is the Dragonfly Tern.  I found one coursing along the river bank and was able to squeeze off a couple decent pictures.  Like the name implies, it specializes in capturing dragonflies which requires the ability to maneuver at high-speed.  It has swept back wings that give it the acceleration it needs in tight corners.  Here’s another picture of it buzzing over a fallen log near my position.

This bird soon will be off to the Great Lakes region where it also breeds.  It barely scratches together a depression in the sand and gravel that it considers a nest.  There are usually two eggs laid that are heavily speckled like the small pebbles that surround it.  It winters in South America and travels thousands of miles each year.

On my way home from the park, I chanced to see this Red-tailed Hawk on top of a utility pole and recorded its image.  It is one of our more common hawks, but since I haven’t featured it in the Riverblog before, I thought I would include it in this post.  As the year progresses, I hope to feature other birds that stop at the Falls of the Ohio. For me, the difference between a successful trip and a really successful adventure sometimes hinges on seeing one nice bird!  In closing here are two Canada Geese.  One is real…

…the other is just a tracing in the sand I made.  Happy birding !!

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Hoser

Posted in Absurd, animals, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, nature photography, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 26, 2011| 2 Comments »

The Ohio River continues to rise because the sky continues to rain.  This flood will be one for the record books…perhaps in the top ten when it’s all said and done.  But who knows when that will be?  The weatherman hasn’t been very encouraging of late.  The timing of this flood is especially bad because it overlaps with the Kentucky Derby Festival and its two weeks of partying and activities which culminates with the most famous horse race in the world.  The additional water will keep the tourists away.

These images were taken just a couple of days a go and now the river is even higher.  In the City of Louisville, some of the most powerful pumps outside Holland are working around the clock pumping water from the low-lying areas.  Streets have been closed and the flood gates are up.  For the people who live nearest to the river…they have packed up and left a few days a go.  By now, the water has reached the roofs of their homes.  There’s nothing more that can be done.  It’s sit tight and see how much more rain will come and how high the river will rise.

My son Adam was curious to see the extent of the flooding and so we visited the Falls of the Ohio.  The familiar wooden steps that lead to the river bank were now half way underwater.

We watched a box turtle flushed from its home in the underbrush swimming to higher ground.  Fortunately, it received an assist in the form of currents pushing it to land where it was able to escape drowning.  Watching this greatly affected my son who has a tender heart when it comes to all animals.  He really gets upset when the nature shows on television become too graphic. He doesn’t understand that life feeds on other life and that this has been the way of the world for a very long time.  This flood has also affected my creative routine at least by the water.  I’m forced to hopscotch back and forth between events in time which I think is a healthy thing in my life.  I was beginning to feel a little too linear anyway.  So, here’s another Styrofoam project I made sandwiched between the last flood of a couple of weeks a go and now.  This project is also now a memory remembered by these images.

I really thought the previous inundation would be it for the year.  And so I set up shop atop this immense pile of wood and explored what was mixed in with all the natural debris.  Among the “treasures” was this toy gas hose…but that’s not all that I found!  Here’s something unusual too.

I set it up to help orient it for the photograph.  It’s what’s left of a taxidermed deer head.  The tanned skin that would have been stretched around it is now gone, but the remnants of the deer’s actual skull and broken antlers are screwed into the molded foam form.  This is another object that exists at the intersection of the natural and the artificial which I find curiously to be another sign of the times we live in.  When this trophy was intact, it probably was praised for its life-likeness.

I also picked up this Styrofoam fragment of what I’m guessing was perhaps a Halloween novelty?  Amazingly, the little skull image survived.  I found another human bone reference out here on the wood pile.  It’s a miniature pelvis made out of plastic.  Luckily, I have never found the real deal and probably would freak out if I did.  Here’s that hip bone and a second image with some other fun stuff I picked up including one of the smallest and cutest squirt guns I’ve seen.

Sitting on a huge log, I started getting comfortable on my new spot.  I thought I could last here until the summer heat drove me under the willows.  I began to gather materials to make sculptures with like I had done with my previous plein air “studios”.  Mother Nature was providing all the material I needed to keep me and this project going for a long time.  Here’s my Styro-cache with its river-polished foam.

It’s all gone down river now, but before that happened I made one other figure out here.  I called him “Hoser” and set him up next to the “Danger” figure.  First, I started with making a head.  The eyes are old fishing floats.

I felt very meditative in this setting.  I could see the skyline of a city with its proximity to nature and it made me speculate on how it all was going to turn out?  Would we eventually strike some kind of working balance with the planet or was this a taste of what was coming or even worse?  I would walk around my wood pile looking for a stick or branch I could use for a limb to help blow life into this Styro-man.  This is how he eventually turned out.

With gasoline approaching four dollars a gallon I decided to put the fake gas pump nozzle and hose to good use.  I strategically placed this object into the figure’s polystyrene body more as a reference to the fact that here was another resource that we pissed away.

I located “Hoser” near the “Danger is My Middle Name” figure, took my photographs, and walked away.  That was the last I was to see of them.  Within days, the river started to rise more from rain that fell north of here and then it started to rain in earnest in the Ohio River Valley.  That was two weeks plus…it’s still raining and the river keeps on rising and the adventure continues.

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Beach Combing Images

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio River, recycled art, Styrofoam, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 16, 2011| 2 Comments »

I’ve added another collection to my Pages section.  Inspired by the theme of “Beach Combing”, here are images of objects found at the Falls of the Ohio State Park.  My Pages section can be found on the column on the right. 

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Double Turtle Day

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, animals, Art, art and environment, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, recycled art, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 5, 2011| 6 Comments »

This is a post from the western section of the Falls of the Ohio State Park.  The high waters from the recent flood have taken their sweet time abating.  I slogged through a lot of mud, but have to admit I had a good time exploring.  Along the way, I could see odd items that had been snagged by the trees and here they will stay until they decay or another flood carries them away.  Here’s a wooden stand of some kind that found refuge in the branches of this tree.

And here is part of a hurricane fence that the river deposited high and dry onto another tree.  Nearly every where I go I can find (mostly plastic bags of all sizes) stuff caught by the tree branches.  Sometimes this items “decorate” their new homes for years to come.

I’m always on the look out for signs of life.  On this trip I came across a flock of American Coots, but they swam away before I could take one decent image of them.  In the soft mud all around me, were the tracks of the various small animals that call this place home.  I believe these are tracks made by raccoons next to this plastic baby toy that floated in with the river.

Investigating the other debris, I nearly missed seeing this Eastern box turtle.  He looked like an old-timer and because it was still a cool day…he was moving slowly.  This allowed me to take several pictures and I had a great opportunity to check him out.  Here is a series of images of it.

The weird part is that earlier in the day, I came across a completely different kind of turtle.  This one is usually found in close proximity to sand and has a penchant for children’s company.  While the previous turtle embodied substance and image…this one is all image.

I also came across my “Mud Duck” which was hanging out in an area that was much drier than before.

This duck and all the genuine birds and small animals better look out this spring and summer because the feral cat population keeps increasing.  On my way back to my vehicle, I came by this site near the Interpretive Center.  Frankly, this “blew me away”.  There were two picnic tables and each one had the equivalent of a large bag of dry cat food spread under each table.  I’m sure this person has a kind heart and means well, but I don’t see how this helps the other wildlife in the park.  Well fed cats still catch birds and hopefully they will also catch the rats that I’m sure this scene also attracts.  I’ll end with these two images, but will be posting more post-flood pictures very soon.  Until then…

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Unidentified Floating Objects

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 30, 2011| 7 Comments »

The river has given ground, but just a sliver of it.  Although the waters have retreated, the Ohio River is still higher than usual.  On the immediate riverbank is a new wooden obstacle course of washed away trees and huge logs.  I find myself a walking stick and go exploring.  I cover ground I have visited hundreds of times before and yet  is made different with each episode of high water.  I began this trip descending the frail cut lumber staircase whose bottom steps were recently covered by the river.  I see a man and his children playing in the sand and pebbles and it looks like they are also building something.  I wait for them to wander off to gather fresh materials before sneaking a closer peak.

They have taken a recently washed up piece of Styrofoam and added some other found elements to improvise a toy raft.  Jutting from the foam are many spent cigarette lighters ( you can always find these).  There is also the red plastic flag from a mailbox…the kind you stand up to alert the postal carrier that you have outgoing mail.  I can also see a larger piece of blue plastic, perhaps a sail?  To me, it also resembles a shark fin.  As much as I like this family’s creativity, I am however, dismayed by the graffiti on the side of the log. This is something I’m starting to see more of on the bridge and through out the park.  It makes me wistful for the days when scrawling bad words and so and so loves so and so in the sand were sufficient means of expression.

The walking stick comes in handy when you are not sure how deep the mud is in a certain area.  You need to pick your path through by stepping on branches and broken planks.  You can see brightly colored plastic just about everywhere you go.  There are moderate to heavy waves along the river’s edge.  Today I have a paper sack with me to collect the small river treasures carried by the water.  This proves to be a mistake because the sack soon becomes water-logged and the bottom falls out.

I pick my way towards the railroad bridge because when the river was at its crest…this spot had the most incredible amount of wood and debris floating in the water.  I wanted to see the aftermath.  I came across this formation created when the water level left these logs high and dry.  A very fine coating of mud and dampness unifies the scene in neutral tones of brown and gray because the greening of spring is only just beginning.  I had hoped to see a bird or two, but they weren’t in this area.

It’s a cool and very overcast day and got progressively colder as the day wore on.  In fact, it would blow snow on this night.  Because the light was subdued, there were fewer harsh shadows and I felt that I could read the forms better.  Everywhere you looked there was the jumble of logs and branches twisted and interconnected together.  I recognized little from just a couple of weeks a go, with the exception of the UFO or Unidentified Floating Object which was miraculously still there.

This big circular platform first appeared here a couple of years a go.  It came with another flood that swept it loose from wherever it came from, washed it over the dam, and deposited it here.  My sons first thought it looked like a flying saucer, but I said it was an unidentified floating object instead.  We also speculated that this could be the plug found at the bottom of the river…and when it was pulled, the river drained like a bath tub.  It’s about a dozen feet across and we used to dance on it.  I’m really surprised that it’s still here and didn’t move along with the river on its way to the ocean.  Apparently, nobody has missed this thing since it’s been here for years.  When it began spitting rain I decided to turn back the way I came and headed for the staircase.

The people who made the “Styro-raft” were gone and now was a better time to sneak a peek at their creation.  I snapped a few photographs for my collection.  Before leaving I could see that they had attempted to launch their colorful craft into the river…but the Ohio was not in the mood.  I have had this experience before where the wind and waves on the river push back whatever you hope to have float away.  It probably disappointed the kids, but in their imaginations I’m sure they can see a little of themselves riding their unidentified floating object on its journey westward towards adventure and new lands.

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Plein Air Studio

Posted in Art, art and environment, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, unusual collection, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 13, 2011| 6 Comments »

The Ohio River is even higher now than my last post.  I hope to venture out today and snap a few pictures to share later.  It’s sobering watching nature do what it can do.  I began the morning looking online at the damage the earthquake and tsunami have wreaked upon northern Japan.  Those folks need our help…please contribute however you can. 

Back in Kentuckiana, we are safe.  The flood gates are up and we are not expecting any heavy rain showers that would further swell the river.  Low-lying areas such as the aptly named River Road are under water.  Residents who live directly by the water have either evacuated or moved their possessions to higher ground which in some cases is the roof of their homes.  For these people, their love of the river is worth the periodic inconveniences it can pose.  The Ohio River is expected to crest today and begin falling back to normal pool which will take several days.

Until then, I have had the opportunity to look through images from the past year and put together a few “scrapbooks”  This one is of my plein air studio that I extensively used for ten months beginning in June 2010.  It’s now gone.  I’ll know more when I get the chance to visit.  I originally selected this site because it was relatively out of view, but close to where I was finding my materials.  Having a somewhat “fixed” location also gave the public who stumbled upon this spot, a chance to interact with the materials I was finding and provided more choices than finding the single figures I made throughout the park.  People could make their own sculptures…happily some were made.  So, here are a few pictures taken over the course of several seasons or about nine months worth.

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Faux Duck and Plastic Bread

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, collections, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 11, 2011| 9 Comments »

The clock read ten minutes after four, otherwise, I wouldn’t have remembered what time it was when I began my last exploration of the river.  This is one of the world’s largest clocks and once was the pride of the Colgate toothpaste factory in Clarksville, Indiana which is just a quarter-mile at most from the entrance to the Falls of the Ohio State Park.  The company moved to Mexico and now the building is for sale.  The clock’s fate is uncertain as are all the jobs that were lost when the company relocated to another country.  The fire truck happened to be going by at the moment I took this image.

After parking my vehicle, I descended down the wooden staircase and into the driftwood field that was deposited last summer.  It has been a gray and melancholic winter.  I noticed that the river was higher now than during my last foray and my heart lifted a bit knowing that there would be fresh river booty to find!  I was correct and this post has a few of the objects and sights I came across during the hour and half I spent here.

I have observed that many people who visit here never venture far from these stairs.  They may go down to the water’s edge to take a look, skip a stone, or write their names in the shifting sands.  I came across the word “people” written in the sand and recorded the image before the advancing waves erased it. 

After so many years of walking this beach, I’m amazed at how much of the same kinds of stuff I find out here.  This was one of five basketballs I came across.  I wish I had a dollar for every one I’ve seen at the Falls.  The river was playing with this one and its waters would float it to a different location and then cast it back upon the shore before licking it back into the water again.  Here’s another ball I found.  It’s small and looks similar to a plastic representation of a ball of yarn?  I like the contrast between the ball and the willow rootlets that captured it.

I’m always finding dolls and doll parts.  On this expedition I found three dolls.  Here’s a picture of one of them as I found it.  I’m not certain if this is a Barbie doll or a knock off of one?  Doesn’t matter, what catches my eye here is the arrangement of doll and driftwood.  Because there isn’t a lot of color involved…it would be easy to overlook this while walking.

More flamboyant is this cloth and plastic artificial “plant” embedded in the sand.  Now this was easy to find because it’s winter and the eyes are starved for color.  I wonder what these plastic “nuts” are supposed to be?

Now comes the part where this post’s title originates.  For the last couple of weeks the Falls has been home to many Mallard ducks.  I was walking along the shoreline when from a distance I spotted this next to a large log.

My first reaction is why is this duck  just sitting there and not trying to get away?  Is it hurt or sick?  Did it narrowly escape the talons of one of the local Peregrine falcons?  It took me a moment before I realized that it wasn’t real!

This is the first decoy that I have come across out here and thought photographing it next to tracks left by webbed feet was appropriate.  The indigenous people of this country were the first (as far as we know) to make decoys to lure prey species closer to the hunter.  There is an aspect to some of my Styrofoam sculptures that takes a page from them.  I want people to come closer and check out what I’m doing and come away with a greater awareness of what’s happening to the environment around them.

My subconscious must be scanning this stuff as I move along, because I don’t know how I found this!  It’s a plastic slice of bread or toast and not much different in shape or color to the other forms that were around it.  Naturally, it went into the collecting bag and joins the other artificial food items I have found out here over the many years.

After hanging out at the water’s edge, I cut up the beach to my open air studio in the willows.  The so-called “Choir” grouping had been smashed to bits since my last visit.  All the figures have been beheaded, but things weren’t a total loss.  I did find this to cheer me up!

Some other creative soul left me this next to the plank I sit on when I make my Styrofoam sculptures.  This small figure looks surprised like it’s caught in mid slip.  Perhaps there was ice and one foot flew out from under it?  All the materials were on site and I’m glad that someone else took advantage of them to make something no matter how silly.  Whenever I’m out here it’s easy for me to lose track of time, but I knew it was time to go because I was cold and getting hungry.  On the walk back to my car I took this photograph.

I call it the “Staircase to Heaven” and yes it’s a wooden set of stairs that was snagged by this willow during a flood two years a go.  I once found a refrigerator stuck in the top of a tall tree and the river put it there during another bout of high water.  The river level can surprise you and with all the snow that has fallen this winter north of here.  It’s very possible we may see high water again and soon.  This weekend, (can it be true!) it’s supposed to be sunny and warmer.  I definitely will plan another trip and maybe make something of my own from all this river junk.  Until then…

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First Snow

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, nature, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 18, 2010| 10 Comments »

I’m the only one out here and for good reason too.  It is just so cold and the wind isn’t helping matters at all.  My eyes peer through a narrow exposed  slit formed by the bottom of my hat and the top of my scarf which covers most of my face.  On a day like today it is good to have a purpose and I do.  Each year I make my own set of holiday cards and mail them off to family and friends and I use the Falls of the Ohio to provide materials and context.

The snow changes things by generalizing the landscape.  You need to be careful where you step out here since the snow gives you a false sense of security.  All the old dangers are still out here…they are just harder to see.  A misstep can cause you to fall or twist an ankle and it is slippery walking on top of this wood. 

For me, however, all these miserable conditions are worth the moments of enchantment that occur.  Every day objects take on a renewed visual interest and new compositions are created.

With the vegetation gone, this frayed barge cable shows up easily on the willow branches that have snagged it.  The river deposited it long a go and it is finally falling apart.  Next spring, strands of this rope will form parts of next year’s oriole nests.  What I also find interesting here is how the wind, sand, and snow blow together to form a light drifting mixture.

Walking towards my outdoor studio site, I unexpectantly came across these tracks in the sand and snow.  These were made by a very large bird and I thought Great Blue Heron or even Sandhill Crane?  It’s unusual to see these bird tracks here since the herons in particular stay closer to the water’s edge.

The little dog traveling with me couldn’t resist seeing where the tracks led to.  The sand and snow mixture may have exaggerated the true size of this bird.  After a short walk the tracks end here.

I wonder if what is recorded here is a brief moment of indecision?  First, the bird turns one way then another and then the tracks are gone.  It may have jumped into the air from this spot since there are no other tracks in the immediate area.

I come across another nice snow/sand drift and start taking a few shots for my holiday cards.  I had made this little Styro-snowman with a Blue Hat at home with Falls’ materials and brought him along.  Here he is admiring the drift as he walks on one side of it.  Each time I take a picture I need to take my glove off and before long my finger tips start to burn.  The longer I’m out here…the more purposeful I become.

Reaching my familiar site, I find the large figures that watch my back.  Other than the snow, more has changed here since my last visit.  There’s a new figure leading the group like a skinny choir master.  It’s getting harder to take a simple picture and I think the day is getting colder still.  The camera is freezing and the batteries are getting zapped.  Soon, I won’t be able to take pictures and I decide to turn around after about a half an hour’s walk.  I did take one other picture for this post from my snow filled studio.  It shows that indeed, milk crates can hold water…as long as it’s frozen.  See previous posts a go.  Time for some hot chocolate and heat!

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The Waterfalls

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , , on September 21, 2010| 4 Comments »

The Falls of the Ohio was never a classic waterfall such as Niagara Falls or even Cumberland Falls in Kentucky.  It’s been described as a series of rapids that drop the river level about 26 feet over a length of about a two and a half miles.  This is the only place in the nearly thousand mile length of the river that posed a major navigation obstacle. Traditionally, the Ohio River hasn’t been a deep river, in fact in historic times the water level could get so low in the summer that you could literally wade your livestock over from one side to another with ease.  That’s why this area was also a bison trace and indigenous people crossed the river here for thousands of years.

Of course, having a river that can be this shallow poses an impediment to river traffic.  Louisville is where it is because when the river was low you had to either portage your boat, hire a special pilot to guide you around the rocks and waves, or wait until the river level rose again to move on.  When the river was high, the Falls could be heard.  John James Audubon once wrote, ” The rumbling sound of the Falls as they tumble over the rock-paved bed of the rapids is at all times soothing to the ear.”  All that changed when the Army Corps of Engineers constructed a dam in the 1920’s.  The purpose of the dam is to provide a stable pool of water for the barge traffic going through the locks of this important intercoastal waterway.  It has meant billions of dollars in river goods can travel easily with coal being the most lucrative cargo.  That dam also defines what the Falls of the Ohio are now and in the heart of summer, the famous fossil beds are exposed for all to see.  Well, except for the majority of the fossil beds that are now regularly underwater on the opposite side of the dam! To say that this area is far from its original state is an understatement.  Most people don’t have knowledge of this and so this place is just as marvelous as ever!

“Oh honey, we made it!”  “The waterfall looks beautiful and I’m so glad we are here together to share this.”  The new couple on their own personal journey of discovery have decided to check out an American landmark.

“This is such a famous place and I will always remember this day because we spent it together!”  “I feel completely refreshed in the presence of you and nature.”  “The water spray is so cooling.”

Care is needed because you don’t want to get swept away.  The sound of running water can be hypnotic and you can lose yourself in it. ” I’m happy that you are here for me and I will be there for you too.”  Such is the promise that they made to each other standing by the waterfall.

“We have our entire futures ahead of us, but for now, let’s remember being happy in this moment.”  “The two of us are like this water in that we are on a long  journey and who knows if we will ever cross this spot again?”

“This has all been so beautiful, but I’m getting hungry.”  “Are you ready to go?”  “I’ve heard that there is another waterfall not too far away from here…wanna check it out later?”  Behind them, water was pouring through a special slot in the dam that allowed water to pass over these rocks and to provide a little more water for this bit of wetland that remains. When you are hiking out here and you think of it… it can be a little disconcerting knowing that the top of the river is now that high over your head!

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The Adventurer

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , on September 17, 2010| 5 Comments »

One day I had this wild idea to build a raft and drift down the Ohio River and so I did it.  Sort of.  Here’s my trusty vessel where it sits today.  I’m amazed that it held together long enough to get me here. I thought I might just go with the current for a couple of miles or so, but I was swept into the main channel and I rode it out as far as it would go and here I am.  Stranded.

Don’t worry about me…I’m alright.  I just hung out here so long and the summer was so hot…that the river dried up around me.  I found this spot on the riverbank that I like that always seems cool even during the most scorching days.  I also liked looking at all these shades of green in the algae.

It’s refreshing standing under this shower and on the warmest days it would only take minutes to completely dry off while walking under the sun.  I’ve always been a sucker for waterfalls and I have struck up a relationship with this one.  Something about water going over the edge of a precipice from some height helps people attain a feeling of the sublime and awe as felt in nature.

I’m going to miss this place if ever I can get out of here.  The local landscape has some charm and the change of the seasons.

Soon it will be the Autumnal Equinox and the days will continue to grow shorter as the leaves change color and drop from their branches.  It is a time for shifting gears and making plans.

Alas, for most of this summer the rain has been in short supply.  Each day without a significant down pour, the river keeps receding away from me and delaying my departure even more.  We need, I need it to rain again.

For the moment, I’m at a standstill and will need to be open to what nature has in mind.  I know a new adventure is just around the corner from here and it will be worth the wait.  In the meantime, maybe it would be a good idea to work on my raft?  From this angle it looks rickety.  I’ll search the riverbank, maybe I’ll find a life vest too.  I have found them before!  When the river comes back I’ll be ready.

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