Slowly down again

In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time.

-- Leonardo da Vinci  

The river rises and it falls. I wish it revealed more, changed more things. Water movement means change. I think that is universal. We wait to see what it will do.

Just the bush this time because this one little bush shows the change in the river better than the long shots anyway. It is hard to see  in the first photo, but the bush is about 10 inches from being submerged, however in the subsequent pictures you can easily see that is not the case. It will reappear and then with the next rain it will begin to disappear under the water again. 

January 23, 2016

January 24, 2016

January 25, 2016

Slow rise

Any river is really the summation of the whole valley. To think of it as nothing but water is to ignore the greater part. — (Hal Borland, This Hill, This Valley)

This valley did, at one time, flood. It is part of the natural cycle here. It is what made the soil rich and fertile. But it was inconvenient. So levees and dams were put in place to control it. But the truth is one cannot stop water, and it is infinitely patient. Every once in a while it reminds us of that. 

January 21, 2016

 

January 22, 2016

January 21, 2016

January 22, 2016

 

River update

Here, on the river's verge, I could be busy for months without changing my place, simply leaning a little more to right or left.

Paul Cezanne

Every morning I have a routine: I get up, make coffee, feed the cats, feed the dog, and then Chalupa and I go for a walk so that he can do his business and I can see what is going on in the yard. I pull a few weeds, make some mental notes. But I always stand on this same bank and watch the river flow by. It is never the same. Higher or lower, brown after a storm, a perfect mirror some mornings, others choppy because the wind is up. It renews my spirit. Then we walk back to the house, I pull a few more weeds, do a bit of pruning, on and on. With a large yard it never stops. But the river flows by completely unaware of me, or anything that is going on. After all it is the river, it is busy doing what the river does, reminding me that I am just a small part of what is going on. 

Between storms, January 18, 2016

Windy, January 19, 2016

Foggy, January 20, 2016

The water is this high, The bush is reflected in the water and I am standing on the bank. January 20, 2016

Rain, Rain, Come on down.

It's a relief to hear the rain. It's the sound of billions of drops, all equal, all equally committed to falling, like a sudden outbreak of democracy. Water, when it hits the ground, instantly becomes a puddle or rivulet or flood.

Alice Oswald

I love the rain. Even knowing that it can mean a flood where I live, I still love the rain. I think it is because I am so tuned in to the plants and animals around me. I can feel them shouting "Yes, yes, yes! 

Living on a river means that the rain changes it too. It is not so much the rain right here, but the rain that falls in Northern California, and the way the streams, creeks, small rivers feed the Sacramento River, and the American River. Eventually it rises. Most of the time it rises a little, sometimes it rises a lot, and occasionally it rises over the banks and surrounds the house with water. This year because of the drought I believe we are safe. but I will be posting the rise here, and on my FB Page.  Yesterday first, and today, second at about 8 am.  And yes, that is a tree floating by in the second shot. 3/4 of it is probably under water.