No Name Storm

The Charles River in South Natick, MA
litho crayon and watercolor wash
7 March, 2013

It was snowing.

It kept snowing and blowing and snowing some more.

But today, all is blinding white and blue and the sun races on.

The puddles will grow and grow and grow.

The river rises…

Welcome to the new weather.

The Log

Recent heavy rains have rearranged the driftwood at the dam. One log was swept away and another has gotten stuck at the top. Four mallards and one busy sandpiper like the change. The rate of change seems to accelerate at this time of the Summer… Autumn is a little more than an idea.

A big log has become stranded on the top of the dam. Four mallards rest and preen on top of it. The partial shape in the foreground is a "fish ladder" for migratory fish to swim upriver.
© 2011 Rob Dunlavey

This morning I saw a tiny sandpiper poking around in the riffles just below the log.
© 2011 Rob Dunlavey

Perspective

Several days of rain have added to the water budget in my neighborhood (unlike the country's economic budget, Nature's is logical). The river is carrying a big load of water today which is a stark contrast to the usual lazy August scene. In low water, ducks, geese and herons and the two young mergansers rest, fish and dabble in pools and riffles. Now they've all been chased to calmer waters by the torrent. I love the rush of the water but I miss the birds.

However, there are plenty of frogs above the dam and the water is less murky. Of course, I do not actually see the frogs; I just see a swish and a swirl and a suggestion of their presence. I wonder if they appreciate the blowsy yet elegant flowering mallows and other late summer plants growing along the stone wall above the dependable duckweed that obscures their periscopic goggle-eyes…

I guess it's all a matter of one's perspective.

Mallow, Hemlock?, a unidentified grass and Cat tail (Typhus latifolia) growing in the water above the dam
© 2011 Rob Dunlavey 8/11/11, colored pencil 

High water rushes over the dam obscuring  the pools and rocks where fish and herons hunt
© 2011 Rob Dunlavey 8/11/11, crayon