Tag Archives: river

Stone Sculpture on the Riverbank

Posted on by Bill Chance

“Leaving New Orleans also frightened me considerably. Outside of the city limits the heart of darkness, the true wasteland begins.”
― John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces

I was walking along the strip of concrete along the top of the Mississippi levee that separates the French Quarter from the vast moisture of the Big Muddy. There was the path, a narrow strip of weedy grass, a band of riparian riprap rock used for erosion control and then the water itself.

I noticed a pile of rock in a peculiar arrangement, down right next to the water. At first I thought someone had simply piled them up, but as I looked closer, it seemed that they would not hold together in that formation by themselves. Gravity would pull them asunder. Someone had gone down there with some industrial adhesive or quick-set epoxy and glued the stones together. It was a sculpture, a work of art.

An Internet search failed to reveal any information about this impromptu pile of granite.

Who knows how long they will hold together under the assault of the elements, but if you want to check – it’s right there near the entrance to Jackson Square.

Riverbank Sculpture, Mississippi River, French Quarter, New Orleans

Chili Pepper

Posted on by Bill Chance

This life is more than just a read through. – Red Hot Chili Peppers, Can’t Stop

Riverwalk, San Antonio, Texas

Riverwalk, San Antonio, Texas

Remembering the Water Days

Posted on by Bill Chance

“From the dim regions beyond the mountains at the upper end of our encircled domain, there crept out a narrow and deep river, brighter than all save the eyes of Eleonora; and, winding stealthily about in mazy courses, it passed away, at length, through a shadowy gorge, among hills still dimmer than those whence it had issued. We called it the “River of Silence”; for there seemed to be a hushing influence in its flow. No murmur arose from its bed, and so gently it wandered along, that the pearly pebbles upon which we loved to gaze, far down within its bosom, stirred not at all, but lay in a motionless content, each in its own old station, shining on gloriously forever.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, Eleonora

Dallas, Texas

Dallas, Texas

Not the Shadow of the Past

Posted on by Bill Chance

“Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time?” That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

High Water, Dallas, Texas

High Water,
Dallas, Texas

All Secrets of the River

Posted on by Bill Chance

But out of all secrets of the river, he today only saw one, this one touched his soul. He saw: this water ran and ran, incessantly it ran, and was nevertheless always there, was always an at all times the same and yet new in every moment! Great be he who would grasp this, understand this! He understood and grasped it not, only felt some idea of it stirring, a distant memory, divine voices.
—-Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

I took this photograph a couple months ago, after the first flood. The Trinity river has gone back down now – I haven’t been down there since it dropped. I need to go, to see what happened to everything that was under so much water for so long.

Continental Bridge Park with Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in the background. Dallas, Texas

Continental Bridge Park with Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in the background.
Dallas, Texas

Too Lost By Then To Stop

Posted on by Bill Chance

“I dream that I have found us both again,
With spring so many strangers’ lives away,
And we, so free,
Out walking by the sea,
With someone else’s paper words to say….

They took us at the gates of green return,
Too lost by then to stop, and ask them why-
Do children meet again?
Does any trace remain,
Along the superhighways of July?”
― Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow

Continental Bridge Park, Dallas, Texas

Continental Bridge Park,
Dallas, Texas

I Am Haunted By Waters

Posted on by Bill Chance

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters.”
― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories

Before and After

Entrance to the Santa Fe Trestle Trail, Dallas, Texas

I took this photo on a fun organized bike ride last October.

We lost about half the ride at Lee Harvey's - but here's the rest at the Santa Fe Trestle Trail. (click for a larger, better version on Flickr)

We lost about half the ride at Lee Harvey’s – but here’s the rest at the Santa Fe Trestle Trail.
(click for a larger, better version on Flickr)

Here’s what the same spot looks like now.

Downtown from the entrance to the Santa Fe Trestle Trail, Dallas, Texas

Downtown from the entrance to the Santa Fe Trestle Trail,
Dallas, Texas

Well We Know Where We’re Goin’

Posted on by Bill Chance

Well, we know where we’re goin’
But we don’t know where we’ve been
And we know what we’re knowin’
But we can’t say what we’ve seen

And we’re not little children
And we know what we want
And the future is certain
Give us time to work it out

We’re on a road to nowhere
Come on inside
Takin’ that ride to nowhere
We’ll take that ride

—-Talking Heads – Road To Nowhere

Then and Now

Not long ago, back in January, I posted a photo of the trails in the Trinity River Bottoms taken from the Continental Street Bridge Park. The entry was called Ride To Nowhere.

Here’s the photo:

Trinity Skyline Trail (east side) from the Continental Bridge Park Dallas, Texas

Trinity Skyline Trail (east side)
from the Continental Bridge Park
Dallas, Texas

Now, it really does go nowhere.

Flooded river bottoms, there is a concrete trail under that water, if you look closely, you can see the trail marker. Trinity River, Dallas, Texas

Flooded river bottoms, there is a concrete trail under that water, if you look closely, you can see the trail marker.
Trinity River, Dallas, Texas

At least the big tree has leafed out nicely.

Not the Shadow Of the Past Nor the Shadow Of the Future

Posted on by Bill Chance

“Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time?” That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

Trinity River Dallas, Texas

Trinity River
Dallas, Texas

Some Flawed Place In the Iron Dark Of the World

Posted on by Bill Chance

“By early evening all the sky to the north had darkened and the spare terrain they trod had turned a neuter gray as far as the eye could see. They grouped in the road at the top of a rise and looked back. The storm front towered above them and the wind was cool on their sweating faces. They slumped bleary-eyed in their saddles and looked at one another. Shrouded in the black thunderheads the distant lightning glowed mutely like welding seen through foundry smoke. As if repairs were under way at some flawed place in the iron dark of the world.”
― Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses

Trinity River Dallas, Texas

Trinity River
Dallas, Texas