Tuesday, May 17, 2011

April Showers and May Flowers

On the day the Mississiipi River crested at Memphis, I could not resist driving down to see that mighty river so swollen. Since age 4, this river has been a constant part of my life, as we used to drive from Arkansas to Tennessee and back often to visit family. And of course now we live here.

So, I went down to see how this old friend looked in the current condition.

Pretty amazing.







I remember when we were younger and would make the drive, hearing my parents explain what that long high hill was that stretched as far as the eye could see along the Arkansas side of the river. They said it was to stop the river. Which made no sense to me, since the river was a couple of miles away. But as you can see in the photo above, the river made it to the levee. Just amazing. I'll never drive by that levee again without remembering seeing the water up this high.






I don't know if all the rain we got earlier, given that it was accompanied by so much wind, actually made the flowers prettier or stronger this year or weakened them, but they sure are pretty.