"River" is a common metaphor for life. Streams of all kinds, from ephemeral streams that only flow immediately after a rain to the mightiest of perennial rivers like the Missouri, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, are living, dynamic systems. They are constantly changing. The changes are typically occurring at too slow a pace to be perceived. But occasionally, the changes are quick and dramatic. Such is life.
During the past few months, I have continued my walks and have continued to record my experience through photography. Unfortunately, I have found the time to sit at the computer and prepare the material for publication here on While on a Walk to be rather scarce. New possibilities and directions have opened for me to pursue.
For the past several weeks, I have been asked at least once almost everyday how my books are coming along and when they will be ready for publication. These questions are coming from a wide range of people. Obviously, the time is right.
I am pleased to announce that for the foreseeable future, the primary focus of my time and energy will be on completing the manuscripts and bringing the books to publication. Yes, they are long overdue.
Going forward, my goal for While on a Walk is to publish at least one or a small set of photos everyday from the material I have accumulated and that continues to grow. The posts will likely not follow a chronological order. I will probably have to experiment with some minor changes in formatting to make this work.
To give visual expression to the river metaphor, the following two photos were taken on Monday, August 19, 2013 from the pedestrian bridge looking downstream along the San Antonio River toward the first Mission Rd bridge. This section of the channel is one of the major hydrological stress points in the Mission Reach Restoration Project and was severely impacted and altered by the May 25th flood.
The first photo is a full overview of the channel. The second photo* is a closer view of the riffle in the foreground of the first photo. If one looks closely, there is a Snowy Egret toward the left side of the lower end of the riffle and a Great Egret on the right side:
To show how the channel has changed in the past two years, here is a photo taken with a somewhat shorter focal length lens from the same location on Friday, September 30, 2011:
* Not seen to the right in the first two photos is a backhoe that was busy repairing the riffle. I was fascinated that the two egrets and a cormorant that is also outside the frame were not the least frightened by all the banging, clanking, movement and engine noise of this large piece of machinery. In fact the birds were taking full advantage of all the food stirred up by its rearranging the rocks and boulders.
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