Mostly pictures (for a change!)

But a little intro - After my birthday trip to Asheville I drove up to Chris's so we could go to an Apple store and get all my "stuff" straightened out.  On Monday, 3/12, I drove back home but I didn't make it - had a truly terrifying accident on a bridge east of Beckley, WV,  lost complete control of the car, slammed into a bridge abutment (fortunately it was a good one!) and ended up spending the night in a hospital there and losing my much loved 15-year old Hyundai Elantra.  I also ended up with enough pain on my left side that I had taken to sleeping on the couch - although I'm happy to report that the last two nights I've been back in my bed.

Friday, March 30 was a beautiful day (and there have been very few of those lately - mostly rain, rain, rain) so I decided to go beyond my walk to Starbucks and see how the river was doing.  It was quite high - flooded almost up to the top of the stairs going down to the lower walkway - but very still and lovely as always.  So I had to take some pictures - I do love this river!

I'm always delighted when I can get a picture with a reflection in the river...

 This was the only tree in bloom and it's a beauty.  I realize the picture below has that big dead branch hanging down from another tree, but I didn't have a saw with me!

This gorgeous mallard's iridescent green neck doesn't show up at all in the photo but it was gleaming in the sunlight.  All the ducks looked much bigger than usual.  Maybe when they fly down south, they all get fattened up?

Then on Saturday,  I woke up from my couch slumber, turned my head to look out the window and this is what I saw:

Nothing!  Made me happy I was all snug inside and also made me happy I live up high and can see so much from my oversized windows - even if it's dense fog.  Once I got up and closer to a window, I took the picture below...

Once again, it was a rainy day.

So that's it - just a bit of the beauty and invisibility of good ol' West Virginia.  I am carless and hope to get that taken care of next week after I'm done with my doctoring.  But I sure do miss my little "I can do it" Hyundai. :(

The Ohio River shrouded in fog

Yesterday was a fairly dismal, grey, wet day - perfect day for staying in which I mostly did.  But I finally decided I'd go pick up some fig cheese at the cheese and wine/beer shop and get some bread from the bakery.  Not the best day for walking but...

I discovered the bakery was closed - I never can remember that they close at 3 on Saturdays!  So I figured I'd walk over to Starbucks for my little treat.  On the way I looked down towards the river and it was covered with fog.  I've seen that on lots of mornings - I'll look out the windows and there's just this big white "roll" of fog going down the river.  But this was almost 4:00 p.m.!  So I decided I'd go down for a better view.  I do love that river. :)

It was quite mysterious and eerie and so I had to take pictures which I now have to share.  Taking pictures of fog is probably a kind of hopeless task, but if you've seen some of my many other pictures of the river and the riverfront park, you'll have a good idea of how thick this fog was.  Anyway, here they are.

Entering the park - the river is, of course, between the row of trees and the hills on the other side and the fog is higher than the steep banks on both sides.

Even as close as I was to the planter in the back left, it's already somewhat shrouded from view.

If you look real hard, or maybe if your monitor is better than mine, you will see a very faint view of the 6th St. bridge going over into Ohio. 

And a few minutes later when I took this one, it's gone from view - at least on my old monitor.

This last one I took just to show the difference between close and distant.  This was pointing down in front of me, and going out away from me.

And I guess I'd have to say, in addition to loving the river, I also really enjoy weather.  Hope you enjoy the pictures and if you'd like to see what this pretty park looks like on a pretty day, you could try a label search using Ohio River (although you'd get snowy pictures, flooding pictures, etc.)

A Pictorial Journal of a River on the Rise

It's Saturday, March 12, and I took another series of photos as the river continues to rise.  I'm going to post some repeat photos here because I want to have one post that covers from when I first started watching (it was already way up by then) to when it crests and begins to recede.  And I'm trying to group them so each set shows a similar view.

These first pictures are of the main entrance area to the riverfront park area (this is the entrance where they've already closed the floodwall):

This is a photo from last year, when the river was up but not real high - probably covering the lower level sidewalks.

 Same area - taken Thursday, March 1- shows the same area with the flowerpots and stairs still above water.

Friday, March 12 - the base of the flagpole is still uncovered, but the huge flowerpots closest to the river just have their little topknots of plants showing.

This morning (Saturday) - all the flowerpots and stairs are gone and the water has crept onto the circular roadway.

The next set are of the area near the boat ramp which is upriver at the other entrance through the floodwall:

Taken Thursday - I decided to use the white tree as a measuring stick and I could swear I had a picture of it with the trunk showing, but since I wasn't there until Thursday, I guess I'm dreaming.  

I don't have a Friday picture - this is Saturday and  you can just see the tops of the benches in this area.

Another Saturday picture - this is my white tree measuring stick.

Next is a set of the boat ramp area, mainly because all the deep water signs kind of tickled me - sort of a "duh!" moment!

This is another picture from last March.  It shows the start of the boat ramp slanting down to the water (along with a lot of busy ducks)

Friday's picture taken from my car window as I was leaving the upper parking area shows that entire area now under water - the ducks don't seem to notice though - they're still swimming around here and there...

And this picture was taken this morning - no one swam out to move the signs...

Just two more...

I was still walking around on these sidewalks Friday...

And now, they're gone - the tops of those benches are on the "away from the river" side of those sidewalks, so it's covered the grass on the left of the sidewalks, the sidewalks, and is well on it's way up from them.  

I don't know that even when it crests it will reach the floodwalls - the Corps of Engineers, along with building the floodwall also has installed all kinds of controls on the flow of the river so that hopefully it will never again be as horrible as the 1937 flood.  I did read today that a number of our major roads are flooded - the road I used to take to get into Huntington is flooded, but that's not too unusual - it has two very low spots.  But U.S. Rt. 60 is also flooded out towards Barboursville and that's a major highway into Huntington.

The Mighty Ohio is Making News Again!!

I walked down to the river yesterday after a neighbor told me she had heard on the news that the river is supposed to crest sometime Sunday and they might be closing the flood wall.  When I got there, the water was higher than this picture I took last winter - you could just see the top of this wall under the surface:

And, of course, I had just taken off for the river as soon as she told me and I didn't have my phone or my camera so couldn't take any pictures.  But since it's been raining pretty much forever, I figured I could still get some pictures today (Thursday).  So late this afternoon I armed myself with my camera, a raincoat with a hood and went to see what was happening.  And this is the first thing I saw:

I couldn't get in through my normal point of entry because they are, indeed, closing the flood wall.  I kind of doubt (although what do I know?) that it will end up being needed, but better safe than sorry.  As you can see from the next picture, they closed it, so far, to the 63 foot point and last I heard it was expected to crest somewhere in the high 50's.  But, WOW!!!  I've lived here 33 years and the flood wall has never been closed in that time that I know of.

And I always wondered how it all worked so the next picture gives a general idea of that.  The horizontal pieces come up from the street, I think.  I seem to remember an opening that goes across.  And then those support beams also come up from these normally covered openings in the pavement:

So it's quite a system.  Designed and installed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers...

And some pictures of the current state of the river:

This is a shot pointing the same way as the one at the beginning of this post from last winter.  You can see that the wall which was partially submerged last year is totally covered now and the water has started up the steps to the entrance circle.

And this is the entrance circle and road with the partially closed flood wall in the back.  I find it all very impressive and exciting.  And exciting is probably not a good thing to admit to since I'm sure that lots of streams and small rivers are flooding all over the area, but the power of this river and the mechanics of protecting a city from its potential devastation is exciting.

This picture is looking towards the lower parking level where the boat ramp is located.  It extends from what's left of the bank on the right side to beyond that mostly submerged tree so I thought that might provide some idea of how high the river is.

And that's all the pictures for today.  There are great black clouds in the sky  although right now, looking out the windows, it doesn't appear to be raining.  Tomorrow's going to be a busier day than normal for me, but I will certainly try to get to the river and if the second opening in the flood wall is still open, see how things are developing.

Out and About at Home

Well, now that my trip to Italy is only about a month away, time is beginning to drag a little.  But Huntington has been staying busy and I've been taking a few pictures here and there of events, new business, and such and will share those just to keep my blogging abilities honed and ready. :)

It's probably been about three weeks ago now that Huntington had its annual Hot Dog Festival (don't you wish you lived here?!)  It's all about hot dogs with various popular vendors including Sam's Hot Dogs, Hillbilly Hotdogs, Stewart's Hotdogs and some I've never heard of but they have hotdogs.  They also have antique cars on view and several contests including a wiener dog race which is really something to see and another one that I think is a dog looks like owner contest.  Or maybe owner looks like dog?  Which way is that supposed to work?  Anyway, people come from all around.  In fact this year's wiener dog race winner was a returning champion who has won the last three years and he's from Virginia!!  And, of course, there are various musical groups that play throughout the day, other treats to eat (funnel cakes being a big favorite - unfortunately they don't sit well with me anymore), fresh lemonade, and other goodies.  I was kind of late getting down to Pullman Square so missed the race, but enjoyed my hotdog.  I must have timed it right cause this year I got to get mine from Hillbilly Hotdogs without waiting in a loooonnnng line.  There's always a good large turnout (which my photos don't properly show - I couldn't find a good vantage point) and everyone seems to have a great time.

A family settles in to chow down.  I wanted to get a better picture of the little sweetie in the white hat but she turned her back on me just at the last minute.

The next three were taken from the second level of Pullman Square - there are two restaurants up there, both with an area to eat outside, so that was the best spot I could find.

Looking straight out...

To the left - that's the pottery painting place in the building with the white roof...

To the right...can you see the giant red shoe?  That's the entrance to a funky shoe store.

And, then as long as I was up there, I took a picture which shows the top of my building which is one block up from Pullman Square:

The scalloped looking top is where the roof garden is and you can see the top 6 floors in this picture.  My windows aren't on this side of the building.

Next on the agenda was this past weekend when Huntington hosted the annual Rib and Music Festival.  The name pretty much explains this one and it is a pretty big deal.  Bar-b-q-ers come from all around the country to compete for best ribs.  I didn't go this year cause it was SO hot, so crowded, and plus which, the admission fee is now up to $8.00, then you get in there and have to try and decide which ribs to try and by the time you're done paying for some ribs, a drink, maybe cornbread or potato salad, you've managed to rack up a fairly expensive, nowhere-to-eat-it, my-gosh-it's-hot, meal.  But fortunately for the event, that didn't deter too many people!  Since I wasn't going in, I had to get these three pictures from outside the flood wall...

This is the entrance at the floodwall gates with a strangely turquoise sky.  I took these pics with my I-phone so maybe that's the problem... And, since it's through the floodwall, that means it takes place on the banks of the Ohio which is a great location for it.

Looking in you can see the Rib King's stand.  These folks come in three or four days prior to the event cause it's a real job getting everything set up and then doing the long, slow cooking. 

And then this one is just pointing in the other direction - there are vendors here too but this side is where the stage is set up for the concerts.

While I was out that evening to get these pictures I also took the following pictures of two new businesses:

This is going to be another cooking store but I'm hopeful this one will get along better than our first one.  This shop is being opened by a woman who already has a shop called "Mug and Pia" across from Pullman Square.  It's been opened at least one year and has done very well, so hopefully, she will have the right touch with her new store "Whisk".  I certainly like the name!  She's hoping to open September 1...

And this is "Thai House", a new restaurant that has opened right beside Starbucks.  I haven't tried it yet but it has been pretty busy any evening I've happened past and I've heard good things about it.

Well, once again, I amaze myself with my own verbosity!  I've a little bit more "out and about" to share, but I also did some cooking last night that's inspired me to add a couple of recipes to my collection, so I'm going to end this post, get to work on that, and will back in touch in a couple of days.

Rollin' on the River...

You know how you run into people that you know slightly and you chat, and then exchange phone numbers saying "call me!" and then neither of you do?  Well, one of my daughter January's grade school teachers is one of those people.  My excuse is that I'm too timid (I know - ME timid!? - but yes...)  Well, yesterday I got a call from her (Anne) wanting to know if I'd be interested in joining her and several of her friends (most of whom I had also met when they were with her at a cooking class and that wine-tasting event a few months ago) for a wine and cheese tasting river cruise!!  How neat is that?!  So, of course I said yes and went right out and bought my ticket.

We boarded the Mark Twain riverboat docked at a new riverfront restaurant called "Schooner's Grille" which looked full of happy diners when I got there.  We left the dock at about 6:15 pm in the blasting heat of the sun.  Fortunately, in addition to the roof deck, there was also an air conditioned cabin!  And before we even pulled away from the dock, the wine "guy" was very much in demand.

The pretty little Mark Twain...

Our happy group:  Front to back on the left:  Bev, Irene, Anne, Georgeann.  Front to back on the right:  Nina, Sharon, me.

And the captain is at his wheel so off we go.  I was upstairs taking pictures when he blew the whistle(?)/horn(?) and took about 10 years off my life!

The rest of this will be pretty much just pictures, so I'll say now what a really fun outing this was.  We all did our share of tasting, the evening, though hot, was beautiful, the river of course I love, and the company was very convivial.  In fact, we decided we're going to get together for a cookout/party on my building's rooftop deck in the next week or two - steak and shrimp!  Mmm-mmmm.

First I'll clump together the pictures I took of houses along the banks of the river.  I didn't work too hard at this - there are a lot of gorgeous, big houses especially on the Ohio side (left side in these pictures).  Poor West Virginia has a railroad track that runs along the river on its side so the nicest houses are tucked away high up on the hills (the wood house way up high is one of those).

 Ohio...

 Ohio...

 Ohio...

 Ohio - a little hide-away below one of the houses...

And, finally, West Virginia...our hills are prettier! :)

Leaving the bridge behind, we headed up river (northwest) and I was so glad - he started out going the other way, but a woman I talked with about why we had turned around said it was because she had asked him to go upriver instead because it's much prettier.  I took seventy-nine pictures(!) while on the river, but I have really winnowed them down here.

I love this bridge!

Pretty big and pretty wonderful...

On one of my forays up to the roof, this young couple and I had a little visit. They're Bruce and Andi and they were celebrating his birthday.  I borrowed a pencil to write down their names, telling them I'd put their picture on my blog if that was all right, and then I broke their pencil!  Such a klutz...

After probably a couple of miles, we turned back, got around a bend in the river and there was the bridge looking even more beautiful...

Here's our return target and I thought we'd just pull right in, but no...

we got to go under the bridge...

then make a sharp turn, go back under again, and then to the dock.  Neat!

 And, as we turned, I took the opportunity to snap this shot of the Guyan River emptying into the Ohio...

And, so ends a delightful evening.  From the noise level of the conversations and laughter all evening long, I'd say everyone had as good a time as I did and I'm just so glad Anne called to suggest it!