Cloudy morning by the river

Monday
After breakfast, Jen and I went downtown and walked along the riverfront, starting in the International Friendship Park then walking along to Sawyer Point and the stadium. It was a cold grey morning - as you can see in the picture, Jen had borrowed my winter padded jacket! This sculpture is entitled Seven Vessels Ascending/Descending and is by the British sculptor David Nash. The "vessels" are carved from 200 year old English oak and are aligned with specific positions of the sun. David Nash is known for works in wood and shaping living trees. His large wood sculptures are sometimes carved or partially burned to produce blackening. His main tools for these sculptures are chainsaw and an axe to carve the wood and a blowtorch to char the wood.

By the time we'd finished our walk, we just had nice time to get her to the airport for her flight back to Houston. She had come to Cincinnati for the weekend in order to attend the wedding yesterday of one of her high school friends - they were also at Ohio State University together. The wedding was outdoors at the Cincinnati Nature Center. After a very hot and dry summer the weather suddenly changed about a week or so ago, and yesterday's temperature only climbed to 56F - rather chilly for an outdoor wedding! Fortunately it was a very short informal ceremony, and the reception was inside the lodge where there was a fire going! Typically, as we were driving to the airport today there were a few breaks in the cloud - some early signs of clearing - by Wednesday we are supposed to be back to 70, and 80 by Sunday!

As I was driving back home north on the I-71, I passed a bad accident on the south-bound carriageway, the place was littered with emergency vehicles and the traffic tailed back for miles. I've just been reading about it on one of the local news channels - unfortunately someone was killed. Some idiot (a 57 year old idiot, not some youngster) was driving his souped up Ford Mustang at an estimated 120 mph or more, weaving in and out of traffic - people had started calling in reports to the police. Unfortunately before they could stop him, he crashed into a car parked on the left hand hard shoulder - a 60 year old had a flat tire and was sitting in his car waiting for assistance. This car caught fire and the guy was killed. The person who caused the accident of course survived! This happened apparently a little after noon - if Jen and I had gone directly to the airport from home, we could easily have got caught up in that mess - I think God was looking out for us today!

One year ago: Sun-lit berries