Saturday, July 31, 2010

Round Robin: You Can Tell By The Water...

...that the monsoon has finally arrived!



As of early Friday afternoon, my entry for Round Robin Challenge: By The Water was going to be completely different from what you will see below, and probably kind of lame. I had photographed a bottle of water next to a telephone, and I'd used my phone to photograph Jason, the treasurer of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, hiding behind a fountain outside the sanctuary. In a pinch, I could also use a photo of the grounds of St. Matthew's in the rain - such as the picture above. That's what I'm talking about in my jokey title to this blog entry. The monsoon has finally arrived, and that means frequent thunderstorms in the afternoons and evenings.

That was the original plan, but then I got off work early. This gave me a chance to drive home by way of the Pantano River. It seemed dry, despite last night's rain, but I couldn't really tell without getting out of the car and walking. The place I sometimes pull off the road to check the state of the river was marked No Trespassing, because the city is apparently building a long, narrow park along the riverside path just off Pantano Parkway. It's going to be called "Gardens of the Ancient Signs," but so far it's basically a series of twenty foot brick walls. I'll have to visit it properly when it's done, and bring back pictures.



I then went home and collected the dogs, and we went to Chuck Ford Lakeside Park to photograph the lake there, which bears the absurd name Lakeside Lake. I'm pretty sure all the lakes in Tucson are artificial, this being the desert; and this one is artificially stocked with trout and bass for fishing. Pepper did a little wading (on a leash, of course), but Cayenne had no interest in approaching the water.

Oh, great. I just found out a young woman was murdered at this lake six weeks ago.



On the way back, I checked out the Alamo Wash a few blocks from our house. As I expected, it was basically dry - but flood warning signs were up in anticipation of evening rain. So tonight, at the tail end of our most impressive storm so far this summer, I ventured out to see what pictures I could get of the wash in the dark.



I parked on the street and walked down to the dip in the road.



This is the same wash that was so dry earlier in the day.



Here is a different stretch of the same wash, flooding a different street.

Now let's see other interpretations of the topic "By the Water":

Linking List
as of 4:47 PM MST, Saturday, July 31st 2010


Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Jama - Posted!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Rich - Posted!
Rich Image
http://richimage.blogspot.com

Freda - Posted!
Day One
http://fredamans.blogspot.com

Linda - Posted!
Mommy's Treasures
http://mommystreasures.blogspot.com

Monica - Posted!
Shutterly Happy
http://monica-frameofmond.blogspot.com

Jennifer Robin - Posted!
Robin's Woods
http://robinswoods.blogspot.com

Tanya **Welcome, New Participant!** - Posted!
Capturing Tranquility
http://capturingtranquility.blogspot.com

Fhaye
Your Daily Photo Depot
http://photodito.com

Margaret - Posted!
Margaret's Musings
http://amusingmargaret.com

Taylor **Welcome, New Participant!**
Taylor's Photos
http://taylorsphotos-ta8551.blogspot.com

Peggy - Posted!
Holmespunfun Memes and Themes
http://holmesfunmemesandthemes.blogspot.com

Maryt - Posted!
Mary Tomaselli's Photos
http://marytomaselli.blogspot.com

Sandy - Posted!
From The Heart Of Texas
http://sandyfromtheheartoftexas.com

Rue (AKA Ethos)**Welcome, New Participant! - Posted!
Passion in the Moments
http://ethos-photographic.blogspot.com/2010/07/roundrobin-photo-challenge-by-water.html

Manang Kim - Posted!
My Photography in Focus
http://mgahulagwayko.blogspot.com

Ruth - Posted!
Scrabblequeen
http://scrabblequeen.wordpress.com

Gattina - Posted!
Keyhole Pictures
http://gattina-keyholepictures.blogspot.com/
Karen

11 comments:

Unknown said...

A nice set, and blog write up. I especially like the composition in the 4th shot where you've caught the rain illuminated by the car lights. Very nicely done, I hope your camera didn't get to wet???

Have a great weekend :)

maryt/theteach said...

Karen, thanks for all you do in the Round Robin Challenges... Love your pix. Didn't want to know that a young girl was murdered, Yikes!

Linda said...

I like your set of pics and especially like the ones in the rain.

Gattina said...

It looks as if you are not "by" the water but "in" the water ! Indeed wet pictures and a murder on top !

Carly said...

Hi Karen :)

Impressive night shots. You worked for those! Photographing evening rain is never easy! I have never lived in the type of weather conditions you do, so I have to ask... does the rain make things cooler or does it just make it sticky?

Karen Funk Blocher said...

Rich- I shielded the lens with my hand and wasn't outside too long. The camera's fine - I hope!

Carly - when it rains properly it does cool things off for a while. But there is definitely much more humidity too. 96 and humid feels hotter than 106 and dry!

Kim, USA said...

That's a lot of water there. Good thing everybody is safe. Happy weekend!

Waterdrop

The Brown Recluse (TBR) said...

That was some rain...was that just one evening shower? We have flash flooding around here at times, but it takes quite a bit of rain before that happens...
All of your choices are great!
~Margaret

Jama said...

I enjoy your collection of photos, Karen especially the rain shots.We are having lots of rain too over here, love the cooling weather.

Tanya said...

Great set of shots! Amazing how wet it gets in such little time.

Monica said...

It's sometimes hard to wrap the brain around how much water can fall in such a short amount of times. I especially liked the rain photos. =)