Have you ever asked yourself how much you know about a river? Whenever I ask myself this question, and whenever I find myself thinking that I am knowledgeable about such things, I go to the river and realize...
upon looking into the eyes of this dragon fly eating a mosquito, I know little
upon looking into the eyes of this alewife, I know little
upon looking into the eyes of this dragonfly nymph, I know little
upon looking into the eyes of this old snapper, I know little
upon looking into the eyes of this crayfish, I know little
upon looking into the eyes of this dying lamprey, I know little
upon looking into the eyes of this mayfly, I know little
upon looking into the eyes of this giant water bug, I know little
upon looking into the eyes of this frog, I know little
upon looking into the eyes of this dead baby eel, I know little
upon looking into the shell of this mother mussel ready to give birth, I know little
upon looking at the body of this still born beaver, I know little
upon looking into the eyes of these baby white suckers, I know little
upon looking into the eyes of this stonefly, I know little
upon looking into the eyes of this peep, I know little
upon looking into the eyes of this bowfin, I know little
upon looking into the drops of water on this leaf I see my reflection
my own eyes look back at me
and I know that I know little.
Hey, come on, this is a family website, go find a room, ya creeps.
Sorry about that. Anyhow, the photographs above do not even begin to scratch the surface of the complex face of a river and the diversity of life that a healthy, free flowing river is capable of supporting. Some will find the above silly, others might find it insulting, most will never see it, and even more could care less. It's kind of like singing in the shower, you think you sound pretty good meanwhile your family is in the kitchen with cotton in their ears, Oh well. As for me, I feel like an infant trying to stack square blocks on top of a round ball, I really don't know what I am doing.
If nothing else I hope that some of what you see here will nudge you into taking a second look at what you know, or perhaps what you think you know about the watery places around you. It has taken me forty odd years on and in the water to learn that I know little. Try starting from scratch, forget yourself, look into the eyes of the river, ask yourself questions, think with the river. It's a lot of fun actually, try it sometime.
See Ya