Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The desert can be wet….

It hasn’t stopped raining for 4 days now.  On the way home from work last night I stopped and took some pictures of the Virgin River, which on a daily basis is just a tiny little stream…but not anymore.

dec 2010B 057

this has become news worthy in this town and also across the state of Utah…

 

 

dec 2010B 052

 

large, very large branches and trees flow down the Virgin River

 

 

dec 2010B 050

dec 2010B 060

the bike and walking trail is closed because it is covered by the river now

 

dec 2010B 058

 

the deer that usually live in the brush will have to find another home, probably in someone’s yard…

 

The rain did not stop….so I skipped out of work and took some more pictures of the Virgin River from another point.  The water is coming from Zions National Park.  5 years ago 13 homes were lost along the bank of the river…dec 2010B 108 Millions of dollars was spent supporting the banks with lava rock which is holding it together….for now….there is usually just a teeny tiny stream in here.  But not today…and it hasn’t peaked yet.

dec 2010B 105

there is a lot of debris floating along…

 

 

 

dec 2010B 119

 

A helicopter overhead is taking pictures of a bridge that crumbled into the flow…

 

 

 

 

dec 2010B 117

dec 2010B 121

dec 2010B 125

THIS WATER IS VERY POWERFUL….I hope and pray that people are smart enough to stay far away…

dec 2010B 096

It hasn’t yet peaked to the top of this bridge, if it does I will have to find another way home…

dec 2010B 123

I will go back to this spot after work to see if there is a park left on the other side of the river…

dec 2010B 086

Coming to work this morning, even this critter….stopped traffic, I thought it looked like a HUGE RAT, so I called it a river rat….I have NO idea what it was…but no one wanted to run it over…it was UGLY.

dec 2010B 142

where the river is flowing…use to be a golf course.  The city decided this would be a GREAT place to build an entrance onto the I-15 freeway.  The city has been working on this entrance for 6 months now and it was to open in January.  YA THINK they may  have to change their mind now and just BAG the new freeway entrance?  DUH.  I wonder how much the city engineers got paid for thinking this one up?  In the path of the RIVER????

On a brighter note.  I thought I would end this post with a more uplifting image and verse that I wrote several years ago.  I posted this last year but it is worth reading once again. 

(2004) I woke up in the middle of the night. A melody kept going over and over in my head. I am not musical. I don’t play an instrument, I can’t read music, but a melody kept playing in my head. I tried to ignore it. I tried to sleep, but it wouldn’t stop. I remember looking at my clock illuminating in the dark, it was after 3 am. I closed my eyes and tried to stop the music. Then lyrics came to my mind. Over and over again, lyrics kept coming to my mind. It wouldn’t stop. OK, ENOUGH I said. I will get up and go to my computer. Ever so quietly, not to wake my Huhoney I crept into the office, and opened up a new screen. I was so tired and I didn’t think to grab my glasses. It didn’t matter, the words were coming so quickly now that I couldn’t stop typing. The music kept on and on and on. The words just spilled from me. I closed my eyes while I was typing because the screen was so bright. That’s ok, I can type very quickly and I don’t need to see what I am typing. I was done. I sighed a huge sigh. I will look at it in the morning I thought to myself. I left my desk and went to my bed, it was after 4 am. I laid my head on my pillow and slept a dreamless sleep. When I awoke in the morning I jumped out of bed and RAN to my computer….to see what I had written. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I began to cry. What had I done? I was typing to frantically last night my fingers were one key over to the left. Yes, every word was a total scramble. There was nothing to my words smf o vpi;frmy frvogrt smuyjomh. This is what every line looked like. Huhoney came to me and asked what had happened and I told him of my night. “Don’t worry” he said, “you will remember, I know you will remember, the spirit will let you remember”. He hugged me. I was so sad. I couldn’t stop thinking, I didn’t want to do anything until I had remembered. Then I prayed. Yep, I prayed. I am not a renowned poet or anything but this was special, the melody was special and I knew I needed to write it down. Even if it is just for myself and my children. Late in the same evening after the day’s events, it all came back to me. This is what I wrote. I wish I could sing you the melody, it is so pretty. But I can’t. I don’t know how to sing! lol

clip_image002

Sleep; sleep my angel, our Prince of Peace,

The son of God, please don’t you cry;

Sleep; sleep my baby sang Mary’s lullaby

A cloudless night, the stars shone bright

A warm wind blew throughout the manger

The beautiful voice of a mother’s song

The son of God born in a stable

A cry rang out so soft and gentle

A mother’s kiss and this babe lay still

As she cradled the infant Christ child

She so sweetly sang this verse

Sleep; sleep my angel, our Prince of Peace,

The son of God, please don’t you cry;

Sleep; sleep my baby, begotten son,

The chosen one, to reign on high

The night was endless dark but bright

As stars glistened through out the night

And one alone shone over head

To lead the way to a manger bed

Mary held her infant son

As tears of joy washed her face so pure

And Joseph smiled as he watched them both

So sweet a sound her voice was heard

Sleep; sleep my angel, our Prince of Peace,

The son of God, please don’t you cry;

Sleep, sleep my baby, sang Mary’s lullaby

All those who came and knelt in awe,

Knew that they saw the son of God;

And though the heavens praised his birth,

Just one voice whispered in the night

So gentle a sound, so soft, so light

Her lullaby touched all who heard

God’s promise had come to earth

Sleep; sleep my angel, our Prince of Peace,

The son of God, please don’t you cry;

Sleep; sleep my baby, King of Kings

Our Lord and Savoir, the chosen one.

12/14/2004 Linda Higgins

Copyright©

Merry Christmas all my Village Friends…and a Happy, Joyful and SAFE New Year.  I will be up North visiting the “little rascals” this Christmas.  I may find time to post more pics of the flood if I get any new ones….

hugs and smiles across the miles

8

1

 

 

 

 

 

I can’t wait to celebrate a New Year with all of you!