We’ve been having bits of rain today. It is a sweet relief for a parched land with cracking earth, wilting trees and low rivers. The mudflats stretch on and on like a low tide.
I rarely insert myself into the landscape but today I felt part of it.
Ottawa River
All images © Karen McRae
All images © Karen McRae
The Ottawa River’s edge in full-on summer.
All images © Karen McRae
Underwater snailien lifeforms…
Rivers are full of strange life, some of it quite interesting when you get close up.
Some snails are out in the wet sandy areas in the evening and early morning, as the day becomes too warm they work their way down into the sand and disappear.
Below: A set of lyrical snail trails, with snails burrowed into the sand at trails end.
Below: A close up of a freshwater mussel slowly working its way along in the shallow water. Note the oval opening on the right which is covered with small cilia (hair-like structures) for filtering and collecting tiny food particles.
Below: shallow water mussel trail
Empty mussel and snail shells gathered on the sand.
All images © Karen McRae, 2012
Days and days of radiant sun and what seems like weeks of no rain. The grass is brown and crunchy underfoot. Dormant. A wilting heat that makes everything close up on itself. Even the river is thirsty and shrinking away from the shoreline. I am not the only one wandering in the shallow waters.
A mussel roadway is a slow and lovely, meandering build.
A thick scattering of snails and mussel trails in the evening light.
All images © Karen McRae. 2012
I’m working on a little art and photography project related to children and it got me thinking about things that I would have been interested in, and looking for, when I was a child. Not so different from what I’m always absorbed in now!
The bird above is a good example; I picked this up when I was child, out of the same river I am often beside (or in) these days. I was at a cottage with my family and this driftwood bird was lying at the water’s edge waiting for me to come along. It is, as I found it, and has flown with me from home to home ever since.
These smaller driftwood pieces have been arranging themselves into little works of art. They are pieces infused with salt air and salt water. Wood that has traveled the sea.
listen…
All images © Karen McRae, 2012
There is a sojourn to the sea on the very near horizon.
It may be quiet here for a fortnight.
All images © Karen McRae
All images © Karen McRae
For the majority of my childhood, I grew up beside a river. It was part of my backyard, really. As essential as the ground beside it. I remember the day I discovered it had been used as a dumping ground of sorts. I started finding things.
Old medicine bottles, broken glass, shards of faded pottery.
I remember asking my mother about it, she said, yes, people used to put their garbage in the river. I remember being stunned. Of course, years ago there was no garbage pick up. People burned their garbage or buried it on their land. Or in their rivers.
But what struck me is that these people were my grandparents. I knew these people.
I was thinking about this today, about how it connects in a way that I hadn’t realized before to my interest in understanding the landfill. And my longstanding love of the rivers, lakes and oceans. If you want to read the introduction about my ongoing landfill project you can find it here.
Another thing that struck me. The river is still a dumping ground. It is cast with thoughtlessness. You won’t see it here, but I can tell you about it. I can tell you about the hundreds of plastic bottles that wash up every spring, the half-shredded plastic bags, the old tin cans and beer bottles. The Styrofoam. I can tell you about the bags of garbage that I’ve picked up when walking the shore.
A winter river, breaking open
Back to the landfill. You don’t see garbage there. It is taken care of. It is a full landfill.
How could the landfill be cleaner than the river?
I recently spent another morning there. You might be surprised to know that there is a certified wildlife habitat within the boundaries. There are hundreds of birds and many deer.
You also might be surprised to know that because this landfill is closed and another one has not yet opened, we send 70 percent of our city garbage (industrial and business) out of the area.
In fact, we ship some of our garbage to Michigan.
Canada’s capital city sends garbage to the USA.
But I’m still wondering about the river. I’m wondering why it’s still a dumping ground? As a caretaker of the earth, I’ll be working this weekend.
All images © Karen McRae
draw and shoot 