Surviving Superstorms

 So this big storm sweeps in off of the Atlantic wreaking havoc at the points of ingress and we in the interior are warned that its devastation could reach us here on the shores of Lake Erie. The coast took the brunt of it, but the fabled destruction it was to level on us failed to materialize. Fifteen foot waves and gusting winds turned out to be a slight exaggeration, with a mild fall storm being the actual reality. The picture below is hurricane day and you can see that the surf is not much to fear. My original thought was that I would walk down to the beach and see my summer work completely undone. Instead I found the beach to be in a state of repose.

 

These are some post-hurricane pictures of sections of the sculpture wearing some leaves stripped from the trees by the recent winds. Things continue to progress with a couple of courses of stone being added as it washes in.

This is one of the "staircases" that has become a waterfall every time it rains really hard. If you look closely you can see the water coming out near the bottom center between the lower courses of stone.

 This is the west end with some of the niches and windows visible. It is currently about nine feet high from beach level to top.

 This is another view with the little cobble mound in front. Every time I go down I add some cobbles to the pile trying to grow it up without the base getting any larger. We'll see how long it lasts. It is my canary in the coal mine.

 This is what the whole complex looks like from the east end. If you look closely you can see the checkdam in the background.

I couldn't figure out how to delete these images I accidentally added so just ignore them. This weekend it reached 70 degrees and two days later it was in the 30's. Such is November.