So the last fall ended with a sixty foot wall along the bluff and a sloping incline of stone running up the bluff surrounding an oak tree and stair-stepping its way up.
The winter locked up the shoreline with ice-dunes and the destructive winter storms were checked by the dunes. In all of the years I have lived here I have never seen the dunes this high. Easily 20 feet mounds. This photograph was taken from the top of one of the dunes.
During the Spring I spent most of my energy just working upward. This photo was taken in April as I was making some serious progress upward . I kept going pretty steadily all summer. Significantly higher than this photo records.
Fall 2019 storms began to wreak havoc on a regular basis. The sixty foot wall disappeared in sections and was regularly replaced only to be washed away again and again. I was just desperately trying to keep the oak.
Finally, in an act of liquid malice the lake just absolutely pounded the shit out of the bluff and took that oak and about a half dozen larger trees along the shore and swept them away like so much chaff and left only the structure that stepped up the bluff.
In one final act of destruction another storm sucked out a huge chunk of the bluff and everything came down. It is hard to imagine the force of these storms and what they are doing to the shoreline here.
And then Sisyphus started again...I have yet to go down to see if the first storms of 2020 have swept this new start away, but what are new years for?
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1 comment:
I came back to this place after so many years because a few of the students in my gifted program are presently exploring rock structures. It's been about 15 years since I was a student in your class, but I'm happy to see that you continue to create. Growing up at Baer Beach was a unique experience for me personally because I was able to watch your rock structures come to life a little bit with each walk along the shoreline. You are an incredibly talented human and I appreciate that you have shared your works on this blog. Wishing health to you and yours during these times of great uncertainty.
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