Wild Weather - Guest Heart Thursday

We are driving over the mountains to spend a few days at the Coast. Snow levels have lifted.  Mumsie and I stop to walk in the snow.  It is melting into the thick mosses covering the long tall trees like fat green coats...

An uneasy calm fills the air.  They think a storm might be coming--but for some reason they do not know for sure.

A lost bit of blue skies before the purple cloud of storms.

The sea begins to thrash and crash--great billows of water froth with white foam as though a giant egg beater whips the surface of the sea.

The weather guys are right--a storm has embraced the Oregon coast with Hurricane force winds.  We light candles and listen to the storm scream around the sea cliffs to beat upon the protecting walls and double paned windows of our hotel room.

The waves turn green and black.  Day turns into night.

The high winds did not abate for two days and two nights.  The last day our electricity finally gave out.  We sought a way back home over the mountains.

All routes along the Oregon Coast, clear to the California border were closed because of flooding, slippery snow conditions and falling trees.  Only one thin road winding through the mountains was open.  We drove along the Coast to Tillamook to find our way home.

You are probably wondering where the heart I found might be--look through the windshield at the tree.  

A perfect heart.  It wasn't surprising to find a heart in the middle of our great adventure!  That is the way of hearts. 

As we traveled through the mountains we saw gushing streams and great fields of softly melting snow.

After arriving home safely, with a good night's sleep under our belts, we awoke to a world flooded with high waters.  Here you see a view of our park from the town waterfront.

There is something deceptively calm and lovely about the curve of  high water in the park amphitheater.  The floods had already covered three levels.

The dock and playground appeared to be lost in the middle of the Willamette River.

A close up of the playground where my darling niece and I often play.

The dock floats by itself in the middle of the seething currents.

As of this afternoon, it is flooding everywhere around us.  Thankfully, if history repeats itself, the flood waters will not reach to our home.  100 years ago, a flood swept the original town of Independence away.  It missed our house then--by one block.

We've had nearly 10 inches of rain this month--most of it in the past week or so.  We know so many folks who have been flooded out of their homes.  Our hearts and prayers go out to them.

Good night and God bless everyone.

For more heart art, photography and altogether fabulous heart stuff from around the world, visit Clytie at Random Hearts for Guest Heart Thursday.