Floods and Roses

We've been getting a lot of rain this spring, and the rivers are running just a wee bit high.

Friday, I took a lunchtime walk with a work friend down to the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers on the edge of downtown Binghamton.  It amazes me that a small city in upstate New York whose downtown has a number of vacant buildings (a couple of which have suffered fires in recent years) can have such natural beauty just a few hundred yards away.

The roses are out near a historic marker.  The Chenango Canal, which no longer exists, was a 97 mile canal.  This was near the southern end.

A number of roses bloomed nearby.  One, above, had two colors of flowers on the same plant.  I've seen this a couple of times before on rose plants, and I wonder how commonly this happens.  All I can tell you is that most of the roses were purple, and they had a lovely fragrance.

But not all was well with the river.  It was just starting to flood the park. (To the right, the Veteran's Memorial Bridge, built in 1923.)

Another view, with trees visible in the river.

There is a trail, the Chenango River Trail, that runs from Confluence Park up to Court Street, the main street in downtown Binghamton. (Court Street crosses the Chenango near where this trail deadends on Court Street.  To the west of the Chenango River, Court Street turns into Main Street).

The muddy river water was flooding the lowest end of the trail.

It's been 21 months since this river last flooded, and none of us want a repeat. Rain, rain, stay away! For a while, anyway.

I'd like to bring you one more rose picture - a rose after a rain.  Dare I say it, but I love raindrops on roses....

Just not floods.

Are flowers after a rain one of your favorite things?