Julian, you’ve beautifully illustrated the flowing nature of ‘the river’. Of course as you recognise I’m sure, a river is so much more: while the hills and valleys shape it, it also shapes the landscape, gouging and wearing it away, it also contains plants and fish and animals and insects and natural (and unnatural) chemicals which prov…
Julian, you’ve beautifully illustrated the flowing nature of ‘the river’. Of course as you recognise I’m sure, a river is so much more: while the hills and valleys shape it, it also shapes the landscape, gouging and wearing it away, it also contains plants and fish and animals and insects and natural (and unnatural) chemicals which provide food and minerals for each other and to people, along with the water itself that quenches their thirst, and it often provides the means of transport and even power. And as you know, these and the flows you describe are global, everything mixing and interconnected with everything else in a ceaseless dance of being which is impossible to describe beyond the merest hint :)
I know! I wanted to keep on going, and include the plants and fish and animals and bacteria, and show the position of the river changing over time (I love ox-bow lakes, and the endless reshaping of the curves of a slow-flowing river...), but it was just a riff. But yes, you are right, there is no natural stopping point, there's no edge. It would be perfectly possible to expand this riff into a book, or several books...
Julian, you’ve beautifully illustrated the flowing nature of ‘the river’. Of course as you recognise I’m sure, a river is so much more: while the hills and valleys shape it, it also shapes the landscape, gouging and wearing it away, it also contains plants and fish and animals and insects and natural (and unnatural) chemicals which provide food and minerals for each other and to people, along with the water itself that quenches their thirst, and it often provides the means of transport and even power. And as you know, these and the flows you describe are global, everything mixing and interconnected with everything else in a ceaseless dance of being which is impossible to describe beyond the merest hint :)
I know! I wanted to keep on going, and include the plants and fish and animals and bacteria, and show the position of the river changing over time (I love ox-bow lakes, and the endless reshaping of the curves of a slow-flowing river...), but it was just a riff. But yes, you are right, there is no natural stopping point, there's no edge. It would be perfectly possible to expand this riff into a book, or several books...