Alice E Lewis, click
here to update your pages on AuthorsDen.
Blogs by Alice E Lewis
The Rillito 8/1/2006 12:47:19 PM
I spent the past several hours sitting by the banks of the Rillito, contemplating.
The Rillito, like many of the rivers in the Sonoran dessert, is dry for most of the year. Mesquite and other shrubs grow in its waterway, drawing on the extra soil moisture available there. The parkway on it’s banks is a haven for people wanting to look at greenery. She also provides a source of sustenance for dessert wildlife.
All that changes during the monsoon season. Last week we got slammed with one rainstorm right after another. It has been many months since the last rain. The soil was hard and compacted, impervious to water penetration. The streets became rivers. The low-lying areas became rivers. The rain- water tumbling down the Catalina Mountains became rivers. All the torrents of water from everywhere raced towards the Rillito, filling it slowly, then with a vengeance.
As the water began to rise, the Rillito began to careen downstream, rushing to the San Carlos, ripping up and tossing aside any shrubs growing in it’s waterway. She was angry, complaining about the load of water she was asked to carry. And being angry, she overflowed her banks, as though vomiting, dumping mud and debris in people’s yards and houses.
But it won’t be long until she will have emptied herself. Then, she can be the dry riverbed again, which she prefers.
