First of May in These titles mean nothing.

Gracie’s in the picture too. Let me know if you see her.

We were out on the Reno dike yesterday. Cold, windy, the sky was gray and it was almost raining. We were the only people there - ours the only car in the little parking lot. We didn’t walk far, just to the end of the first spillway. But boy was it a magic place yesterday. The water was just up to the edge of the concrete, barely running over it in a few places. There were waves in the huge expanse to the north. It was wild and immense and beautiful. It was our ocean.

It was an unexpected stop and there were no pictures taken. Trust me though that it was a beautiful as it can be. Fresh greens below the dam, the land trees a million shades, and again the meeting of water and land. The water rushed through the opening from above to below on its way to the real ocean.

The Canadian railroad runs along the Minnesota and Iowa river banks. They are working on their tracks. Fresh gray granite ballast and an extension of a siding now make two tracks to cross to get to the river. Further up the river, up the railroad we saw equipment working yesterday.

But at Reno everything was quiet, calm. Except the rushing river.