What Cheer, Netop?

This morning, I went for a little walk in the woods behind the house I grew up in. I took some pictures. Here they are:

Those of you who have been to my father's house in Holland, Massachusetts might be interested in seeing these pictures of the flood. From what my father and my sister (who lives across the street from him) say, this is more or less what happened.

It's been raining pretty steadily for about a week, and last night the water was just under the bottom of the bridge that goes over the river leading from Hamilton Reservoir. Overnight they got four or five more inches, which caused it to reach the bottom of the bridge, which at that point became an obstacle to the water, causing it to rise a couple of feet until it was over the top of the bridge. The dam/spillway that normally controls the water flow from the reservoir down the river was likewise underwater.

The water has receded somewhat now. The bridge is damaged and unsafe, and generally roads all through town are in very poor shape, most steep driveways are washed out, etc. However, everyone is fine and both my father and my sister's houses came through unscathed and unflooded.
( pictures and comments )

Here's the latest batch.

The first couple were taken in Providence at some point over the last couple of weeks. Then there's a couple taken at my dad's place in central Massachusetts, and then the rest were taken yesterday evening as I wandered from Wickendon Street to the Providence Place Mall.

This past weekend I helped disassemble a house. It was built by my great-uncle, who sold the house and property to my father a while back. Last month there was a party there, and I took some pictures. I tried to take interior and exterior shots of it, plus some pictures of the view from inside the building (these last weren't particularly successful, but anyway ...)

The plan is to replace it with a house that can be lived in year-round, which will probably happen this spring, at which point my father and his wife will move there.

Taking it apart was a little sad, but the new house will be a great place to live, and one of the rooms will be reassembled on another relative's property, while another will be left intact and moved nearby for use as a summertime crafts center.