River cleanup adventures

My general philosophy is that the best things in life just happen. So today, when the garden project that I showed up for (tools in hand) simply was not happening, I found myself signing up instead for a river cleanup (which was actually the original plan, but that's a whole other story) and getting into a canoe to paddle away with a man I had never met before. He not only turned out to not be a rapist/strangler, but was a pleasant and interesting companion who didn't mind stopping several times for photos, and from the same city (in a different hemisphere, no less) than a good friend of mine whom I meet weekly for - German alert!- kaffeeklatch. Between the two of us, we collected several bags worth of garbage. There were countless citizen volunteers out from KMGB, UEC, COA, and the Riverkeeper, enjoying the sunshine and just making the river, streets, and park a heck of a lot nicer looking.

Here's an "after" picture taken just south of the curve in North Avenue. The "before" picture would have been strewn with our detritus of human living. I am sure you can imagine it.