Severe Storm Litters Sikes Lake With Space Odyssey Bridge Wedding

A week or so ago I mentioned being at Sikes Lake and being questioned by a pretty Lady in Turquoise about reports of litter in and around Sikes Lake.

At that point in time I told the Lady in Turquoise I had never seen any litter in or around Sikes Lake.

The Sikes Lake litter issue came to be because photos had emerged showing litter littering Sikes Lake after a recent heavy rain.

Well, last night I weathered one of the worst storms I have ever weathered. Wichita Falls was pounded by heavy rain, bursts of wind and a long lasting thunderstorm, of which several claps boomed in my ear simultaneous with the lightning flash.

By morning I learned much of Wichita Falls had flooding issues during last night's storm. Streets under water. Cars under water.

When the sun arrived this morning I was surprised to see my pool was almost in over flow mode. That and it had turned from a crystal clear shade of blue to a swampy brownish green color.

Around noon I dodged drips and headed to Sikes Lake for a walk around and litter check.

As you can see above, the Sikes Lake litter, rumored to appear after a heavy rain, was in thick evidence. The line of litter also presented evidence of how high Sikes Lake rose during last night's flooding.

Continuing on I came to the part of Sikes Lakes which had been photographed with a lot of litter floating during the previous deluge event. This time there appears to be no litter floating in Sikes Lake. However the water rose high enough to cover the pavilion area with a layer mud, to the slippery consternation of the small flock of ducks you see below.

From a distance, to the right of the above muddy pavilion, I had noticed an odd assembly of people on the bridge I need to cross to return to my vehicular transport.

When I got closer the odd assembly began to appear to be some sort of ceremony. After taking the photo of the ducks in the mud I headed to the bridge. But, before I got there the soaring sounds of Also Sprach Zarathustra filled the air with a A Space Odyssey feel. As the music played the bride to be made her way to the center of the bridge, followed by a flower girl tossing rose petals.

I confirmed with the first person I came to that this was an actual wedding taking place. I was told the nuptials had to be moved to the bridge because of the currently muddy pavilion.

It took about ten minutes for the sacred ceremony to be completed, with me then able to make my transit across the bridge, congratulating the newlyweds as I passed by them.

If I remember right the only other wedding I have attended this century was Spencer Jack's dad's nuptials, back in April of 2006.

Judging from today's wedding, ten years later, the thing to do for adults at a wedding is to record the ceremony via ones phone or tablet, as you can see above. I found such to be just a bit bizarre.

In a couple days I make my monthly trek to the Dallas zone. I hope the weather cooperates...