When you last heard from me, everything was peachy here in Colorado. I was buying peaches at the farmer’s market, taking Dulcinea on long hikes in the mountains, getting ready for my trip to the Turkish Coast.

But since then, a flash flood has devastated the Boulder area. Roads have washed away, bridges are down, and rivers have changed their course.

If you know me at all, you know how I feel about a river out of control. Floodwater reminds me all too vividly of several uncomfortable periods during my childhood. On one occasion, our farmhouse became an island, and we had to canoe across overland flooding from the Red River to get to school. Another time, we had to evacuate our farm during a flash flood. We didn’t have the means to relocate all the sheep, so we simply pulled all the straw bales down from the loft, so the poor beasts would have something dry to stand on.

Those were not great times.

This time around, my neighborhood was fortunate. The greenbelt behind my house in Colorado was wide enough to accommodate a huge surge of flood water, and our house stayed dry.

Here’s Dulcinea investigating the edges of a river that wasn’t in our backyard before.

Shortly after the flood subsided, we left for our archeological cruise in the Southeast Aegean. I’ll create a series of posts about my travels soon. But I wanted to mention something that stood out for me as I traveled.

The archeologist conducting our tour repeatedly mentioned the importance of water and infrastructure. He pointed out Hellenistic cisterns. He showed us sewer drains running under ancient roads. He helped us locate pipes and aqueducts made from Roman concrete.

One of the most important things that makes a city a city, he told us, is the systematic use of engineering to control, supply, and remove water.

Surely, I’ve always known that. After all, I grew up in a flood zone. But seeing drains and fountains dating all the way back to 360 BC definitely drove the point home for me. Human beings have always been building infrastructure to control water. When the infrastructure fails, the city fails.

Speaking of infrastructure, when I was in the Istanbul airport last week, I saw this textile-themed IT billboard. Since it’s highly relevant to the novel I’m currently writing and since it’s also enchanting, I had to take a photograph.

Who cares if they don’t know the difference between knitting and weaving? They know what a piece of string can do!