It’s raining.
A full hour earlier than the forecast predicted, and exactly what this thirsty land needs: no winds, no lightning, no hail or torrential downpours, just a steady, soaking rain.
It may not last more than a few minutes, of course, but we’ll take what we can get and be grateful for it.
Grateful, too, for the beauty of this morning — again, no fierce winds, and thus warmer air, with distant thunderheads building steadily across floating azure skies. The thunderheads have come home to us, but without the thunder, and much as I love the wilder storms best, right now, this drought-ridden land (with a wildfire still burning just over the ridgeline some small distance) cannot afford lightning now.
It’s amazing what just a few raindrops can create: a land awash in moisture, and a spirit of gratitude on the wind.
It’s not all that’s on the wind, either. There is pollen still, true, but that has lessened a bit as the leaves have begun to open themselves to the light. More to the point is the arrival of small wingéd spirits, from hummingbirds to butterflies to the dragonfly I am convinced buzzed past last week. I have yet to see any of our bees myself, but Wings spotted a giant bumblebee a few days ago, and the wasps are already here and hard at work. It’s been too cold for anything more than the smaller butterflies, but we are about due for the first mourning cloak to appear, and then the swallowtails thereafter (monarchs typically arrive later in the season).
To ensure their best welcome, Wings is already planning where the wildflower seeds will go.
As I write, the rain has stopped; there are patches of blue visible between the clouds to the northeast now. A quick glance at the radar map, and another out the window, suggest that we shall have more of both yet today . . . and perhaps a few more new spirits of the air, as well.
Today’s featured work embodies both these beings whose path travels warmer winds, and the bright blue skies that hold them. From its description in the Earrings Gallery here on the site:
Floating Azure Earrings
Our world soars on warm silver winds and floating azure skies. Wings gives form and life to wind and sky and the small spirits that inhabit them with these butterfly earrings, all graceful silver wings holding at their heart perfect blues of summer skies. Each dangling drop flares elegantly at top and bottom, winglines articulated, repoussé-fashion, with shimmering depth. At the center of each earring, a tiny round cabochon of bright blue lapis lazuli rests in the embrace of a plain, low-profile bezel. Earrings hang 1-3/8″ long by 1″ across at the widest point; lapis cabochons are 3/16″ across (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; lapis lazuli
$525 + shipping, handling, and insurance
I love this design: a pair of old-style traditional butterfly conchas, set with bright blue gems and transformed into something that dances in the light as beautifully as their namesake. This is one of only two pairs remaining in a very informal series of such earrings that Wings created some while ago, one pair plain and the rest set with different jewels. The photos do not do any of them justice; they are both bigger and bolder than they seem in the image, and more mobile, too.
They dangle; they dance; they play in and with the light.
And at their centers, those beautiful markers of an alpine desert sky in summer: floating azure, indeed.
At this moment, a large blue patch shows itself outside the window before me. It’s surrounded on all sides by giant puffy walls of gray and white. Above Pueblo Peak, the clouds are darkening, and it’s possible to seen rain falling in the distance over other horizons now.
It seems, if the forecast is to be believed, the start of the summer monsoon season . . . a month early, but we cannot afford anything but thanks for that. It’s a new week, and the threshold of a new season, and there is a spirit of gratitude on the wind.
It’s a spirit to carry through the summer, and the rest of the year beyond.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
