Finally, we have a little more warmth and a little less wind. The high at the moment is still only fifty-eight, still necessitating a fire in the main woodstove, but there are new leaves this morning on some of the aspens and stands of red willow, the wild bush honeysuckle is in first flower, and yesterday’s weather and cold does not seem to have done the pear tree or the lilacs any damage.

That’s not to say the pear tree is exactly normal now: Having blossomed a full week or two early, the winds of the last few days have stripped petals from several sections of its branches now. But that’s not the same as freezing them, and if seasonal conditions hold, we should have a good crop of pears by this fall.

Even so, the thunderheads are building once again, summer’s monsoonal atmospheric patterns having apparently elected to arrive as early as the first flowers this year. That doesn’t mean, of course, that we’ll see any precipitation from it; we had only a couple of stray drops followed by the faintest of showers late last night, despite the abundant cloud cover for most of the day. Indeed, current predictions suggest little to no chance of rain for us either today or tomorrow, although the long-range forecast is for nine straight days of monsoonal-pattern rains beginning on Sunday.

And yet, a glance at the radar map shows a story with very different potential: with red-splotched sections of extreme thunderstorms edged by snow just over the ridgeline at Angel Fire and Eagle Nest right now, and with more small cells of less-extreme rain from the west. Our usual patterns would send those east of the ridgeline still further eastward, bringing us only that which currently lies west of us, if any. But as warming and drought and aridification and climate collapse sink their talons ever deeper, we have in recent days, weeks, and months found ourselves increasingly at the mercy of gale-force winds from the east, as well — occasionally bringing extreme weather across the mountain with them.

Such winds are not a welcome development in and of themselves, of course; they batter and blow apart everything in their path, downing tree limbs and fenceposts and power lines even as they strip up what little remains of our once-healthy topsoil, driving it across the land in great walls and spirals. They also ensure that wildfire season begins early and deepens its risks to our small world here. But despite the chaotic and capricious destruction they so often wreak, they also sometimes bring to us the First Medicine of the skies that would not otherwise make it to this place.

And that is what permits our new growth to survive, coaxing leaves and petals to life.

This week’s Friday Feature honors leaves and petals alike, as well as this ancient earth, as old as time, that supports and sustains them. It consists of three works from the same category, all pairs of earrings hand-milled in a bold yet graceful floral pattern, all set with cabochons in strikingly different colors and patterns. All three are found in the Earrings Gallery here on the site. We begin with one of the new pairs, set with a rippling river-like stone, evoking the lush high-desert beauty of a Río Grandé spring. From its description:

Río Grandé Spring Earrings

It’s the season of a Río Grandé spring, the time when the Great River’s complex ecosystem awakens and comes to renewed life. With these earrings, Wings evokes the roiling green rapids of the waters in full, high-running thaw, and the emergence of the wildflowers and plant spirits that line its banks. Each dangling drop is saw-cut freehand of sterling silver in a flared figurative shape animated by a vaguely Art Deco spirit and sensibility. Each has then been cranked by hand through the rolling mill against a template of wildflowers in full bloom, great looping whorled petals that rise in textural relief from the surface in a pattern equal parts bold Flower Power and Art Nouveau grace. At the center of each, nestled in a low-profile scalloped bezel edged in twisted silver, sits an oval cabochon of orbicular malachite, its banding rippled and ruffled and beautifully fluttering, all in intense shades of grass and emerald and forest greens. Tiny sterling silver jump rings fused to the reverse at top center hold sterling silver coil-and-ball-bead earring wires. Earrings hang 2-1/8″ long by 1-1/8″ across at the widest point; cabochons are 13/16″ long by 7/16″ across at the widest point [all dimensions approximate].

Sterling silver; orbicular malachite
$525 + shipping, handling, and insurance

I love the melding of generational artistic genres in this pair, all fin-de-siècle grace of more than a century past, the bold geometric lines of the 1920s and 1930s, and the brashness of the Sixties in one single design. The warm glow of the silver, with the millwork patterns rising in sharp relief, frames the orbicular malachite perfectly, its deep emerald greens rippling and fluttering, crest and wave adance with all the beauty and power of the Great River in full flow. And while that watershed and its ecosystems are now wounded, too, and terribly, still it persists, still the wild petals and plants emerge into the light and the wild birds return again to feed and find shelter there.

The second pair among today’s featured works is the newest, completed only a couple of days ago, and it’s a personal favorite — one whose name has layered meanings, meant to honor the anemones in both their forms, channeling the ancient foundations of this place that lie deep beneath its flowering earth. From its description:

Anemones Earrings

It’s the time of year for an earth in new fresh flower, adorned with the beauty of anemones, indigenous blossoms named for the daughter of the wind in a land built upon namesake daughters of an ancient sea. With these earrings, Wings honors both the full petaled beauty of the flowers that bear the name, and the spirits of seas old and new whose strands are animated by the same flowing grace. Each dangling drop is wrought of red brass, a brilliant sunny gold with a slightly crimson cast, a product of its higher copper content and the source of its richly aged patina. Wings has hand-milled each perfectly round medallion in a bold yet graceful floral pattern, equal parts Flower Power and Art Nouveau. Each is domed gently by hand into a delicate concha, its shape evoking the shell of its name. At center, nestled in low-profile scalloped sterling silver bezels, rest a pair of beautiful blue coral cabochons, their rich color entirely natural. Note: The blue coral is very slightly lighter in color, the brass more gold than they render on-screen here. Earrings, domed, are 1-1/4″ long by 1-1/4″ wide, excluding wires; cabochons are 7/16″ across [all dimensions approximate].

Red brass; sterling silver; blue coral
$425 + shipping, handling, and insurance

The name of these comes from the ancient Greek and translates, literally, to daughters of the wind. It is perhaps not surprising, given how the petals of these small but striking flowers, indigenous very nearly world-wide, grow layered petals just long enough to catch the breeze and dance, bright vibrant colors dotting meadow and prairie alike. The flower’s name came first; the sea creature’s derives from it, and it, too, fits beautifully: brilliant colors manifest in long, flowing petal-like stalks that sway with the motion of the waters. And since this is a land built literally upon ancient coral reefs and shell mounds, dating back over time on an epochal scale, when timeless seas covered these lands, before their receding waters carved the great mountains of this place we now call home.

The third and final pair is the one that was created first, one to honor the first wild petals just beginning now to emerge, from red bush honeysuckle to the scarlet tulips not quite ready to blossom. From its description:

The First Wild Petals Earrings

In a volcanic land of lakes and rivers carved through mountains emerged from timeless seas, of formations built atop ancient shell mounds, the alpine prairie flowers bloom with the first wild petals of summer. With these earrings, Wings summons spirits older than time to dance with newborn blossoms in the fiery shades of genuine sponge coral and the silver of the light. Each geometric sterling silver drop is hand-rolled in a brash, looping floral pattern, equal parts Art Deco and Flower Power and all summer medicine, then saw-cut freehand into a spoked pattern that honors the four winds and the sacred directions. At the center of each, bezel-set and edged with twisted silver, sits a bold round cabochon of sponge coral in soft rich shades of flame-red stippled with hints of orange and bronze and plenty of natural texture across the surface. Sterling silver jump rings link them to sterling silver earring wires. Earrings hang 2-3/8″ long, excluding wires, by 1-3/4″ across at the widest point; cabochons are 9/16″ across (dimensions approximate).

Sterling silver; sponge coral
$625 + shipping, handling, and insurance

This pair, too, is one for the ancient coral reefs that underpin this place, beautifully marbled natural sponge coral in subtle shades of earth and fire seated at the center of big, bold earrings in an old traditional style. It’s not a cross as the outside world understands that term; it’s a tribute to the Four Sacred Directions that hold us all safely in their embrace.

All three of these works embody the delicate beauty of the flowers just beginning to bloom now. But they also signify much more. All three are old traditional designs, each given Wings’s own inimitable twist; all three honor old ways of creating beauty, and the timeless gifts of our larger world that make it possible.

At this moment, the sun is back out in full force again, but still the clouds ring us on all our sides. Meanwhile, the radar map shows whole line of small storms edging every closer, the kind of weather perfect for coaxing leaves and petals to life. Perhaps we’ll soon have more of both, and the medicine that makes them possible.

~ Aji

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