Last night’s wild trickster winds blue in heavy cloud cover, and we awakened to a world that was mostly gray. The rays of a silver sun extended beyond the patches of dark gray to the east, and to the northwest, a wide wall of slate blue was growing fast. By midmorning, the latter clouds were directly overhead, and it seemed that we might be granted a little rain, but no: We have brisk winds chilling the air unseasonably, a mercury twenty degrees too low, and only faint patches of blue here and there to the west-southwest.
There is one bright sunny spot, however: the male Western tanager that just landed on the feeder and has made himself at home, scarlet face paint above a brilliant yellow shirt and tiny black and white robe over back and wings. It’s our first such visitor of the season, and to have it happen on such a cold day seems as though it must be a good omen. Perhaps more seasonal weather is on the way after all.
Here, “more seasonal weather” this time of year means rain. Summer begins here, in practical terms, before May is out, or at least so it used to be, and the hot-weather months are also the months when we receive nearly all of our rain (apart, of course, the snow that used to be an ordinary part of winter here). We need the rain more than ever now, with a 1,200-year drought, aridified soil, and a megafire raging just miles away, but precipitation is persistently elusive here these days.
But back to our visitor: When this little avian half-rainbow is in flight, the red and gold of his face and neck blur and blend into what seems, at a glimpse, a fiery orange, much like the sun itself. His presence here is a sign of summer, of winds both warming and slowing, unburdening themselves of spring’s fury, perhaps the better to relax in the heat themselves. If we are lucky, the blue skies slates to follow this day will bring us his return, and perhaps sign of a mate for him, as well.
It is these small spirits of warmer winds by which we gauge the season’s health, after all: songbirds and hummingbirds, bees, dragonflies, butterflies. All are delicate, all vulnerable to the harsh extremes of an alpine desert climate, and if they have felt secure in following their usual migratory path to this place, we cannot be faulted for seeing it as a sign of good things, ordinary things, to come. There is harmony to be found in the presence of small spirits of the air; healing and medicine, too.
Today’s featured works, which share much more in common than mere category, are manifest in the form and shape as some of these small spirits — not of the tanager, no, but of valuable pollinators all the same. Both are found in the Earrings Gallery here on the site. They were part of an informal series of six or seven similar pairs, all wrought in the deeply dimensional repoussé form of the butterfly concha. Of them all, only these two remain, and they are among the best of the entire group. We begin with those of the first light, shown above — the chrysalis sun of a new day. From their description:
Chrysalis Sun Earrings
Dawn takes flight on silver wings, bearing the orb of a chrysalis sun. Wings summons the sun and the transformative spirit of the day with these butterfly earrings, newly emerged from the cocoon of night. Each drop drifts gently from side to side, its flared top and bottom adance in sharp relief. At the center of the wings sits a tiny amber orb, each cabochon as timeless as the light and glowing with its own cosmic fire, each set in the cool, secure embrace of a plain, low-profile bezel. Earrings hang 1-3/8″ long by 1″ across at the widest point; amber cabochons are 3/16″ across (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; amber
$525 + shipping, handling, and insurance
I love both of these pairs, but it’s no secret that the amber ones are my favorite. That’s unusual for someone so assiduously devoted to blues in all forms, but it’s true. The silver backing of the bezels has intensified the color of these amber cabochons, turning them into perfect tiny suns. Against the silver butterfly wings of the settings, they become glowing orbs of warming fire.
On a day such as this, when the mercury is so low as to necessitate a fire in the woodstove now, that’s a welcome sight.
As I write, too, the sun has come out, in a manner of speaking — not enough to chase away the clouds, but enough to turn their dull gray into deep rich slate, and enough also to backlight the bits of clear sky, turning icy blue into floating azure. The second pair of today’s featured works, wrought in the same fashion, bear this same shade on their silver wings. From their description:
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
We have had relatively little wind this day: more wind than mere breeze, true, but nothing like the gales of recent days and weeks. That will change as the afternoon wears on, but it’s a nice respite. So is the presence of the clouds, despite the cold they have brought with them. It holds out the hope, in a real and tangible way, of the rain our small world here so desperately needs.
So, too, do our new visitors. When we are in the presence of small spirits of the air at this season, a real summer is possible.
~ Aji
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