Yesterday delivered to us, for what was really the first time this season, a genuine monsoonal storm: mid-afternoon beneath lowering skies, the heavens suddenly opening with apocalyptic fury. Such storms used to begin in the west here, and as they traveled, they would ricochet off the mountains and return to us from the east for a momentary encore.
These are not those storms.
Yesterday’s drove in hard from the northeast, sending raindrops bouncing nearly a foot high off solid surfaces. Then, in an instant, rotation took over and whipped the storm to turn and come at us from the southwest, bending trees nearly horizontal and flinging open the front door with all the force of an unwilling spirit.
There was tornadic activity here yesterday, and this, in relative terms, is new. It’s no longer uncommon, though.
We were fortunate: no breakage, no damage of any kind. Even at our northernmost boundary, where the one-lane dirt road meets to lowest point in an S curve, there was no washout.
But the temperature dropped a full twenty degrees in a matter of moments, and the storm’s speed and fury sent me racing to shut windows all over the house.
Last night, we built a fire in the woodstove again.
We did not, as the forecast had suggested we might, get any more extreme weather last night, but the clouds and threat remained. And yet, it was a beautiful evening for us: within the storm, warmth and light.
Today’s featured work embodies that same warmth and light, an elemental force to be reckoned with that nonetheless submits itself to our harnessing, provided that we approach it with the proper care and respect — a pair of earrings radiant with fire. From their description in the Earrings Gallery here on the site:
Firelight Earrings
The spirits have granted us the gift of firelight, a glow to illuminate our surroundings even as it warms body and soul alike. The fourth in this, Wings’s signature series of earrings that honor the light, honors the blessings of the third element, fire, in traditional form around a less common jeweled spirit. Each drop is a perfectly circle domed from beneath, repoussé-fashion, t0 create a softly rounded concha. Across the front, an eight-pointed star extends to cardinal and ordinal points by way of hand-stamped spokes fanning outward around the center. Each spoke ends in a hoop whose task it is to link the lodge pattern, radiant with the literal and metaphorical light, that lies between each tiny circle. At the center of the starburst, in a sawtoothed bezel, sits a single round cabochon of changeably crimson carnelian stone, not entirely opaque nor entirely translucent, but as mysterious as flame itself. Conchas are polished to a soft Florentine finish; tiny silver jump rings attach the earrings securely to sterling silver wires. Earrings are 7/8″ across (excluding jump rings and wires); cabochons are 3/16″ across (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; carnelian
$350 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Today’s forecast predicts no flooding, no more of a chance of rain than yesterday’s, but the clouds are hard at work building towers all the same. Whether the weather comes in the daylight hours or at night, from southwest or northeast, we will likely have at least a little more rain before this day ends. However it chooses to arrive, it will be welcome.
After all, we have the fire for warmth and light.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2019; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
