Friday, April 1, 2016

- No foolin'

Patch #92: Blue skies over hailstones


We awoke to the sound of thunder close at hand, but within minutes there were clear patches in the pre-dawn sky.

By the time breakfast was over, the wind had picked up and Don got the new car in the garage just minutes ahead of the next storm.

Hail the size of small marbles rattled off the roof, bouncing like popcorn off the rocks before coating the ground. Then minutes later, the sun came out. I'm not kidding.

One of the sotols became a snow cone writ large ...


holding ample evidence of the storm ...



while a single hailstone floated in the rain gauge ...

0.2"

And look at this, from yesterday evening's picture walk ...


tiny white flowers strewn like hail over the floodplain ...


This spring there are more flowers on the floodplain than we have ever seen before ...


relics of last year's floods ...


cloaking the fields in gold ...


I'm taking this all as a good omen for a renewed commitment: every day a patch of memory ...

January Patches #1-31
February Patches #32-60
March Patches #61-91
April Patch #92

12 comments:

  1. Beautiful patch, your "snow cone" is absolutely adorable, and I am glad your car wasn't hailed on!

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  2. Your daily patch collection is so beautiful, and will be just amazing when the year has passed. I have always heard about the wildflowers of Texas, and your pictures make them real to me. The rains and floods of months past are paying off now. When my family lived in the Mojave a wet winter (relatively speaking) would lead to fields of wildflowers in the spring...one of the treasures of the desert.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Dana ... there have been times since we moved here when I have thought the floodplain was trying its darnedest to be a desert. This year's wildflower display is all the more appreciated considering the floodplain often looks like a moonscape. Someday soon I hope to see a true desert ...

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  3. Lovely wildflowers, we enjoyed them when we lived in Texas. Like this April patch with the open calendar, wonder how it will be filled...

    The desert is taking some getting used to and Rich is not all that fond of it...prefers higher elevations with green trees. Our April Fools trick was provided by Mother Nature, we had about 20 min of snow this morning.

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    Replies
    1. Marti - Thank you for the calendar metaphor ... I hadn't looked at it that way. This a good example of why I've always been skeptical about symbolism in art and the written word ... I wonder how much of it is intentional on the part of the creator and how much is intuited by the viewer or reader.

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  4. the Gift of the Flowers...how i'd like to walk your Place with you...and
    i think of all the seeds that will be born from all this either now in this
    year or times to come.
    Seeing the days together like this....how good it must feel for you

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    Replies
    1. I do imagine your reactions as I walk the land and begin writing in my mind.

      And yes, I love my many-colored days.

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  5. Replies
    1. Trying to capture the fleeting beauty of it all lest we forget

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  6. and you will make a patch of the rain gauge
    with it's single hail?

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