Queen of May
If there’s one thing you can count on in Colorado in the spring, it’s a hail storm. As my mom says, the clouds wait until the yard is looking particularly gorgeous before letting loose - and then let loose they do, pelting every leaf that dare lift itself skyward. This year’s first (and hopefully only) storm came yesterday.
I was in the studio, busily working when I first noticed the light had changed. Dark, dark clouds were rolling in from the south and west and they turned the late afternoon to twilight. I always look for a layer of fluffy white clouds hanging below the dark as a signal that hail is coming - but I didn’t see it at first. Maybe my storm predicting abilities have become a little rusty after a couple of years in California, but the birds were still singing and there was work to be done - so tried not to think too much of it.
Except that there was a sort of electricity in the air. And I couldn’t ignore it for long. I grabbed Eric and together we pushed our stock tank planters up under the eaves of the house, just in case, as the first drops began to fall. I looked at the sky and saw what I had missed before - the downy white puffs that meant this storm was serious.
And so began the tempest. Branches broke. Leaves plastered themselves to the side of the house. The hail came in at an angle, mutilating every vegetable we had planted (so much for protecting them under the eaves) and piling up outside the back door. More than an inch of rain fell in fifteen minutes - and in a place where the average yearly precipitation is only about fifteen inches, that’s significant. Our street was a river. The gutters overflowed.
But we’ll begin again today. We’ll pick up the branches and rake up the leaves. Replant new veggies (a little sadly, for sure, but it must be done) and rig up some better hail protection just in case another storm blows through. This is Colorado in the springtime. She can be beautiful and terrible - often all in the same day. But we’ll weather the season.
Now, on a more positive note - the jewels I’ve been working on. I’m calling them the Queen of May rings.
Over the years, purple and yellow irises have taken over my parents’ backyard. As a kid, I always looked to them to herald the end of the school year and the beginning of summer. There is just something so regal about these flowers - the luscious and iridescent petals shimmering in the warm sun are beyond majestic. Their annual reign is something I look forward to, and something I’ve sorely missed these past few years.
Saddle rings adorned with irises, yellow sapphires, and purply-blue Tanzanite. As always, made with love by my own two hands. Sizes 6.5, 7, and 8 - in the shop by this afternoon!!
Update : All rings are listed and you can find them here!