Rain

It started last evening, a soft but persistent rain, the kind that gently soaks the earth.  But today the earth is hosting great puddles, and there is mud again.  In Maine we have mud for a while in early spring, then we never see mud again for a year, at least that is how I remember it.

So today is a wonderful day to post a couple of stone-like beads with spring irises on them.  I love to combine metals, like silver and copper leaf, and maybe a little reactive frit, to get these organic effects.  These beads evoke a little of the Japanese sensibility.  One has a suggestion of moving water in the background;  the vines are also metallic-based, giving them the look of venerability rather than that tender green of early growth.