Thunderstorms threatened all afternoon but never materialized, a disappointing pattern probably related to climate change. It happens all the time.
As the sun started sinking, it inflamed the clouds into such gorgeous colors that a bunch of us found ourselves on the sidewalk taking pictures. Thunder rumbled now and again and occasional flashes of lightning appeared to the west. Pure magic.
It was a communal moment that made me laugh. iPhones held up to the sky.
My corner-house neighbors and I chatted a bit. We moved in to our houses on the same weekend in May 1993 — she with her three sons, me weeks from getting pregnant with my first.
One of her sons, also taking pictures, shared that he turns 50 this weekend. I almost fell over.
Then he shared a funny story about my first born, who I have to tell you talked early and in full paragraphs. People were often stunned. He was intelligible even with the ever-present binky in his mouth. (He would slide it to one side and talk through it, not unlike an old man with a cigar).
Anyway, he might’ve been three when this happened. A dragonfly flitted near the lot line and he pointed to it and said to my neighbor, “Look! It’s iridescent!”
Dee~ Oh GOSH! What a great story, sky and cloth to go with them!! This post made me smile and feel such joy ❤️ So needed and appreciated. You son sounds like a clever one, would love to hear more stories 🙂
Be well
I thought of you just now as I rifled through pics trying to g to find a picture of my son with his binky. It’s overwhelming. How are you doing it?
I can just see your son, binky aside, speaking paragraphs. How I would have loved to have seen and heard him; such a good memory especially when told by another.
Your fire colored clouds remind me that at the end of this month, New Mexico will undergo a ritual as old as time, the burning of Zozobra. This is the 101st year of the this ritual which consists of stuffing a marionette, this year, over 50 ft tall, with pieces of paper signifying woes, negative thoughts that we want to vanish, etc. Burning paper, “joss” is an old ritual to rid yourself of negative emotions, thoughts. OH, if it were only that easy !!!!!!!! I do take comfort, however, that this event helps local charities. It will be held Aug;. 29th in Santa Fe but is also live streamed on local TV. You can pay to attend the event and each strip of paper containing your woes, cost $1 to send to Zozobra.. All of the strips are gathered and stuffed into Zozobra also known as Old Man Gloom and after dark, set on fire. So in this way, the woes, anger, despair, negative thoughts toward this regime are consumed by flames and in turn, help local schools, food banks, shelters, etc. It is so satisfying to consider this a slap in the face of this diabolical regime!..
What a spectacular ritual. I wish we had something comparable in these parts. Will you watch? I suppose I could do a mini burn of my own here.
Yes I will watch. Always wanted to go to Santa Fe to see the Zozobra burning in person. It’s quite a festive thing, food, families gathered together, music, dancing and my crone self would love to dance around the field. In 2016 when the great evil came to our town, for a pep rally, I did a burning ritual, wrote his name on strips of paper, burned them as well as sage smudged our entire house and several streets around my neighborhood…sadly, my ritual was not strong enough because evil won…but a collective burning, like Zozobra just may have some impact; if nothing else, people will talk about their woes and maybe we will get a few more voters on our side.
Wow