Rain Seeds? by Chipka
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Description
I have yet to learn how or why a disembodied glass door found its way into a particular truck yard on the South Side of Chicago. It’s nothing my father or I recall moving. It’s certainly nothing any of the other truckers would have found use for. It simply appeared one day, and then vanished a few weeks later. I thought it had vanished. I discovered, later—much, much later—that it broke. Perhaps someone backed into it. Maybe the dogs, Rover and Blondie, decided that the truck yard needed redecorating. More than likely, neighborhood kids with rocks have something to do with it.
At any rate, the disembodied patio door no longer stands intact within its aluminum frame. The frame itself has found its way to recyclers. The safety glass, shattered, remains in cryptic little piles as if someone made a half-hearted attempt to clean up the mess, and then found other things to occupy their time. Ah, but the truck yard is like that: it offers a wealth of distractions, but only when you’ve got a particular task to complete. At other times, it is incredibly boring, static, and dusty.
It was hot on the day that I made this picture. There was precious little to do, and so no distractions sprouted from the aethers. I wandered, as is my habit when stuck in endless days at the truck yard. There had been rain, and so humidity was dense in the air. The air itself felt sweaty. It smelled of rust and weeds, and the faint, acrid tinge of engine drippings—starter fluid, and some strange aerosol with probable-carcinogenic attributes. I avoided the aerosol-stink; as a smoker, it’s often wise to avoid things that smell like flammable aldehydes, and so in avoiding flammable carcinogens in the air, I discovered glass.
I liked the color of it. I thought that the largely-cubical fragments were proof that the glass might have been something else: rain-seeds, perhaps, spilled from a sack. I thought—for just an instant—that if I grabbed a handful of them, threw them skyward, that they might transform in some mythic way, and fall back to earth as clear and clean drops of water. But ah, in the truck yard world, such magic is not possible. But somewhere, perhaps, there are rain seeds, and I’ll bet they resemble blue-tinged cubes of shattered patio-door glass.
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting!
Comments (20)
myrrhluz
If you find some of those rain seeds, send them San Antonio way. We have so many days when humidity hangs heavy in the air, storm clouds appear on the horizon promising coolness only to be dissipated by gods who deny us this relief. We need some rain seeds in our arsenal against these noisome gods. Your rock could be the profile of god. He is gently smiling and looks like a pleasant sort. Beautiful capture of the glass! Excellent image and narrative!
auntietk
Ahhhhh ... rain seeds. Yes indeed. We grow them here for export, but it's extremely difficult to transport them anywhere, and they tend to cause a lot of rain right here. :D Love the color!
MrsRatbag
They look like ice cubes, dumped out behind some drinking establishment; rain seeds? Yes, very likely! Isn't safety glass a wonderful thing?
Sepiasiren
Look like ice--perhaps melted hail stones--either way it is a very kewl pic--another photographic study that pull son the emotions of the onlooker...
beachzz
When you plant these, do you get ice plant???
minos_6
I like your concept. The photograph is particularly well constructed, showing the different facets of the broken glass. I like this a lot!
whaleman
Great shot! Imagine the jigsaw puzzle that would be, fitting all the pieces back together using little smears of epoxy...it reminded me of several years ago before I built my fences, some dogs were harrassing my neighbors caged rabbits. I threw a handful of rocks at them which made them leave, but one rock hit the post holding my bird feeder and deflected straight into my patio door with the same result as this. I never thought of taking a photo of the pieces but I well remember the amazing sound as the glass disintegrated—unlike anything I had ever heard.
helanker
Ha, I can see it before me, what you suggested throwing these little glass cubes into the air and they would land as waterdrops :-) I have heard of the opposit, that you throw water in the air and they come down as snow :) OK, Not as glass, but... I would certain, not plant these kind of "waterseed" here. We got plenty of rain. How amusing thinking about all the possible uses for this cubes. I would rather use them to make a beautiful mosaik vase, so here is your opportunity to be creative with a little polyfilla and these little mosaic stones :-))) AN Awesome shot indeed. I love it and the idea that you took a shot of it.
durleybeachbum
When my tailgate window got smashed a week or two back I managed to get a splinter from the 'safety' glass in my finger. So when the man came to replace it he vacuumed my drive for me as well as the payload space! What amazed me was how small a bucket was needed to hold what had been a big sheet. I love the idea of rainseeds!
jmb007
bonne photo!!
NefariousDrO
This is a gorgeous photo, like you I love the shape and the color of the glass, which is a fantastic contrast to the rocks lying about in this pile. My first thought when I saw this was "How did he manage to set up a zillion ice cubes for this shot without them all melting on him? Then I read about it. As for rain seeds (Wonderful name for this, by the way) I also found myself recalling as a kid reading about efforts to "seed" rain clouds, so I did a google search (How did we ever find anything before the internets?) and it turns out that there was a 3-year program to do exactly that. They were flying over the clouds and dusting them with a mixture of Sodium, magnesium, and calcium chloride. Now my last geology course was in college way back in the late 1980's, so I could be wrong on this, but I'm fairly certain all of those form cube-shaped crystals! How's that for cool?
MrsLubner
The composition has wonderful appeal! Intriguing.
flavia49
wonderful art!!
Meisiekind
I see ice... cold and wet and relentless like some people's hearts... But that is just me and hopefully just for today.. I really like this a lot Chip! Marvelous image.
danapommet
Interesting that there is a big ole rock in the middle of all that broken glass. I'm liking the glitter and that fact that each piece of glass is different. Dana
sandra46
great capture, i thought it was hail stones! they're this size here and it's time of storms... a spectacular artist's eye, as usual!
kgb224
Stunning capture my friend.
KatesFriend
Ah yes, entropy: "The more things are put together the more they fall apart and I've never heard a truer word said" - The Doctor (Logopolis) In another reality, perhaps a colder Earth, they might have been ice crystals that when thrown up into a barely warming sun, might come down as rain. At least that's how the myth reads. Nevertheless its a beautiful composition. The blue in the glass is particularly striking. And the contrast well with the rock - perhaps the very rock that shattered the window's former self. BTW. I've had to jump into dumpsters on days like you depict here. Some manager threw something out that he should not have and poor little me has to climb into and search several baking, smelly, steal tombs in full city safety gear. Just to find a certain scrap of paper with someone important's signature. Hours of fun. I know of what you speak in this case.
romanceworks
Somehow, you manage to find the fantasy and magic in your rusty-dusty truck yard. They could indeed be 'rain seeds', as they have captured all the colors of water and sky. CC
mermaid
Oh I just love the idea of rainseeds, Chip, and indeed they could be such or some precious skytears, fallen out of the blue to reflect the light and bring it down even to the most boring places...smile