"What if...?"

"What if...?" So many projects begin with those words.

"What if I pull this spiral open, and put some beads on it?" asked my daughter Käthe during one of those summer afternoons when we sat at the picnic table in the shade of the white pine tree.

I love earrings that change as the day goes by. When I put these on, I move the beads to the top of the spiral. Over time, as I move, the beads find their way back down. When I think of it, I take them off and reverse the spiral, sending them on their way again.

I posed them on the cast iron reindeer that stands atop our wood stove. April 16th, and I fired the stove again to take the chill out of the air during today's deluge.

"What if I leave them there, on the stove?" I wondered, "Will the beads move?"

Swaying in the convection currents, the beads wound their way down the spirals, toward the warmth.