A curious stillness fills the air, ethereal as a phantom yet a hair’s breadth from corporeal. My brain prickles with elation as all of my sensory receptors anticipate the electric change about to happen. The miracle begins in the distance as a pale, ragged scarf of chiffon. It arrives swollen with liquid silver that rolls off the tongues of aspen leaves, pock-marks the dust, dimples the surface of a pond. My outstretched hands welcome the nourishing moisture. Twirling in crystal …