Dappled stone
Sunlight is filtering through the leaves and flower buds of my apple tree onto my stone as I work. We’re caught in a hypnotizing play of mottled light and dancing soft shadow.
I’m spellbound by the shifting shapes spotting the stone, mingling, pattern-forming and wish I could carve quickly enough to capture their outlines. I’m frantic with my pencil drawing directly on the stone. The dapple fades, cloud returning a stone surface with sketches for chiseling later.
I’m rather taken by the history and word origin of dappled
dapple
early 15c. (implied in past participle adjective dappled), perhaps from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse depill “spot,” Norwegian dape “puddle.” Perhaps a back-formation from, or merger with, Middle English adjective dapple-grey “apple-grey” (late 14c.), based on resemblance to the markings on an apple (cf. Old Norse apalgrar “dapple-grey”), or, as it was used of grey horses with round blotches, perhaps via resemblance to apples themselves.
