Wednesday, July 2, 2014

1002---SHADES


RED:
A REAL railroad caboose, a hatful of homegrown tomatoes, tiny strawberries peeping from between their lacy leaves, and their enormous full-ripe cousins on a pretty dish.  Proud lipstick, a flirty silk slip, a cheery kitchen counter, roses and ribbons and Valentine hearts.  Fire trucks and flags and majorette’s uniforms; a faraway balloon drifting in the sun, a stiff, petticoated dress on a tiny girl in white slippers, a sailboat far away on the sound, swimsuits drying over a porch rail.

BLUE 

Oceans and skies reflecting each other in endless colour, like mirrors marching the hall at Versailles.  Indigo is a luxury blue, a wrung-in-dyed-hands fabric, billowed and smooth in the drying.   It’s the deepest of sea-shades, with the purple depths of a thousand Mediterranean days.





Dragonfly blue is the shade of shining wings, iridescent panes of colour which flash like stained-glass windows as they sit, and become a blur of glass as they fly.


VIOLET
Small, unassuming flowers with the scent of Summer afternoons and the smooth faces of children uplooked in bright anticipation.  A wee bouquet in Grandmother's lapel vial, against a Sunday coat, and the clutch-wilted ones plucked by tiny fingers are the most beautiful of all. 

ORANGE 
Luscious peaches and tangerines and cantaloupes, the daintily-cut sections of fruit scattered onto crisp romaine, all the mingles of a sunset, an Autumn aspect of lush fiery leaves and great knobs of pumpkins dotting a field beneath a Hunters' Moon...
YELLOW is a rolling schoolbus, a cartwheel, a field of jonquils nodding in the sun, a #2 Ticonderoga just whirled through the sharpener and smelling of pine, ready for all the letters and words you want to write.
GREEN is a lush spread of ivy, the scratchy sound and smell of an ear of corn rent from the stalk, the hundred shades of afternoon lawn shadows, that last quiet calm ray as the sun sets over the sea, the honest, shining eyes of a four-year-old gazing at you with trust entire.
PINK is a softness and a whisper of powdery scent, the pale roses and candles on a little girl’s birthday cake, a thin, gauzy dress for a Summer day.  Pink is a feeling, I think, as much as a shade---it’s a cuddly hug, a laughing baby, a cold flute of champagne, a shimmer of flamingoes as they bend and delve in a pond, or take flight against the sky.



 


8 comments:

  1. My dear Rachel,

    Red is the colour of your warm volcanic soul. It's generous and light.

    Blue is the colour of your canopy under which we love to congregate.

    Violet is the colour of mist melting and glowing, from the warm springs that hangs over "Lawn Tea".

    Orange is one of the tints of your pure celestial hue.

    Yellow is a symphony of your compassion and charm.

    Green are those large orbs that are your eyes.

    Pink is a rose in spring, like you, never loses its splendour.

    Thank you so much for this beautiful post which is a perfect way to end my long day.

    With best wishes,

    ASD

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  2. OH, ASD!! How very lovely to have you back, and with such a lovely comment. It's been such a short time since I posted the item, you must have mind-cells like fireworks, to put down all that beautiful rainbow so swiftly and beautifully.

    I hope you're home and happy and well, and wish you could be here for the REAL fireworks of Friday evening with us---we walk a short way to the morning parade, then have a quiet afternoon, then a family cook-out on the patio, before strolling back out with chairs and drinks and bags of cold cherries, to enjoy the fireworks.

    It's been a family-and-guests tradition, all the 23 years we've lived here.

    So glad to hear from you anytime, but this was so unexpected and so lovely that it put even more bright into this sunny afternoon.

    Thank you, and I'll be dropping in on you soon again, as well.

    rachel

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  3. Wow, your words make the colors POP and GLOW in my mind!

    Hugs,
    Kat

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  4. Darling Rachel,
    A rainbow of colours which carries with it all the tints and tones of associated emotions.

    We imagine that the 4th July celebrations will light up the sky above as you gather with friends and family beneath, happy in each other's company and warmed to the soul for the simple pleasures of lives well lived.

    Darling ASD has so beautifully described that rainbow of with which you brighten our lives, darling Rachel...........surely, here at Lawn Tea, we find the crock of gold.

    Happy 4th July!

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  5. Kat,

    Some of the colours I was most thinking of are all the BLUES of the photographs of that magnificent SEA outside your door. Had I the view from your windows, or the sound-and-sigh that accompanies every moment on your balcony---I'd be in such poetic raptures as to be absolutely useless but for languor and enjoy.

    Always so lovely to hear from you, and I've SO enjoyed your visit with your SIS this week---that Sister-Bond is a special thing, and I love that you have such a strong, loving FUN one, like ours.

    rachel

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  6. Dear Jane and Lance,

    Emotions ARE colours, aren't they? There's a shade for every thought, every reason, and seaaons and plans and dreams.

    Our dear friend ASD is so kind, and the flash it took to send that comment---but a few moments from the time of post, and such lovely thoughts, phrased by the soul of a poet.

    Thank you all for such dear thoughts and your unfailing look-ins, no matter the subject or fare.
    Opening these doors each day brings rays of all the colours there are into this little house, and your own magic contributes great swaths and shines.

    r

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  7. Love your shades of color, what would we do with out color?
    Glad you like my little jugs, it was along time ago I was buying these and there was pineapple chunks, mixed fruit, blackberry,
    strawberry and mandarin oranges. the small jars are diced pimientos.
    The Bennie did make the shelves in wood shop when we lived in the village. Thanks for your comments

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  8. Miss Patsy,

    It's always wonderful to have you drop in---hope you and Mr. The Bennie got some of this good RAIN today.

    rachel

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