Take what color you can

I have realized lately how much I appreciate flowers blooming in the summer. We regularly have gray summers at the coast. The warmer it is in the valley, the more the fog shrouds everything here. This summer has been especially gray, with temperatures in the mid-sixties most of the time. We have had a few absolutely perfect days, but many, many gray ones as well. As the rhododendrons, hydrangeas, wildflowers, roses, and other flowers (even dandelions! Toe has taught me the value of those) bloomed all over the area this spring and summer, I absolutely relished the colors because of their stark contrast with the cloudy skies and the multitude of greens ever-present. I think I love them even more outdoors than in my kitchen or living room, not just because of the allergy issues when I have flowers indoors, but because the colors are so joyful. Accents of delight.


We went to the Portland Rose Gardens a few weeks ago on one of our trips to the Zoo (there is a small train that does a loop between the two sites). It was, of course, a cloudy day, but it was the perfect day to see the place, and I drank it all in.

I think I take the clouds with me. I suspect I am like that character from the Douglas Adams book who is a Rain God and does not realize it.

On days when I do get to see some sunlight, I love love love the way beams of sunlight stream through the forest. Or on water. Or pretty much anywhere there are shadows and light and sparkles. On the train back to the Zoo, I got some of that, too. All I can say, is that light like that, air like that in the forest, makes me breathe more deeply and slowly...

And of course there are Toe and J, who bring their own color to any situation. I enjoy the color from them most of all.