Color My World

There is something about color that stirs me. Which actually seems a bit counter intuitive because I usually wear a lot of black. Sometimes blue, but rarely any other colors. Also - I am the least creative person I know but show me color, and I am transformed.

At any rate, I am stirred by beautiful color and accordingly, the rooms in my house are painted or wallpapered in rich hues rather than your basic white, cream, beige, etc. I am especially intrigued by the colors that occur in nature. The deep, beautiful color of flowers never ceases to amaze me. The ocean, the sky, birds...just look at the beautiful bird at the top of my blog. It's amazing, breathtaking and borders on unbelievable to me.

The other day, I was sent an email filled with photos of the Northern Lights taken in Yukon, Canada. They took my breath away.


















Seeing these awesome photos reminded me of a story of when I was a kid. I wore glasses starting in 7th grade. My vision was horrendous. Not only did I not understand how bad- 20/400 in one eye, 20/450 in the other - I didn't even know I had a vision problem! Until I actually put on my first pair of glasses...

I honestly don't know how I made it through the first 6 grades of elementary school. I remember, in 4th grade, viewing a filmstrip once (remember them???) with sub-titling and having to take a test about it afterwards and completely winging it because all I saw was a blur of color. Thankfully, I knew the story and was able to pass the test. The day I got glasses, I walked into our living room and was completely blown away. The wallpaper had a pattern! Yikes! In retrospect, I was one blind child!

Anyway - one Sunday evening in May of 1969, we had "company" at our house and someone came running into the kitchen yelling, "It's the Northern Lights!" Huh????? Everyone ran outside and apparently the sky was lit with gorgeous colors and I remember everyone staying outside for a really long time oohhing (ewwing?) and ahhhing over the beautiful sky. I was right there with them, oohhing and ahhing - only one problem - I had no idea what they were going on about. I COULDN'T SEE! Is that sad, or what?? What's even sadder is that I missed it! Possibly the only chance in my life to view the Aurora Borealis!

Last year, I attended The Sugarloaf Craft Festival and purchased this framed photo of guess what? The Northern Lights over Denali National Park in Alaska. It is titled "Hand of God". I am in love with this piece of art. (I love it even more because if you double click on it? In the upper right-center sky, you can see my most favorite constellation, Pleiades - the seven sisters!) The colors touch something inside me every single time I look at it. Translation? Joy. So when I received the photos from the skies of Yukon, Canada, I just had to share. Hope you catch it! Love, Joey