Pages

Monday, October 14, 2013

Blue Abundance

Blue abundance continues on the back fence, with more morning glories opening each day, some climbing up the juniper tree, some up the volunteer mulberry, and many spreading across the neighbors' hedge, which is OK with the neighbors. I asked before dropping the seeds this spring. 

And I don't mind the clothesline in their back yard. Why would I? But, apparently, that's a thing--objecting to clotheslines--in some places. Sigh.... Speaking of clotheslines: "Clothesline." (I remembered this blue poem in Waccamaw this past spring.)

Not-so-imaginary soundtrack (meaning I was listening to these songs while cooking): "Blue of Blue" sung by Carly Simon on her Torch album, and Joni Mitchell's Blue album. It was a blue sky October day, one that got warmer but which caused us to turn on the furnace in the morning. I was a little blue about being old enough to be cold enough to turn on the furnace on October 14, but then I remembered they turn on the heat lamps on the el platforms in Chicago on October 1, and I was younger when I eagerly awaited that date, shivering on the platform, waiting for the A train. But that, too, shows how old I am, as now it's the Red Line, and the train stops at both A and B stations. (Maybe it's changed again. I've been away a while.)

Definitely-imaginary soundtrack: theme song from Gilligan's Island, the phrase "a three-hour tour," substituting "four" for "three." Yesterday I drove four hours round trip, taking our daughter back to college after a weekend visit home. So, yes, residual blue from that, hugging her at her dorm as we said goodbye again. But, you know, there is joy in all this blueness. Things are as they should be. It's good to grow up.

13 comments:

  1. Good Morning, Kathleen.
    Enjoyed your clothesline poem very much. Thanks for posting its link here. Over the summer, I wrote a lyrical essay about clotheslines.
    Hanging clothes stimulated the memories and what people object to these days. But I live in the country, which guarantees some privacy. Although, the neighbors in a small town are always watching.
    Hope your glories last the length of October.
    M.J.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can smell the clean white sheets drying in the sun.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks to you both for these connections!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very much enjoyed the poem. Living in odd little rental spaces as I have, it's been years since I've hung out clothes to dry. It's unfortunate.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks, Seana. Sometimes I hang clothes up to dry inside!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Me too, but only because they haven't gotten dry enough at the laundromat.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Or because the little tag says "Hang dry". Hmmm. A poem of laundering instructions?

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's a blue Wednesday here in Ohio (gray, rain, chilliness...but I love it right now!).

    How nice to have your daughter home for a break :). And what the heck--people object to clotheslines? So pretty and helpful. My grandma lived in Bayside, NY (their little neighborhood was built for soldiers returning from war who were starting families, and many of the same families lived there since the 40's and 50's...), and I remember all the clotheslines over the concrete so fondly.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Excellent poetry prompt! I shall attempt it later today!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hannah: and some people object to garage sales! (But I think that was because some people, in Chicago, were running small businesses in their garages and driveways...sort of eBay on the lawn...)

    ReplyDelete
  11. The pictures of the flowers are so wonderful. I love the vibrant shade of blue.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Are these blue roses photoshopped? Or can scientists genetically modify them for that yet?

    ReplyDelete
  13. I think both of these are examples of dyed white roses, the colored water being given to the roses at their roots. One is from this wikipedia article:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_rose

    The genetic modification is underway, but the article says it has so far produced only a lavender shade, not a true blue.

    ReplyDelete

Go ahead and comment, and I will publish it after I get an email notification! Thanks!