Ellie Mae

Ellie Mae
Beautiful Ellie Mae

Freddie, the French Bulldog

Freddie, the French Bulldog
Lazing on a sunny afternoon

The artist

The artist
Ollie Mac

Ollie and Annie

Ollie and Annie
Azorean grandmother

Acrylics and watercolors

Acrylics and watercolors
Cannabis and sunflowers

Papa and Ollie Mac

Papa and Ollie Mac
Priorities, Baby

Acrylics and watercolors

Acrylics and watercolors
Hollyhocks

Mahlon Masling Blue

Mahlon Masling Blue
My friend and brother.

Mark's E-mail address

bellspringsmark@gmail.com

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

"Yellow Is the Color..."


I am doing the A-Z challenge; today’s letter is Y for yellow.

“Yellow Is the Color...”

Yellow is the color that appears in front yards and along roads more often, in March, than any other color.  What I see in Willits are vast unlimited quantities of daffodils.  I see them up here on Bell Springs Road as well, because members of the family have been planting them since 1977.  My mother began planting the bulbs the first year she moved up here, and has the best display.  Even with all that are blooming at this time, there is the biggest area of all, that is still waiting to make an appearance.  

Maybe it is the lack of rain this January and February (Mendocino County recorded the driest first two months of the year since 1923) or maybe it is the cold.  Even though the days have been fairly pleasant, the nights have been very cold for this area.  Whatever the reason, the daffodils at the lower elevation are far more prolific than those up here on the mountain.

I took a nice bouquet to Mama, a week ago, and am planning to drop off another nice selection tomorrow.  I know she enjoys having them in her little apartment, because they remind her of how beautiful it can be here on the mountain.  She was not happy to relocate to the city, but I think she has come to realize that at ninety years young, she needed to be off this isolating mountain.

I get off the mountain a lot also, these days, what with trips down to San Francisco, to the VA clinic, and trips to Santa Rosa to get new spectacles.  I can’t believe the fields of mustard greens that still abound along the 101.  They take me back to being a child on Fellowship Street, where the empty lot next door was overrun with the beautiful yellow greens.  

JT and I, neither being over forty-eight inches tall, would carve paths through the head-high greens, pretending to be pioneers heading out west.  It was not a hard thing to imagine.  Life back in the fifties consisted much of making do with what was available in nature, as opposed to the technological toys available today.

Mama would issue the edict that if we couldn’t go outside, and “find something to do,” she would find something for us to do, and it wouldn’t be as much fun.  Occasionally we would stumble across a lizard or a salamander, and invite it to partake in the mud pies that we would industriously create, in the far back corner of that empty lot.

Why the far corner?  Because Mama would never venture out that far, and we knew instinctively that mud pie-making would not especially please her.  Those were simple, heady days, with the overpowering fragrance of those mustard greens, lulling us into a sense of never-ending summer.  Well, it’s autumn now, and we are making the best of it, spending our fair share of time at the clinic seeking medical treatment.  With winter inevitably on the horizon, one does what is needed to continue finding the joy in life.  

Yellow daffodils and mustard greens work pretty well for me.

9 comments:

  1. I don't know why, but I'm not crazy about the color yellow. I don't hate it, but still . . . and, by the way, did I tell you how cute Annie's kitchen is?!

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    1. Well, my favorite color is red...maybe that's why I find Annie's kitchen so "cute" also!

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  2. Unlike Judy, I do like the color yellow. Its not my favorite color but I do like that it can be bright and cheerful. It can also be rich and warm. I just realized that it is a predominant color in the kitchen, the living room, the dining room and one bedroom in our house!
    and , for extra credit, Mark, what is my favorite color? :)
    and, yes! those were the days of playing pioneers and building forts and tunnels through the berry bushes. Autumn is not my favorite time of year but there can be pleasing days in the fall.
    Nice post!

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    1. The autumn to which I was referring, is the autumn of my life. Your favorite color is, of course, blue. Anyone knows that. We did do the tunnels through the berry gardens, but the ones through the mustard greens predated the others. I can't wait to see your new kitchen!

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    2. Once again, my own blog asked me for a "profile." I hate it when I don't understand technology. Let's see how many profiles I can do...

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    3. igot that about the autumn of our lives.... that was my way of agreeing with you that even this season has its good moments - even if, as a whole, i don't like it.
      and , for sure i remember the trails through the mustard!
      I bet tom didn't know that my favorite color is blue. Did you, Tom?

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    4. Well I am glad that you see that "autumn" has its moments. Sometimes it seems as though work has its icy fingers gripped so tightly around your neck, that it eliminates your ability to stop and smell the roses...or the daffodils.

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  3. Correct, JT, I didn't, although I might have surmised as much given past vehicles you have owned, or a certain affinity I know you have for the ocean. But on the whole, I rather appreciate the fact that you remain something of a mystery to me....keep surprising me!

    Yellow in all its infinite expressions is definitely a favorite color of mine...from Mama's daffodil's to Vincent's yellow house in Arles, to lemons and bananas, egg yolks and butter...to Coldplay's "Yellow"...to the glimmering mosaic tiles of Basilica San Marco...to canaries...to the soft golden hue of the autumn Sun...

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    1. Coldplay's "Yellow..." I never would have thought of that. Good call, Thomas!

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