43 – Blue *

Special thanks to Marina for providing the photos of her paintings. Marina is in Greece and I encourage readers to visit her blog Marina Kavanaki: Art Toward a Happy Day. Please tell her I sent you and feel free to comment on her images here. Marina’s work is copyrighted by Marina Kavanaki.

Click the video above for 2 minutes of background waves while reading.

I like walking on the beach. It’s good for the mind, body, and soul – and refreshing on the feet.

I think of a map or a globe displaying so much blue for our earthly home. That blue signifies water covering over 70 percent of Earth’s surface. That same blue giving Earth a nickname – the Blue Planet. That same blue that the late, great Carl Sagan used to coin The Pale Blue Dot.

Why think of blue? It is the color of my eyes and a color associated with fair skin. But, I cannot think of reasons not to think of blue as I walk.

I notice the water here is not blue – but with a greenish tone – sometimes with a touch of brown. The greenish hue is normal here, and not Caribbean Blue or Ligueran Blue. Maybe a walk thinking about green will be on another day.

Looking at the color spectrum, I notice blues are the shades between green and violet – but today’s sky is without a rainbow displaying that visual spectrum. Skies and water appear blue because they reflect blue while absorbing the other colors.

Radiant blue with a touch of pink is the color of the Portuguese Man-of-War that occasionally wash ashore here – but I don’t think my skin would be blue from one of their stings.

Blue is one of the primary colors of paint. Combine blue and green to get turquoise, teal, and aquamarine. Combine blue with black, gray, or white for different shades of blue. Combine blue with red for violet – or blue with yellow for green. However, the proportions of each is the determining factor of the shade.

When we think of shades of blue, a seemingly endless list of terms come to mind – azure, cobalt, sapphire, palis, sky, navy, lapis, Egyptian, midnight, dark, royal, indigo, baby, periwinkle, powder, marine, marine, morning, ice, neon, and many more.

Sports teams identify with blue. Dodger blue, Dolphins blue, and Carolina blue are vastly different – yet quite different than St. Louis blue for the team that also goes by the Blues.

Besides identifying sports teams, blue is a key color on the flag of many nations. Even though blue is not on the Italian flag, the Italian national soccer team is known as the Azuri … the Blues .. which is the color of their uniforms – but not the same color as the St. Louis Blues.

Blue is more than a color because it plays many roles in language. Blue can be an adjective, noun, or even a verb – so it takes many other forms as bluing, blued, blues, bluer, bluest, and blueness. Many of these are related to color – but not all.

There are blue whales, blue crabs, and blue-green algae; as well as Bluetooth, Blue Danube, Blue Bayou, blue cheese, blue moon, and more.

Feeling blue is about being down, depressed, sad, unhappy, or melancholy. Blue to wash or make blue is a verb that won’t remove those feelings.

One can be blue in the face from exhaustion or speechlessness, but that is very different from blue skin color due to cold, bruising, or even a sign of death.

Out of the blue can be sudden or unexpected – but the fleeting thought escapes into the blue.

Whereas blue-collar refers to the working class, blue bloods are the rich, the high social class, the entitled, even nobility.

While true blue refers to the faithful and loyal, blue also carries the revealing message of “It’s a boy.”

Traditions say brides should have something blue, yet blue is also the color of Christianity’s season of Advent – a time of waiting – but brides don’t like to wait.

Blue is a color many associate with a military branch or the police who are the men and women in blue – yet others have dress blues as part of their uniform.

Blue can symbolize – but blue is also the off-color, risque, and profane found as movies, books, stores, and jokes.

One can get special treatment for being someone’s blue-eyed boy, swim in a blue lagoon, participate in the blue flu, be part of the blue hair demographic, or drink until they are blue in the gills – which have nothing to do with those living in politically blue states or even Little Boy Blue.

When we fly above the clouds, we notice the sky blue that the clouds may hide to those on the ground – yet it is blue that appears when the clouds depart. Blue is dreaming of flying off into the wild blue yonder. Blue is also the sea of dreams as I look across the water as I walk.

Blue – a good set of positive thoughts for my day that are not blue – but a good reason why I like walking on the beach – which is also good for the mind, body, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.

See what other bloggers have written about beaches

• Monthly Color Challenge (photos and essay by a visitor here)
• buckin blue (poem by a visitor here)
• Beauty in Blue (street art by a visitor here)
• Blue Winter Sky (poem by a visitor here)
• Blue (poem by a visitor here)
• Blue Colour of Sea (explanation essay)

Next Post: Faces * – Saturday 20 February @ 1 AM (Eastern US)

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