and then on sunday
i thought
i will just pop in and do a few stitches
and then i will go out and wander somewhere
take a look at Portland
the Dogs had other plans
when i looked outside
it looked like this
that i am in love with blue
it is a colour that takes me to a quite specific place and time
James Tate wrote beautifully about it
[click on the audio icon to hear the poem being read aloud]
there's a good reason why the Japanese word for blue is the same as the Japanese word for love
or so i have been told.
today i was thinking about our blue planet
and how the maps we have available are always too small
especially for someone has left footprints on four of the seven continents [gazing at Egypt from the deck of a boat on the Suez Canal as a toddler sadly doesn't count as stepping in Africa]; who keeps a bicycle in New Orleans, a cat in South Australia, her heart in San Francisco and "einen Koffer in Berlin" ##
so
i played around in Photoshop
and made a map that is really useful for planning trips
because
it allows you to compare distance easily with a piece of string [well, except for the curly bits around the poles] and goodness me, what a lot of blue!!!!
got any good maps you'd care to share?
## i plant trees to make up for all this wanton wandering...
Unfortunately the two words sound the same but are different: 愛 for love, 藍 for indigo...
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMy ignorance is exposed. Mea culpa (and another illusion shattered)
DeleteI will still think that blue=love. Because it does.
ReplyDelete>^*+*^<
DeleteYea, Christine.
ReplyDeleteyes, blue is magical, thank you for directing me to that poem and I really like that blue patchwork taking shape on your pin board.
ReplyDeleteLove the "map" of blues, that cloth in the corner is a gorgeous twilight. When I got pregnant, I made a "shrine of hope" of blue and birds, the only thing I knew for sure was that his middle name would be Blue.
ReplyDeleteour big blue marble gives us so many blues
ReplyDeletemusic, melancholia, pigment, leaves and above al love
lets love her in return
( India do you use the word dogs for gods? is this australian?)
Not Australian, just me
DeleteI believe in the Dogs Above.
:)
ReplyDeleteIch würde gerne einen Koffer in Berlin haben,
xxx
Und auch so singen können,oder?? xo
Deleteyour corner of portland keeps changing…bluetifully. fine poem, by the way.
ReplyDeleteOur favorite map is one made by our 4 yr old grandson. I spent two months this summer in San Francisco, home to my daughters, British son in law and our dynamic duo, our 4 yr old twin grandson and granddaughter. My husband joined us the last month in August. When our grandson learned that his Grandpa was coming he worried that he might get lost so he made him a map. On yellow construction paper, outlined in green, he drew England at the top, for his other grandpa, San Francisco as a huge area right next to England and at the bottom, all squiggly he drew New Mexico, where we live. That's his world and when asked why he chose yellow he said because yellow is like the sun and will help Grandpa find his way to us...
ReplyDeleteBlue has been my favorite color since day one, I would love to wear it everyday!
ReplyDeleteThank You for the Poem India it was lovely.
"blue satisfies her"
ReplyDeleteYes. It satisfies, acts as balm to one's soul, feeds the creative mind, washes away hurts and slights whether real or imagined, fuels us to continue along our paths...
Blue = love. Yes.
interesting India , maybee we are working in blue scotland 2014 after your workshop with Michael Garcia ? thank you for the written word , i learn something new everytime !!
ReplyDeleteI won't be teaching blue, Bodil...Michel is the master teacher in that department...but I am certainly embarking on a blue study path for myself. Maybe in twenty years time. Although that said, there are always iceflower dyes. Those I am entitled to teach, having developed the technique :)
Deletethank you India , iceflowers dye are great too , i have some seeds for next year in my garden too i am trying to work with, i am sure you have developed the technique for iceflower , your hands can do anything!!
DeleteHa! blue boobys gather blue like bower birds & love your blue cloth India!
ReplyDeleteMr. Tate reads nice and s l o w ... if one doesn't look at the words while he's reciting, the blues are even MORE intense, I think. That "blue foil" just gets me.
ReplyDeleteAustralia doesn't look quite as far away when it's spliced like that - not as long of a string as I imagined ;>]
and so to get there, you just need the right sort [and length] of string...
DeleteYou may not remember and technically you did not have your feet on Africa but you were either on my arm or in your perambulator in Aden.
ReplyDeletefangs Ma...so, on a technicality [after consulting the third umpire] it seems it's 5 down and two to go!!
Delete