Enga mellom fjella

Color me midnight-blue

Crayons

My sister and I had the small box of crayons, Mickey (Michelle Brown, not to be confused with Mickey = Michael Louis who was also a neighbor) had the big 48 box.

I had crayon-envy. A very serious issue when one is 10.

I had already decided that blue was not my color. Orange was ...and green.

I remember having to choose a knight of the round table. I chose Percival. I drew a coat-of-arms in melon and sea-green. Colors I still like.

I also liked midnight blue. Didn't care for navy. Which is ironic because that's the color of the print you are reading... Midnight-blue was greener as navy was more purple. I liked forest green as well.

50 years later I still like those colors although my palette is broader in some ways. Still not overly fond of pink or puce.

50 years later I have the big big box (in Montana). Mickey: .

Scarlet pimpernel:

When I was around ten we made a town in the dirt. One of the weeds that I pampered there had a small 5 petaled orange flower. I loved it! So humble, but to me it was befitting. Years later i found out it was the scarlet pimpernel.

Me and my sister:

I think we are the sum of our inner self, our up-bringing, our culture and society, our choices, our experiences. Crayons and weeds may not figure in your lives, but they do in mine. I knew beauty at a very young age. I knew I was close to nature and part of it.

And a "town" full of clay roads, plastic cars, scrap wood for houses meant I had to use my imagination. Just like having to play with my sister's dolls was a trade-off to get her to play in the dirt.

She was part of that too. Shelley's birthday is today (So was Shelley Long's). She has chickens and a garden. She married an engineer. She drives an SUV. She has dolls in her house for her grandchildren. She paints in acrylics. I bet she has a big box of crayons too.

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