Monday, August 28, 2006

Splash du Jour: Monday

The world is blue at its edges and in its depths. This blue is the light that got lost. Light at the the blue end of the spectrum does not travel the whole distance from the sun to us. It disperses among the molecules of the air, it scatters in water. Water is colorless, shallow water appears to be the color of whatever lies underneath it, but deep water is full of this scattered light, the purer the water the deeper the blue. The sky is blue for the same reason, but the blue at the horizon, the blue of land that seems to be dissolving into the sky, is a deeper, dreamier, melancholy blue, the blue at the farthest reaches of the places where you see for miles, the blue of distance. This light that does not touch us, does not travel the whole distance, the light that gets lost, gives us the beauty of the world, so much of which is in the color blue.
-- Rebecca Solnit

I agree with Rebecca.
For my own whimsical/mythical take on blueness, click here.

Have a great Monday!
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3 comments:

  1. What a wonderful passage and fun poem too! Blue is even a nice word to say :)

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  2. Thank you for reading.
    Can you imagine lying back on the grass and looking up... and the sky is all green with red stripes or something? Like you are locked into Dr. Suess's worst nightmare or whatever?
    No.
    Blue... and even this lighter sort of blue, yes. Good choice.
    It is the way to go. (:

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  3. Hmm, now stripes would be interesting. But blue still works better. Makes a nicer backdrop to white fluffy clouds, sunrises and sunsets :)

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Thank you for your words!