The topic of color keeps coming around to me.  So color me curious.
I may as well talk about it.

Color is really the grandest of magic tricks.  It happens when light comes in contact with a surface.  Now light is made up of the spectrum of colors…. and the surface either absorbs part of the spectrum, or bounces it off.  When blue bounces… we see blue. And on.  When all of the colors bounce, we see white.  When they all get absorbed… we see black.

But they bounce and absorb in a gazillion-gabillion different combinations.  Nuances.

So when someone asks me what my favorite color is… I am a little confounded.  How can I answer that?  How could I possibly choose one?  And what the heck would I call it?  There are buckets full!

I found out…. just yesterday… that I am not alone in this mindset.  My brother thinks the same exact thing.  And let me tell you this… my brother KNOWS color.  He used to work at Sherwin-Williams.  He was the Grand Namer of the Paint Chips.  Like Flight of the Rose…. and Sand Dollar Whisper.

But back to it.  You see… I really like… let’s say… BLUE.  But there are… right now… in the same room with me… about 20 different colors of blue that I can see.  Just from where I am sitting.  Some of them I like.  Others…. not so much.  Depending on “the blue” it may or may not be my favorite color.

This is particularly true of green.  Wow.  There are some gorgeous greens.  Then… there is snot.  And bile.  Yuk.  I’m not crazy about neon green either.. or army-drab green.  So you see?  All greens are not alike.

There is an entirely different level to this as well.

My “favorite” color changes all the time.  Right now, I am really jazzed about orange. Years ago… I couldn’t stand anything orange.  I think the lighting is different these years.  That MUST be it.

As it turns out… those guys in the white lab coats (all the light deflecting) … in those big labs…. have deemed that color affects our moods, our emotions, our development,  and even our appetites.  Blue and purple are relaxing; red is a passionate color and increases our circulation;  green is the heart color, associated with peace and earth energy… but yellow.   Yellow affects the nervous system.  It is a high energy color, causing our minds and nerves to be stimulated.  They say you should never paint a bedroom yellow.  Guess what color my bedroom was while I was growing up?

Follow the Yellow Brick Road, Toto.

We owe a lot of this haberdashery to Sir Isaac Newton.  One day, he caught some light in a prism… split it into seven different colors…. and we haven’t been the same since.  And then… the apple dropped on his head.  Which is why I am writing this on an Apple Computer.  But that is a whole-nother story.

There are bold colors and bland colors.  Light ones and dark.  There are warm colors… and cold colors.  Yep….  for me… what color I like is highly dependent on the current room temperature.  If it is cold in the room… I like to see a good red, or an orange.  Hot summer day… give me a blue.  As in …  deep blue pool of water.

Oh so much to consider… in the way of color.  Heck.  Try painting your kitchen.

These days… I would have to say my favorite color is … Sock Monkey Gray.  It matches me.  Like a sock.

“We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.” – Maya Angelou

“On my desk, Sulley. The pink copies go to Accounting, the fuchshia ones go to Purchasing, and the goldenrod ones go to Roz. Leave the puce.” – Mike Wazowski

There used to be this old guy down the street from us.  His name was Herman Galloway.  Everybody used to call him “Cookie”…. but I don’t know why.

But old Herman would always have a “saying” for everything.  Most of the time, they just didn’t make a bit of sense to me.

One of them….. he used to say, from time to time, was…. “There ain’t nothing fancy about Fancy Ketchup.  But.  If you see a fancy fence, you can bet good money……they got a gate that’s just as fancy.”

And there you have it.

Herman was right.

“Why not be oneself? That is the whole secret of a successful appearance. If one is a greyhound, why try to look like a Pekingese?” – Dame Edith Sitwell

In case you were wondering.  The raven is the largest bird of the crow family.   Now….I really like a crow.  They are smarty birds.  They like the shiny object.  But, back to the size.  It is a big crow….. twice as heavy… at 3 pounds.  That is a lot of weight to be flopping around with a couple of wings.   Yet…..  they have very good wings… with a span of 3.3 feet.   Ravens can live 40 years in the wild and 70 in captivity.

Ravens can soar high above the trees… which is very unlike crows.  Those crows rely on active flight. But Ravens… they are stylish.  They are capable of aerial stunts similar to those executed by the birds of prey.

Ravens are considered the most intelligent birds… as I mentioned before.  They are capable of displaying high learning ability and use of logic for solving problems.  I am not kidding you…… they are smarties.  In some tests bypassing the chimpanzees.

Scientists have tested them.  Deemed them whacky-smart. Due to their intelligence, ravens are very playful.  They will tease and prank other animals.  Cool-io.    Get this.  Ravens have been even taught to count.

Throughout history… a lot of people have thought ravens are pretty neat-o…. and others have pegged them as scary.  The Chinese, the Egyptians and the Greeks… depict the raven as a messenger of storms or bad weather. In African and European legends, the raven forecasts death.   Shakespeare wrote about  the Raven.  So did Edgar Allan Poe.

Now a 49er is a much different beast.

A Forty-Niner is a person who went to California… in search of gold.  Beginning in the spring of 1848…. they were pretty much just the residents of California themselves. And…. these first miners tended to be families in which everyone helped in that old gold-mining effort.   There’s treasure in them hills…  I say…. Treasure!

Word of the Gold Rush spread slowly at first. It kind of “fanned” out.

The earliest gold-seekers were people who lived near California.  By the beginning of 1849, word of the Gold Rush had spread around the world, and an overwhelming number of gold-seekers and merchants began to arrive from virtually every continent. The largest group of fortune seekers in 1849 were Americans.  These folks arrived by the tens of thousands…. across land in wagons, on horses, on foot.   They also came along various sailing routes.  Of course, the name “forty-niner” was derived from the year 1849.

It is estimated that approximately 90,000 people arrived in California that year…. about half by land and half by sea.  The gold hunters continued to flow.   By 1855, it is estimated at least 300,000 gold-seekers, merchants, and other immigrants had arrived in California from around the world.

And that’s it.  The Super Bowl of Information.

So, if a Raven and a Forty-Niner were to get in a match….  who would win?  It depends on the match.

If you race between two points… as the crow flies… well heck.  The Raven wins every time.

If you see who is better at finding shiny objects in a creek… well dang.   Winner is…. Rave.

If you have a contest to see who can grow a longer, smelly beard… well darn.  Forty-Niner.

And…. if you have a fashion show for leather boots, and flannel shirts….  well shoot.  Forty-Niner.

Football…. that would be… Holy Smackerels.  It is the Raven.

“Winning isn’t always finishing first. Sometimes winning is just finishing.” – Manuel Diotte

Well.  Since this time of the year seems to be filled with all sorts of awards… I thought I’d publish my own list.

This year, I bring you….the…..

“I Don’t Give A Rat’s Butt Awards”

Yes.  They go like this.

I don’t give a rat’s butt that some poor desperate man called a guy on the Notre Dame football team and pretended to be a woman.

Don’t care one iota.

I don’t give a rat’s butt that Beyonce lip synced.  Ever.  Heck… I don’t even care that Milly Vanilly did it way back when.  Or Scritty Politty…..  Or whoever the heck it was.

I don’t give a rat’s butt that someone named Rihanna is back with someone named Chris Brown.  They are probably slapping each other silly right now.

I don’t even care that a Kardashian is having a baby.  I don’t really give any consideration to anything Kardashian.  I am not entirely sure why they are in the news to begin with.

I don’t give a rat’s butt that Miley Cyrus got a new tattoo. Don’t care about that Justin Bieber kid either.

No rat’s butt for the 49er’s Cheerleaders giving me their tips on how to stay in shape.  Or that Chicken Wings are bad for me.   Nope.

I grow tired of this unending revolving door of “newsworthy” information that infiltrates our homes every time you pick up a newspaper, or turn on the TV.

Actually, in all my life, there is not at time when I  remember caring much about the “Buzz” that now seems to be a constant source  of noise in our society.  But someone cares.  Someone fuels it.  The National Enquirer is still alive and well and on the news stands.  Liz and Michael and Elvis and all ….

I wonder what would happen if society gave as much energy and attention to making things better… like education, health care, anti-violence, human rights, conservation, global warming… and such.  I wonder.  Now THOSE are some headlines.

“No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.” – Bertrand Russell

To dare mighty things…

It happened on a Monday.  It was February 1, 1960, when four  college students sat down at the lunch counter inside a Woolworth’s store.  They were at 132 South Elm Street in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Those men… who later became known as the Greensboro Four, ordered some coffee.  Not much too ask, really.   But.  Following store policy, the guy at the lunch counter refused to serve the African American men.  You see, they were sitting at the “whites only” counter.  Go figure.  The store’s manager didn’t come over to make it right.  Nope.  Instead, he asked them to leave.
The four university freshmen – Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr. , and David Richmond – stayed until the store closed.  They didn’t get that cup of coffee.

Imagine that.  They couldn’t get served at a restaurant because they were black.  Why?  Because some white person, somewhere, at some time… said they were not worthy.  They were not equal.  They were less than human.
Can you conceive of such a thing?  It makes my stomach sick to think of such a discrimination against another human being. But a lot of white people felt this way.  They hated blacks.

This was a little over 50 years ago.
This all happened because black people seemed somehow different than white people.
Whew.  I am glad we are in an age now of higher awareness, where people are treated as equals… here in the great and free country of the United States… without question.   The modern age.  Smarter.  Advanced.  Sure enough.

Or is it?
Unfortunately, this same type of thinking still happens.  Yep.  For an example.  What if two people who were in love… oh… let’s say for almost a quarter of a century…. could not have the same legal rights as other married couples.   Because they didn’t seem the same as the majority.  Hmmm.  I don’t ask anyone for God’s Blessing.  I leave that to God.
For those of you who still believe that you should have more rights than another… because of how you look… or what you “believe”….
I have news for you.
The world is flat.  Blood-letting works.  The sun goes around the world.  And maggots are born spontaneously from rotting meat.

Tonight, I am sitting at the lunch counter.  Whether you will serve me a cup of coffee, or not.

“To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.” – Abraham Lincoln

Sometimes, when you least expect to find something…. you find it.

It could be anything really.  Anything.

Tonight I was watching the news.  I found out that a tree fell on Mrs. Kohler’s house.  Her house used to be yellow… the kind of yellow that you would find when you opened a pack of banana taffy.   I saw on the news that her house is now blue.  She doesn’t live there any more.  I was a kid… growing up on Bruce Avenue when I last saw her.  She died a long time ago.

Her husband’s name was Dick.  Dick and Ethel Kohler.  They had a 1969 Black Volkswagen.  They kept it in their garage which had the kind of doors that opened side to side… like accordion panels.  When they’d go out, which wasn’t often, they would take that shiny 1969 Black Bug.  When they returned, they would dust it off with a soft white cloth, and then cover it up.

I always thought this was strange.  My Mom and Dad didn’t do anything like that with our greenish gold station wagon… which was always loaded with a kaboodle of kids.

I liked Mr. and Mrs. Kohler.  Their kitchen always smelled like Pine-Sol.  They were nice to me.  And they always seemed to have fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.  I used to go up to their back steps and knock on the white creaky screen door… just to say hi.  Looking back, I think my real motive was a cookie.

Their black Volkswagen was eventually my first car.  I learned how to drive in that shiny black Bug.

So… watching the news tonight… when I least expected it… I found all these memories.
They were always there.  I just hadn’t noticed them in a while.  A found treasure.
Which had been long camouflaged in the brain.

But one little glimmer… tipped it all off.

I like when I find little treasures.  They really are everywhere, if I look.  I am glad for that.  Thankful.

“A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one.”  – Heraclitus of Ephesus

“The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us.” – Ashley Montagu

People who know me well, will not be surprised by the following statement.
I think my favorite food is salt.

Yep.  I eat a lot of salt.  A salty dog, I am.  If my blood pressure weren’t 102 / 59…. I might cut back.  But, the last time I went to the doctor, my blood tests showed that my body is low in sodium.  Doctor T looked at me earnestly and said, “If you could try eating more salt, that would be good.”  I told her I didn’t think it was possible.

So as it turns out….. I am a bit of a mover and and a shaker.
I am also a rock biter.   You see… this is how it goes.  Sodium Chloride (that’s salt) is formed when the unstable metal sodium reacts with chlorine gas.   Yummy.  It is the only family of rocks regularly eaten by humans.  I eat a lot of rocks.

And wouldn’t you know it.  Salt is so essential to the body that if you drink too much water it can flush it out of your system and cause fatal Hyponatremia. (This is what killed that young woman… Jennifer Strange… who entered a “Hold your wee for a Wii” competition.)

On the other hand.  Consumption of too much salt can be deadly.  The deadly amount is a whole, whole lot of salt…. to most people.  You need to take about 1 gram of salt per kilogram of weight to die.  This ratio was used as a method of ritual suicide in China…..especially amongst the nobility of certain dynasties….  as salt was so expensive way back then.

It has been expensive in many places… and many times.  In the early 1800s salt was 4 times as expensive as beef on the frontier.   It was pretty dang essential in keeping people and livestock alive.  I for one… am glad that the cost of salt is down.

These days… only 6% of the salt used in the U.S. is used in food.  It appears that the Department of Transportation is responsible for a bunch.  More than 17% is used for de-icing streets and highways in the winter months.

But enough about that.  I love a good salt shaker.  Especially when it is full.
I think  the reason that I like salt so much, is because my Dad used to be a Salt Salesman.  After he would close a deal.. he would say to his client… “Let’s shake on that.”

Yep.
NaCl Baby!  NaCl.

Coming Next Week:  “Pepper.  It is nothing to sneeze at.”

I am so very fortunate.

There is an abundance of beauty around me…..   So much goodness in the world.  There are many things to be thankful for and innumerable  people who have touched my life in ways that I will never forget.

Someone offered me incredible words of peace and kindness this evening.

Those words and that act of kindness… reminded me swiftly and fiercely of the good.

The Good in the World.

It is important to me…. to do what I can, when I can…. to help with The Good.

I truly believe, it still outweighs the bad.  By bucket-fulls.   After all.   I am lucky enough… to know all of you.

“Do the best you can.  But, remember that you can’t set everything right, and that you can’t make everything better.” – R. Hucks

“Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” – Scott Adams

Okay….. it is always best to take a good look at the details here…..
How about if we consider the facts.

1. You will eat six elephants.
2. You should ride an airplane, not a donkey.
3.  Your brain may not  be what you think.
4. Mothers.  Be glad you weren’t an elephant.
5. Dentists.  You could make a million from sharks.
6. Your yard is full of nuts.
7. Walt put the ban on gum.
8. Mollusks are everywhere, and yet….
9 The IRS will come looking for you… even after the bomb.
10. Shower.  Like everyone else.

Now that all that is out of the way….
I better clarify.
1. A person eats around 60,000 pounds worth of food during his or her lifetime…. which adds up to be the equivalent of six elephants.  Trunks and all.
2. More people are killed from donkeys in a year than planes.  I don’t know how this happens… but it is true.  Angry donkeys?  Clumsy donkey riders?  I just can’t figure.
3. Human brains are estimated to be 70% to 75% water.  Now… with good cause….. you can call me bubble brain.  Really.
4. With mammals, no animal has a longer pregnancy term than that of the African Elephant.  This has been documented at an average of 22 months.   Elephants also have these huge ankles during pregnancy.  Oh wait.  They always have huge ankles.
5. Some sharks lose over 30,000 teeth in a lifetime.  I think brushing and proper flossing would help them immensely.
6. Squirrels forget where about 50% of the nuts they’ve hidden are.  This sucks for the squirrel.
7. Disneyland does not sell chewing gum.  Walt Disney did not want guests inconvenienced by stepping on gum purchased in the park.  I think he had a fear of Gumshoes.
8. Mollusks are the second largest phylum in the world.  More than 100,000 different species.  Some don’t have a head.
9. In the United States, the Internal Revenue Service has an employees handbook for the collections division unit. That is really no surprise.  But… this… THIS… kind of bites.  You see, in that stinking handbook…. are instructions which guide employees on how to collect taxes after a nuclear war.  Don’t answer your door during the End of Days.  Seriously.
10. Most people shower the same way…. from the top down.  75% of the population begin washing in the head area and finish up down around the ankles.  Squeaky clean.

“There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the later ignorance” – Hippocrates

I love to watch the movies.  I like all kinds… except for the horror, slasher, blood and guts movies.

But I think I am getting harder to please.  It just doesn’t seem like I get to see that many REALLY GOOD movies these days.

Now LINCOLN…. that was a great movie.  But I’ll watch some of the others that are nominated for best picture… and say to myself….  “Ay, Caramba!” (In Ricky Riccardo’s voice).

Perhaps, it is simply that I’m getting a crusty outer shell.  For instance.   Has anyone seen Star Wars lately?   I mean… THE Star Wars…. with Luke and Leah and Hans.  It is pretty gosh-darn hokey pokey.  When I first saw Star Wars, back in the day, I thought it was incredible.  Amazing. Astounding.  And now…. I can see the strings on the flying spaceships and bad Wookie costumes.

These days… they make movies out to be the greatest show on earth.  Crazy good. Thrilling.  Cutting-edge-of-the-seat-of-your-pants-on-fire good.  They turn out to be Big Fish Stories.  Most of them, anyway.

Yep.  Call me the demanding-suspicious-curmudgeon this evening.

Okay.  But last night, I thought… a good old movie on Netflix.  That is  THE ticket.  Exactly what I need.   So I chose “The Shop Around the Corner” with Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan.  I had never seen it before.  Oh want enjoyment it brought me.  Then…. about half way through… I said to Maxine…  “Max.  This film reminds me a little bit of ‘You’ve Got Mail’… you know…. the one with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.”  And Max nodded in agreement.

Then, when Jimmy Stewart is outside of the diner, and Margaret Sullivan is inside with the carnation in the book…. I said… “THIS IS YOU’VE GOT MAIL!  Nora Ephron ripped this off!  IS NOTHING SACRED?”  Maxine barked in agreement.

Okay.  So maybe I over reacted.  And maybe this is common knowledge to the rest of the world.  But last night… it was big dang news to me.

I felt deceived.  Duped.  Heck, I loved “You’ve Got Mail” and with good reason.  It is an old Jimmy Stewart movie…. counterfeited.  Stolen.  Highjacked.

Hmmmph.

The next thing you know… they be trying to tell me that Harvey isn’t real.

May The Force Be With You.  May it be with you all.  Hook, line, and sinker.