THE COLOR OF TIME

 A series of essays.....

Waiting For The Magic To Happen.....!

.....as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E. Hughes



Waking-up in the morning, I wonder....and, attempt to recreate in my mind all of the colors that I thought about, dreamt about while I slept.  Those swirling, magnificent shades of blue and green, with reds that range from 'Valentine's Day Bright' to the fading beauty of a deep, dusty rose.  The blacks.  The whites.  The various shades of gray.

Amazing, glorious color continues to guide me through the day acting as 'trigger mechanisms' releasing the flow of energy, imagination, if you will, that guides my actions and intentions while fueling the desire to be a fully functional and creative human being. 

Color creates moods; color changes moods.  Color evokes memories and, in turn, produces responses from those memories.  Yet, color is timeless. Color is ageless.  It can be yesterday, today or tomorrow and ebb and flow offering irregular outlines that shift like the seas with the tide.

Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

Color bounces off of solid surfaces, as does light and sound, within its epic lifetime journey and is refracted through a variety of eyes.  How often have you been asked the simple question, what is your favorite color, and hesitate...for a moment, because it's difficult to say just one?  Or, are you enamored of one solid contender?  I have to stop and think each time this question is posed because the lofty blue of the sky might be calling me that particular day...or, forty shades of green are pulling at my heart strings right then or, I am remembering the multiple shades of 'all colors' and 'lack of color' that pronounced my recent dream; the black, white and grays that surround my nocturnal existence.  It is difficult to choose.



This past Tuesday evening my husband and I were blown-away by the Blues/Rock-and-Roll musician, Joe Bonamassa, when he performed in concert at the newly opened Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando.  This master guitarist and songwriter performed with two bands, one acoustic and one electric, while showcasing his unique style of European influenced blues.  This magnificent entertainment  was a treat for the senses!  A sterling performance encompassing guitar perfection (at least eight acoustic and an equal amount of electric guitars were played by him) meshed with a dynamic percussion presentation that was beyond my wildest imagination. 




With not a still body in sight, we swooned, clapped, whooped and fell wantonly under the spell cast by the primal rhythms and musical beats that surrounded us under a velvety cloak of bliss.  The stage rolled and swayed from the weight of such unmitigated talent.  The bright lights enveloping all of us sprayed beams of rich, warm color all around the room as they danced rhythmically with the primal beat set-forth by Bonamassa and his band. 

Soft, powdery blues mixed with powerful beams of bright white light spotlighted Joe and turned the stage into an extraterrestrial-like encounter as this eclectic mixture of talented musicians delivered a gorgeously textured, unplugged experience.  At one point, the white illumination resembled sailing ships carrying the music across an imaginary sea and back to Europe, the place which lent its vintage flair to the acoustic blues set.

Like Ships Out At Sea......

The influences behind his second set, with a shift into electronic mode, introduced power in the form of giant beams of red, orange, gold and clean white lights illuminating the band and audience alike.  The capacity to help influence the behavior of others is often emphasized by the use of strong colors and light. It certainly worked for me!

 

Rock-and-Roll

Electronic Mode

Acoustic

Thank you, Joe Bonamassa!!!

Color does evoke memories, some pleasant, others not.  I have mentioned several times before how the deep, luscious reds of velvety rose petals call to mind my Mother's lips.....stained 'happy' for a night out on the town.  I could never pull-off wearing red lipstick for some reason.  Maybe my smile requires a deep shade of pink in order to be effective?  And, a pale mint color reminds me of a baby's layette with sweet thoughts of my youngest brother, Dennis, when he was brought home from the hospital swaddled in this soft shade of green.  Both of my girls wore an ample amount of pale green as babies because of the good feeling it elicited within me. 

I often wore pink growing-up.....and, not always by my choice.  Mom said the color appealed to my skin tone and complimented a slightly ruddy (interesting color word), deep skin shade which reminds me now of my Father.  Ahh!  Shades of pink: Blush, rose fuscia, magenta!  All shades that were memorably worn by my bridesmaids and flower girl in my wedding so long ago!  Today, pink remains such a forgiving color for me....

Yellow.  No.  I really don't know why!  Funny how some colors just do not penetrate the heart.  Maybe someday I will figure this one out!

Blue and every shade of blue imaginable....speaks to me with such power, liberation and sweet contentment.  I am reminded of vacations spent walking the beach for hours upon hours and staring out at the sea, so vast and powerful.  I am standing under a sky so blue it actually hurts my eyes in all its cloudless wonder.  Provençal blue pots containing massive varieties of flowers with colors and scents that overload the senses with their unabashed assaults always decorate my world. 

It is the deepest, darkest blue known to mankind and brings me under its spell, wraps me around its finger and takes my breath away.  It boggles my mind and captures my heart so completely each and every time I see it.  My mood improves just thinking about it.  I know that I am a better person because of it!  I am looking into my children's eyes....my beautiful daughters.  Pools of blue so deep and reflective that it's possible to dream only good thoughts and imagine a positive future within their cool depths.  This blue helps to keep me grounded and always continues to define me in so many constructive ways!

The color of time is a personal journey into the unknown where patches of glorious pigment, real or imagined, adhere to us like neon-bright 'sticky notes' providing directions (good/bad) and inspiration along the way.  We cannot ignore its presence; we can only acknowledge its existence and run with it.  Like a creative adjective, color modifies time and gussies-up our short life spans as we continue to plod along our individual paths.  Color gives us the power to change our world!

What is your favorite color?

Do colors affect your mood?

What is your least favorite color?




Copyright © 2014 by Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved

LIGHTS, LIGHTS AND MORE LIGHTS

A series of essays.....

~~A Bright Red Star~~

.....as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E. Hughes



"Do you see the magical glow yet?"

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"What happens Thanksgiving Day each and every year since we built this house fifteen years ago?"

"Well, you cook the turkey on the grill.....however, I've yet to see it burst into flames and create a bright light!!



Happy Birthday Lights

I swear this banter between us went on for several agonizing minutes. This is usually 'down time' for us as we sit on the lanai after dinner and talk about our day.  So, a pop-quiz or silly riddle to solve was above and beyond peaceful to me just then.  Considering he had recently  roasted our Rosemary, lemon and clarified butter 'bird' to perfection on his trusty Weber Grill and it had been his birthday the day right  after this.....I decided to give him some slack and play along.

Gazing above the screen enclosure facing a southwesterly direction...hint, hint, hint, he asked me once again, "Do you see the magical glow yet?  You know, the one that lights-up the sky and tends to figuratively 'suck-up' everyone else's energy source until after New Year's Day?"

I'm not remotely suggesting that any form of bright light source graced our softly greying evening sky as I followed his gaze towards the southwest.  As a matter of fact, it wasn't even late enough to catch a fleeting glimpse of the distant firework displays emanating from the various theme parks that thrive several miles away in that direction.  After some careful reasoning on my part, however, the proverbial 'light bulb' suddenly began to shed its light down upon me.  Thank goodness!

"Ahhhh!!  My goodness...how on earth could I have forgotten?" I asked myself.  "I get it...I get it but, I find it difficult to believe there isn't a visible 'glow' over there.  Maybe they moved.  Or, maybe the wonderful HOA (Translation: Crappy Home Owner's Association) put their 'Bah Humbug' stop to it this year!"

"I don't think they can do that...they could try but, I still don't think so," Dan said, with a slight sneer on his face.  Our HOA can be quite a sore subject for us.  But, as I often say....another story, another time.

Sitting there for an additional fifteen minutes or so, watching the detailed  shadows of varying shades of gray slip into a world of deep, impenetrable black, I couldn't take the suspense another second and jumped-out of my chair!  "That's it!  We have to take a walk around the neighborhood!  I have to know!"

I have always referred to our small (by Orlando standards), gated community as 'A Small Slice of Heaven' because our seventy-three stone and stucco homes rest on the old Morgan homestead that featured a working mill that once ground grain into flour and was powered by the small stream that runs right behind our subdivision.  I would enjoy being able to step-back in time and see the waterwheel that worked the machinery of Mr. Morgan's mill and take-in the sight of the many cows and other farm animals that I've been told grazed on the lush grasses growing along the water's bank.  One Floridian family lived and loved, worked and played, flourished and then disappeared long ago...in another era; a different lifestyle.

Grabbing a light jacket to help ward-off the chill of an autumn evening, we proceeded out the front door on our quest for visual affirmation.  Following our street, Morgan's Mill Circle, to the right, we were seven houses back from the bend in the road....and one gentle right turn before the proof we had been looking for would be staring us in the face....or not! 

As we approached house number five, I realized I had forgotten my handy-dandy cell phone which I have come to rely upon as my 'camera-on-the-go' more often than I care to admit. Apologies going out to my trusty Canon EOS.  "Do you want to go back for your phone before we turn the corner?  I suggest we do it now.  It'll only take a few minutes."  Dan was right.  Finally, with i-Phone in hand we backtracked up the street.

Passing house number five, number six, number seven and curving to the right....we stopped dead in our tracks!!  It was like discovering the Holy Grail right in our own backyard or, seeing the Eiffel Tower for the very first time or, watching that lone deer jump out in front of your moving vehicle on a snowy back road in Michigan and your heart stops in mid-beat!!! Yes, just like all of the above......

"Just Around the Corner"

LET THERE BE LIGHT.....or, in this case, so many wonderful, amazing, fascinating and colorful lights in every conceivable and imaginative holiday configuration.  "They've done it again!" was about all I could say because my finger on the phone's camera button was busy snapping away at this amazing sight.  Dan just stood there, mouth open, in absolute awe. 

"Closer....."

I am certain that from a bird's eye view or if looking down from one of the commercial jet liners that pass near us on their landing path into the Orlando International Airport a few miles to the south, a definite glow can be seen radiating up from our neighbor's house. Usually, that many lights on one property could be considered distasteful or gaudy and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation comes to mind here.  However, somehow these folks are able to pull this one off in a joyful, Christmas 'bright' kind of way, with interesting new additions to their 'madness' configured every year.  I only wish I could find some of the original pictures I had taken years ago to be able to contrast and compare today.  I know that the roof had been devoid of lights back then and at least some of the front yard was empty and visible. 

Before our feet could move us further down the street, we reasoned that the bright street lights located near their house must minimize the effect of a  'magical glow' that we hoped to see from our lanai.  And, maybe, just maybe it's all in our heads, anyway.  I will say that by the time we got up close enough to be able to distinguish the unique little compartments making-up the complete picture of this monumental effort, our hearts were once again enlightened by the sheer amount of work put into it. 

"You notice that the people living around it don't even bother to decorate their houses?"  Dan, logically, replied to this, "They don't have to.  All they have to do is keep their curtains opened and they can share in the 'Light' all season long!" 

"Closer still....."

I chuckled to myself thinking that if anyone around that house needed to go to sleep early, black-out curtains on their bedroom windows might be in order.

We finally tore ourselves away from the 'Light' and were able to walk away, even though I found myself turning my head and looking behind me several times.  How could I leave it?  The sight calls and beckons like a moth to a flame. 

Side View

"Where do you think they will go from here?" I asked my husband as he was literally pulling me along....away from the 'Light.'  "I haven't a clue.  Hey, don't we ask ourselves that question every year?  Somehow they always manage to extend themselves."

Successfully making it past several houses down the street, I snapped a picture of another neighbor's decorating efforts and suddenly the words, subtle, calming, clean and tasteful came to mind.  Oh, and did I mention the word....pretty?

Nice Try!!!

Taking into consideration that our 'rambunctious neighbors' happen to live in the center core of the subdivision, with both sides of their house openly exposed from two of the three streets comprising Morgan's Mill, that crazy light bulb flashed-on above me, once again.

"I know the answer," I said, while looking at Dan with a sheepish grin on my face.  And, all I could envision was strings of colorful lights, candy canes, stars, snowmen, presents, trees, wreaths and Saint Nicks slithering over the rooftop like so many bright snakes invading our neighbor's current dark and colorless backyard.....!

Merry Christmas from Morgan's Mill Circle, Orlando, Florida, USA!




Copyright © 2014 by Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved

GRATEFUL.....

A series of essays.....





~~BREAKING THROUGH THE MORNING FOG~~

.....as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E. Hughes


When I swing my legs out of bed each morning, before they remotely make contact with the carpeting, there is a small and concise ritual I go through in order to jump-start my day.  With our mornings remaining dark...cozy even, until well after six-thirty, the atmosphere is conducive to a relaxed mood and a clear mindset. 

This is my time to converse with that which I believe to be the all-connecting power that is greater than myself and unites us, mankind, together as a whole; one entity that defines our existence and qualifies our essential nature.  I have always accepted that we are not set upon this beautiful place we live, Mother Earth, alone and helpless. We will always have and need one another.

So, my ritual is one of Thanksgiving....and here all this time you thought this celebration only lasted one day, the fourth Thursday in the month of November, and called "Turkey Day!!"  Not exactly.  I sit comfortably with my shoulders back, my back straight and eyes closed.  When I am ready, after taking several deep, intoxicating breaths, I repeat out loud, as often as I wish, two simple words...two words we teach our children to say whenever they are grateful for something...a new toy, an unexpected surprise or a simple compliment.  I say, "Thank You...Thank You...Thank You!"  Very straightforward.

After all, it's pretty wonderful to be able to move, sit-up and breathe each morning, isn't it?  We are alive to meet-and-greet yet another day and that, in and of itself, is intrinsically cool! 

Opening my eyes to the new day, it's now time to formulate a simple plan for myself.  It's time to set my intentions for the day.  Yes, making coffee as soon as possible is a good plan.  More of a mandatory requirement for my well-being and sanity rather than a good intention, however.  My thoughts are more in terms of having a purpose or a goal set for the day and to design a strategy with the intent of achieving it with grace and dignity.  My goal may be as uncomplicated as intentionally sharing a smile with everyone I meet or being productive and focussed enough to write two-thousand words by the end of my workday.  Whatever my purpose is, my intent is to see it through to fruition knowing that if I do not..., I will not beat myself up over it.  I will only try harder the following day.

This is now the time that I sit back and smile, smile, smile as big and wide as I possibly can!  You know the kind of smile I'm talking about.  The kind that raises your cheeks up high, fills your body with warmth and makes you feel a bit silly sitting alone in the dark looking like the Cheshire Cat on a good day!  With his distinctive and mischievous grin, you can almost hear this Tabby Cat's quote from Lewis Carroll's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,' published in 1866, and remains prevalent today: "Most everyone's mad here.  You may notice that I'm not all there myself."

The Cheshire Cat
Illustrated by John Tenniel in the 1866
Publication of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'

I cannot take myself seriously this early in the morning!  But, I know that my intentions are good and smiling makes me feel good.  So, if  during this long, complicated day, I feel as though my body wishes to disappear from time to time, the last thing visible on my face will be an iconic grin depicting a win for the 'good guys!'

Florida Essentials

Before slipping my waiting feet into the tan, Crocs flip-flops, affectionately known as 'my slippers,' in order to begin my day (by making a fresh pot of coffee), there is one last step to be taken in my morning ritual.  This is the time for me to forgive myself and ease my guilt over  yesterday's mistakes.  I remember the goal of two-thousand words yesterday that only added-up to be five hundred.  Perhaps my smiles were not as lavished upon others as I had originally intended.  Was I a bit too short-tempered with a loved-one who made an innocent mistake? 

This is where you set yesterday's misguided actions aside and actually try to understand Scarlett O'Hara's mantra from the classic movie, 'Gone with the Wind,' based on the novel written by Margaret Mitchell.  "I can't think about that right now.  I'll think about that tomorrow.  After all... tomorrow is another day."  The idea of putting things off for another day always represented inadequacy in the form of  failure or shame.  Placing my stubbornness and strong will aside for a moment in order to see a much broader picture of the world, and having lived, well....., let's just say, a few years now beyond my twenties, the importance of being patient and more tolerant becomes normal and acceptable.  Especially when dealing with myself!

As soon as I realize that there is yet another chance of 'getting it right' and my deep breaths represent twenty-four new hours of hope and determination, it's easy for me to forgive myself for yesterday's mistakes.  It's time to move on....




My Favorite Mug!!

Now, sitting here sipping my coffee and having placed my day, my life, in order, I realize how cherished these few minutes alone each morning really are for me.  Between the tantalizing aroma of the fresh brew and the prospect of a new day, a new beginning.... and with a  smile on my face the Cheshire Cat would certainly be proud of, I remain calm and carry on.

Author's Note:
I am extremely grateful for being able to witness this morning the highly successful launch of the Orion Spacecraft test flight over in Cape Canaveral a few miles away!  Awesome, NASA!  And, continued good luck....



Copyright © 2014 by Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved