Thirteen Thursday: View from the Blue
1. Blue… winners strive for it … babies’ babble it… purple is another version of it… I once did a poetry reading using only poems that had the word “blue” somewhere in them.
2. There are so many ways to say blue: aquamarine, azure, sapphire, navy, midnight, periwinkle, royal, turquoise, indigo. Did I miss any?
3. I live off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Floyd County, a one stoplight rural small town. The Parkway is a 469 mile scenic road that runs through the Blue Ridge Mountains from the Shenandoah National Park’s Skyline Drive in Virginia to Oconaluftee in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Cherokee, North Carolina.
4. In a WVTF radio essay called Homegrown, I asked, “Where else but in Floyd could you learn from an old-timer how to forage ginseng one day and then meet Wavy Gravy, the Woodstock clown with an ice-cream flavor named after him, in town for Floyd Fest the next?”
5. There’s a Floyd legend that many of us transplants came to the county after reading somewhere that more tofu was sold here than anywhere else in eastern part of the country.
6. Where else but in Floyd can you grocery shop and get a receipt that says Namaste on it?
7. My husband and I got married at the Saddle Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway on a Blue Moon in June when the full moon and the setting sun were in the sky together, like a bride and groom. At the reception at Chateau Morrisette, I danced to the song “Blue Moon” with my dad.
8. I just sold a piece to our local paper about a one-woman play that I saw in August, depicting the life of Orlene Puckett, a mountain midwife who lived from 1837 to 1939 and lived in a cabin on the Parkway. There’s a direct correlation between blogging this past year and a half and having the confidence now to submit stories (that I want to write about anyways).
9. I want to shock the world with cobalt … invent new blue slang… drop its name in conversation… wear all shades of it… My Celtic ancestors went into battle naked and painted blue. Here’s a good photo of the Blue Girls of Floyd Fest.
10. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young have reunited for a war protest tour called “Freedom of Speech.” It’s sad that so many of their songs written about Vietnam apply again today. Here’s a excerpt from a Chicago Newspaper about the tour: Even with the Bush administration under the most scrutiny of its lifetime, not many younger bands have been so bold as to stage an entire tour like this one. One likely reason is that no band has such a readymade songbook to pull from. (The word blues does appear in the article and Stephen Still has a bright blue shirt on).
11. When I was a girl people thought my sister Kathy and I were twins. We were close in size and my mother would sometime buy us the same clothes, mine in blue and hers in red, in order to tell them (and us) apart.
12. In Floyd, we get fresh fish from Indigo Farms Seafood, a business run by two women who make weekly trips to the coast bringing back fresh seafood to sell off their refrigerated truck. I call them “The Indigo Girls.”
13. My favorite famous last words in a novel are from Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins and go like this: … Indigo … indigoing … indigone.
Thursday headquarters is here. My other 13’s are here.
September 6th, 2006 11:51 pm
We had a color in Mississippi that the women in my ladies Sunday School class called “menopausal blue”, a royal blue with just a touch of slate thrown in.
September 6th, 2006 11:53 pm
I recall reading a post on a person’s blog about the blue hour. I had always been aware of this special time of day, but didn’t realize that entire cultures knew about it. (I think since we’ve gotten more detached from Nature these kind of awareness have been lost.) If ever there is a time when I can feel magic in the air, it’s at this time of day!
September 6th, 2006 11:53 pm
Cerulean. cornflower, and slate come to mind–but the last may not count what with the gray and all. 🙂
September 6th, 2006 11:57 pm
So did you and your sister ever change clothes just to confuse people??
Happy TT!
September 7th, 2006 1:52 am
What a great list!! #7 sounds beautiful – I would love to see a picture!
There is just something about the color blue.
Mine is up!
September 7th, 2006 2:40 am
I love the color blue! Have you heard of Nivea blue? the cream? it is a term in Germany! where “to be blue” means being drunk… Didn’t know that Crosby, Stills Nash, and Young have reunited for a war protest tour…that will be interesting! My mom dressed my sister and I alike when we were little. ..only we are 5 years apart! Happy TT!
September 7th, 2006 3:16 am
A GREAT TT and “Am I Blue?” (Do you know that song?)
A lot of blue around Floyd and you, too! I love that your mother bought your clothes in Blue!
Also, that is a great reciept with Namaste at the bottom….I tell you I wish I could visit Floyd….well, truthfully, I wish I could visit anywhere! lol….
But Floyd is a truly rare place for a small town with one stop light.
How did Floyd become the artists/healthy haven that it is Colleen? It is pretty amazing for a small place don’t you think?
September 7th, 2006 6:23 am
Blue is one of my favorite colors! You have a very creative list for this week!
Happy Thursday!
September 7th, 2006 7:36 am
blue is my favoritist color. 🙂 And the Blue Ridge Mountains will always be “home”
September 7th, 2006 8:14 am
Great list…everyone of the 13.
I’m blue about anything to do with Bush, and glad there are protest songs to make people think – sad though that theres a need to recycle them.
LOL to # 11. I remember well. I still wear a lot in the red/pink family, but I love color in any shade and especially BLUE.
September 7th, 2006 8:57 am
To answer your question, Naomi, briefly: The mirgration to Floyd started with back-to-the-landers. There were several communes here back in the late 70s, still are some but they are called communities. Those folks got busy growing food, oraganizing a Rudolf Steiner school, food co-op etc, and word spread. The land was affordable and there was already a culture of independence here, farmers, musicians, artists to learn from and build on.
Tracie, there is a picture of my wedding. Just click on the underlined word to link to it.
September 7th, 2006 9:31 am
I’m so in love with Floyd. Someone should write a fictional novel that’s set there. 🙂 Hint, hint.
September 7th, 2006 9:35 am
Ha ha. Tesla= bad 80s metal rock band. Gay-dar= radar that lets you know when men are gay so you don’t waste time hitting on them. Innate in some women, not in me.
Used in a sentence: “He’s hot!” response “He’s gay. Do you HAVE any gay-dar?”
September 7th, 2006 9:54 am
#2: Robin’s egg blue?
Love the sales receipt & congrats on #8!
September 7th, 2006 10:13 am
Thanks Colleen. Flyod is a fascinating place, for sure!
Oh, and I just thought of another blue…Cobolt…!
September 7th, 2006 11:05 am
your post made me homesick! i spent my “formative” years in the blue ridge mountains of western nc. even though i’ve stll been in the appalachians since then, the blue ridge will always be home for me.
September 7th, 2006 11:28 am
One of my wedding colors was periwinkle!
That Namaste slip is great!
I have seen soooooo many blogs that have had pictures of peaches lately it’s crazy! Makes me want to go buy some.
Happy Thursday!
September 7th, 2006 11:37 am
My eyes are a lovely shade of blue. I wonder what you would say about them?
We need more stores that say “Namaste” and that is how I ended my 13 this week.
September 7th, 2006 12:55 pm
Cerulean blue came to my mind. Great list and the more you write about Floyd…the more I can’t wait to visit there in about 5 weeks.
September 7th, 2006 2:24 pm
My favorite color is blue!
September 7th, 2006 2:50 pm
#2. only a non-native would forget Carolina blue. go Heels!
#10. Crosby, Stills, and Nash = old, ugly, and no new skills. They could be dwarfs in Snow White. Of course they are anti-establishment as that is all they have learned since their first gig. True patriots don’t jump on the media bandwagon.
September 7th, 2006 2:59 pm
And did you sip any Our Dog Blue at the winery after your Blue Moon wedding on the Blue Ridge Parkway?
September 7th, 2006 3:18 pm
As to #2…what about Teal, Robin’s egg, hyacinth, periwinkle, ultra marine or my favorite color Cobalt blue, which you do mention later in your blog. And, oh my gosh, how could I have forgotten “Carolina Blue”…you can tell I’m not big on sports.
September 7th, 2006 3:50 pm
you should have mentioned when I was sick and saw you guys in blue…. remember?
September 7th, 2006 3:54 pm
Very Blue list…I love to watch Bloo/Blue on Foster’s Home of Imaginary Friends with my son.
September 7th, 2006 4:49 pm
Blue is the color of my soul.
I love this post…is this the same Floyd that has clod-hoppin’ on Saturday nights? If so, I’ve heard of your town. It sounds wonderful, think I’d love to stop and stay a while!
September 7th, 2006 5:18 pm
Yes, it’s that Floyd, famous for the Friday night Jamboree that has been written about in the Washington Post several times. The dancing is called “flat footing” or “clogging.” Here’s a link
http://www.floydcountrystore.com/
September 7th, 2006 9:48 pm
How about robin-egg or electric blue? Are those colors too? and teal, one of my best friend’s favorite colors to wear.
Love your list, as I do every Thursday. My aunt had told me to go to the Orlean Puckett..she really enjoyed the act.
September 8th, 2006 6:07 am
That’s a lot of blues 🙂
Another blue would have been The Royal blue color we have in Sweden…
You’re a good writer!
September 8th, 2006 6:42 am
oh i love tom robbins too and those are some favourite last line of mine too. i’ve had at least 4 copies of that book and lent them all out. noone ever wants to give it back 🙂
i read down too and am so glad you updated about your friend and her iceland and then greece trip. beautiful.
thank you.
lovely to smile.
September 8th, 2006 9:13 am
Got down to the middle and expected to see a photo of you painted blue and naked and ready to battle. Guess I leaped to quickly.
Sounds more hippie than San Francisco.
September 8th, 2006 9:19 am
That’s a lot of blue, Colleen.
Marie over at BlueRidgeBlog recently wrote a post complaining about people raiding “her” ginseng. I didn’t know it was such a popular pastime but according to her too many people raid it and destroy the plants entirely instead of selectively picking it so as to ensure a future supply. Like in so many other areas, people are short sighted about ginseng also, I guess.
September 8th, 2006 4:54 pm
I’ve got a weakness for cobalt blue too.
Congrats on selling that piece of writing.
September 9th, 2006 4:24 am
An interesting and unusual list, I really enjoyed reading it 🙂
September 9th, 2006 2:43 pm
Makes me think of “Parrish blue” and his extraordinary paintings. Blue is also the color of my studio walls.
May 12th, 2011 10:06 am
[…] HERE’S another Blue Thirteen […]