This is the color that greeted me this morning. The photo is much dimmer than the reality. It was pinker/redder. And, I thought, “Red in the morning, sailors take warning.” Two days of rain ahead. Quick, get the garden ready.

I needed some marigolds – to guard my tiny new tomatoes – but ended up spying another plant I could not resist. Why not? You guessed it: red flowers. I know after the long winter that I am particularly thrilled by color this year. Even so, I do notice that the red theme is rather pronounced. Would I describe it as “hungry for red”? And then, isn’t that, in itself a fun concept, hungry for a certain color?

And to push that further. What is color? I mean, it’s an attribute of the flower. And it’s something we all name in its specificity, and think we share. But outside of that, it’s so vague. In my personal history, I think back on my vision as a small child when I had no muscular control over my eyes and therefore my focus. I wonder if the world was not at times just a blur of only color. Blurry color. Minus the identifying “things”.

And so, today, I woke up and see a vista of color. Immediately, it signified something . Time of day and future weather, even beyond the vivid scenery.

But as a child – most likely – just color. Pink/red on waking. Later, a flower’s color. More red.

Red everywhere.