PINK SNEAKERS

When I was a kid (50s-60s), sneakers were Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars in black or white. That’s it. By 1989, my then 9 year-old son became the fashion sensation of Paris by wearing Chucks in mismatched colors, one red, one green. (Yes, we were there on the bicentennial, and it was really weird watching the festivities on TV in our hotel). Now, anything goes. When I go to the gym the footwear has more colors than the spectrum of The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine.                   

DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY

 

Mardi Gras floats don’t have to make sense. They are supposed to have a theme but the idea is loose and I don’t remember what this one was about (if anything). The yellow-purple-green color scheme refers to the season, although maybe not art school standards. Some people put an awful lot of work into the center of this float.               

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - THE PLACE NEEDED SOME COLOR

We are staying in a different apartment in Tamarindo this year. It is spacious and modern but, well, a little harsh in its decorating sense. Only white walls and ceilings, light blond floors and cabinets. The few large wall hangings are monochrome close-ups of surf. The place needed some color. Fortunately, the supermarket has a good floral section, where I bought some lillies. And very fortunately, I brought a macro lens.           

TONALITY

I've about run through the circus pictures so it's time to find something else. Not much going on but there is some color to see here and there. Fall foliage is hit and miss, depending on temperature and rainfall. Most years it is too warm and dry to produce a lot of color. This year we have some good spots but they aren't general. This tree is from my favorite grove in Forest Park, all of which looks aflame in the best years.          

Color

We don't always get a colorful fall. Many years it is too warm and dry. Leaves turn brown, drop to the ground and that's it. This year, though, we hit the jackpot.

Still short on new material. After physical therapy this morning at Washington University Medical Center I went by my favorite spot in adjacent Forest Park. Damp day or not, it was ablaze.

There are some good sources of new images this weekend.      

Madeleine Monday (Color Sense)

If she were a little bigger Ellie could have been a riverside beacon along the Missouri. She is generally allowed to pick out her own clothes, subject to the occasional veto from mom.  Hence her Nepalese leopard hat (from the organization at the bottom of the sidebar), flowered sunglasses, her grandmother's crimson scarf, pink jacket, purple pants and blue-and-orange boots. (Yet she says green is her favorite color.) Oh, and note Old Lambie clutched in the left hand.         

Color and Light

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I used to go to a lot of Broadway shows when I was in high school in New York City. After I ended up in St. Louis, my wife and I went occasionally when we were back visiting my family. They became less and less interesting to me over time - they turned into shallow, mass-appeal extravaganzas. No more Mama Mia for me.

However, one of my all-time favorites is Stephen Sondheim and James Lepine's Sunday In The Park with George. It is based on the obsessions of painter Georges Seurat's while creating the masterpiece A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (click on the thumbnail for a bigger version). It has both beauty and substance. Early in the show, Seurat sings to a young woman while painting on the island:

Color and light.
There's only color and light.
Yellow and white.
Just blue and yellow and white.
Look at the air, miss-
See what I mean?
No, look over there, miss-
That's done with green...
Conjoined with orange...

I thought of this song while editing the photo for this post, taken in Forest Park yesterday.