The other Side of Purple Part 3

Sunday, June 26, 2016

The Other Side of Purple--little known things about me

Opposite of purple on the color wheel is yellow. My favorite flowers are sunflowers. Fields of sunflowers gazing at the sun (especially if they happen to be growing in Tuscany) melt my heart. There is something about the way they look longingly (and all in the same direction--organized, clean...) at the sky that is just mindblowingly awesome. So yes, I like something that is not purple!

Another fun fact about me is that I happen like giraffes. They, too, are not purple. WHAT? They have wonderfully artistic markings and their lanky bodies combined with their goofy but oh so lovable expressions, make them awesome. I don't need a reason. Giraffes rock.

My favorite movie is "Under the Tuscan Sun" and I've always thought about running away to Italy and never coming home. How much irony does THAT bring up given my last two entries with "don't like surprises" and "always have a plan"? But in my defense, I would definitely plan my trip to Italy during which I'd become a permanent resident. Because I can't be THAT spontaneous. Still, I fantasize about life among the Italians (forgetting the corruption and the insanity of the slowest response to anything that needs to be fixed, repaired, replaced, or....done). The hill-towns of Toscana call my name in a voice that I can't describe. The only other time I heard it was briefly in Argentina when I looked up at the Southern Sky. It could have been the malbec or it could have been my absolute obsession with the stars, moon, and all that the night sky brings with it. Or maybe it was a combination of both. At any rate, I do love to travel and see the world even if I need everything planned out and organized along the way. 

Along with my dreams of running away to Italy, comes the language, the food, the people--all so beautiful and musical. Music fills my life at all times and Italian rolls off the tongue like no other in song. Did I mention I'm a singer? Yes...which leads me to the next little known fact about me. I love poetry. LOVE IT. One of the best things about being a singer is being able to delve into interesting, thought-provoking, devastatingly beautiful turns of phrase that cannot be expressed in a better way than through poetry and music combined. Pablo Neruda, Robert Frost, Dylan Thomas, Wilfred Owen, Emily Dickinson, and a vast array of others who tug at my heart strings and help me look inside myself at places I didn't know existed. Composers who bring these poets' words to life...Kirstina Rasmussen, Morten Lauridsen, Brian Holmes, and so many others, just complete the circle of the power of poetry and music. Each on its own, really is the other when you consider it. Poetry is music. Music is poetry. It's sometimes purple, but it's always beautiful and said in a way impossible in any other mode of expression.

I'll end it there and leave you to ponder the wonders of life.