L'aura del Campo

Olive and my journal

SPRING: 11 Jamál (8 May)

          Olive          

Weather where I am: 74º and cloudy.

Weather in Grand Island, NY: 69º

Weather in Juneau, Alaska: 42º. 36º-47º and wet all week! Talked to a native of Juneau today.

To continue a search for colors, I chose olive today. A friend suggested mauve or puce, but they will have to wait!

One thing of note: colors, even lesser used colors come with cultural and personal meanings attached. Below it mentions that olive is similar to 'caca d'oie' or goose shit! Yep. But I would hazard a guess that once that image enters the brain, you'll never think of the color in the same way. It's like, if you have a favorite Aunt Olive or as I have, a Greek actress friend who has written a wonderful poem "Olive", you'll have a warm feeling. As opposed to having once bitten into an unripe olive and hating the taste. Sarah's article on 'black' comes to mind.

In writing, whether it is poetry, prose, essay or jounalism, color words carry heavy baggage and intended and unintended associations.

To know/see this color:

http://users.rcn.com/giant.interport/COLOR/OLIVDRAB.html

From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_%28disambiguation%29

Olive is:

1.) Olive (tree) (Olea), a genus of about 20 species of small trees in the family Oleaceae.
2.) olive (fruit), the fruit of this tree.
3.) olive (color), a dark green/brown colour.
4.) Olive Tree, an Italian political alliance.
5.) Olive (band), a musical group.
6.) The olivary body, part of the brain.
7.) A type of mollusk similar to the cowry.
8.) Olive, a deli chain from Manchester, England.
9.) Olive Garden a popular American restaurant chain
10.) Anyone named Olive.
11.) Olive (plumbing), a brass ring used in plumbing.
12.) In religion, Olive is sometimes used as a Church color during Ordinary Time.

Re the color olive:

Olive is a dulled, darker yellowish-green color typically seen on green olives. It can be formed by adding a little black to yellow dye or paint. As a color word in the English language, it is unexpectedly old, appearing in late Middle English.

A similar green is caca d'oie. ("goose-feces").

Re olive skinned

Sometimes persons are said to be "olive-skinned", to denote shades of medium toned white skin with small hints of yellow and green.

Manic Monday? Not!

Notes from my Journal, pages 967-968:

Another Manic Monday? Still grey skies here. Lots of baby birdies chirping. When I mentioned to Robin that they don't know when to shut-up he replied, "kinda like Brian." Who we haven't seen for three days, B.T.W.

Ray apparently was stabbed a couple days ago. We're trying to figure out if it happened at 11th & Mass. No word on how he is. (in margins: Celia says he's okay.) Diane mentioned it this morning or I wouldn't have known. Streets talk; streets hold their secrets.

It's after 11 and I'm chilled. Sun comes out and I'm too warm. And it becomes too bright to write! Grey chill ~ bright heat.

At Oread, reading about trees, drinking coffee, eating chocolate. I mostly looked up oaks. There are all types planted and growing wild in this town. Bur oak is common. In Oklahoma, it was the cross-timber black-jack and post oaks. Learned that shin oaks form 'shinnery'. That a yellow dye, quercitron, is made from black oak. As Sarah did the colors, so I should do entries about trees or flowers. It's what I know ...

Today is Carol Merkel's birthday. At least I remembered to give her a call. She's been busy with her arabian horse. I came up with the silly image of "Carol, the trotter, trained by a filly, Reba, floats by and wins first prize." Carol says arabians are supposed to 'float'.

Found some old poems from Summer of 2003. May be time to edit them! Y'think ?

IMAGES

Bachelor buttons and red roses as a monarch butterfly glided by. Spent lily-of-the-valley.

Smelling a lilac colored iris and flushing a rabbit who ran across the street to shrubs.

Double orange poppies at the edge of a vegetable garden; mud covering the neglected brick sidewalk.

Talking to Delaney who wasn't doing too well; talking to Kevin at his 'new' apartment. Purple clover.

More irises. Rock terraces above. Below, the slopes of honeysuckle.

An edited poem from a sketch written 25 August 2003 (Black book, pg. 55):

Those little words

I failed to show you
who I was,
where I went
and why.

I failed to mention
how my life's
intertwined
with yours.

Three little words I wished to say.
Four little word I'd ask. But:

I'll never let you
tell me off,
hold me tight,
or cry.

I fear you'd answer
yes. Yes 'yes'
would scare me more
than no.

Four little words I'll only write.
Three little words I know. [160.523]

Manic Monday's Panic Report

Mood: okay.
Energy level: okay
Anxiety Alert Level: OLIVE
Depression level: medium-low(3)
Trauma level: okay (2)
Did I accomplish anything? Yes. Writing: yes; Blog: yes; Journal: pg 968; Reading: yes; Money: no; Home: no; Car: did stop by and it's okay; Career: no; Personal: yes; Food: yes; Clothing: yes, washed my underwear!