H Y D R A N G E A B L U E

i spent the day in providence, rhode island.

while steve and the boys enjoyed the children’s art museum,

i slipped off to a huge art supply warehouse a block away and bought a new prismacolor, lightfast colored pencil set and a moleskin sketch diary.

one of my pencils is named hydrangea blue....

i took this photograph of a yet to fully bloom hydrangea near the beach house in narragansett. nearly every yard in rhode island has a vivid blue hydrangea blooming in it right now. the climate and soil here must be perfectly suited for these flowering shrubs. i can’t get over the beauty of these brilliant blue blooms. the pencil is aptly named because its hue is precisely that of the midtones of these petals, very cool.

i was in this city 20 years ago with a friend who slipped out of my life.

being here today made me reminisce about her friendship and

regret how i took it for granted.

it’s a dot along my path that has since been connected to subsequent ones.

i’ve made mistakes, colossal ones, regretted them with blood, sweat, and tears only to repeat them down the road. when it comes to life lessons,

i am learning disabled.

like a good teacher, though, God finds alternate ways to reach me...

.i am learning that everything is spiritual,

even those messed-up dots, and of course,

hydrangea blue.