Color Explosion

Mary O'Neill's " Hailstones and Halibut Bones " is a children's classic of rhyme and verse first published in 1961. This book has been used often in schools as a supplementary tool for teaching poetry. In the book there are 12 vivid poems where O'Neill explores colors using the senses. Not only do the rhythmic lines lend themselves to song but writing one's own color poem.

What I like best about the book is how each page has imaginative verses that explore the meaning of a color. Each page begins What is... and then names a color.

The Colors live
Between black and white
In a land that we
Know best by sight.
But knowing best
Isn't everything,
For colors dance
And colors sing,
And colors laugh
And colors cry-
Turn off the light
And colors die,
And they make you feel;
Every feeling there is
From the grumpiest grump
to the fizziest fizz.
And you and I
Know well
Each has a taste
And each has a smell
And each has a wonderful
Story to tell...

ending page from "Hailstones and Halibut Bones" by Mary O"Neill

May these new pops of color brighten your day

Prickly Pear Cactus

Bird of Paradise

Oleander

Pansies
I realize this is a common spring flower but for me, these flowers gave me great joy the past few months. I started it in early November with very small plants and nurtured it through the AZ winter. The flowers were a bright spot when there was no other speck of color in the yard.