yellow
(almost) Silent Sunday
Image: Su Leslie, 2018
Image: Su Leslie, 2018
Wordless Wednesday
Hydrangea flowers. Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Friday flowers
Kowhai flower cluster. Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Friday flowers
Seen at the Savage Memorial, Bastion Point, Auckland. Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Wordless Wednesday
Remembering summer, and hydrangea blooms. Image: Su Leslie, 2016
Antidotes to a gloomy Sunday
Yellow dahlias, seen at Hamilton Gardens, Waikato, New Zealand. Image: Su Leslie, 2016
Yellow is the colour of happiness
Once happy to pose for the camera. The boy-child at South Head, Kaipara, NZ. Photo: Su Leslie 2002
As the boy becomes a man, gone are the yellow t-shirts, the sunny smiles and sadly, the golden hair – now almost always hidden under a cap or beanie.
Gone too the days when I could pick up my little bundle of exuberance and hug him close – on my terms rather than his.
I spent much the boy-child’s early years suffering from post-natal depression and didn’t enjoy a lot of the time I spent “being a parent.” But for a constellation of reasons, I was a very full-time parent, and so alongside the hours and days of boredom, anxiety, desperation and sometimes rage, were others filled with laughter and learning, beach trips and baking, singing silly songs and a quiet sort of happiness and pleasure in his company.
I’m counting down to the boy-child’s sixteenth birthday and trying to capture and save memories. Because in the words of Joni Mitchell:
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Til its gone
And I make no apology for including the Counting Crows cover Big Yellow Taxi. The band features heavily on the soundtrack to the boy-child’s early life.
This post was written in response to Ailsa’s Travel Theme over at Where’s my Backpack. You can see Ailsa’s post on “yellow” here or read some other posts I’ve enjoyed:
http://samokan.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/summer-and-autumn/
http://jobryantnz.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/travel-theme-yellow/
2-11-14 Weekly Travel Theme: Yellow (Iteration Department)
http://lingeringvisions.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/travel-theme-yellow/
http://prettypacked.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/the-yellow-brick-man/
http://k2incanada.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/travel-theme-yellow/
http://sunriseadventures.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/travel-theme-yellow/
http://sasieology.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/travel-theme-yellow/
Travel Theme: Yellow (The Hidden Valley)
2-8-14 Travel Theme Yellow (Kidnapped Edition)
http://suitcasey.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/travel-theme-yellow/
http://geriatrixfotogallerie.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/gala-dali/
http://timwolversonphotos.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/travel-theme-yellow/
http://soletusknow.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/travel-theme-amarelo/
http://emiliopasquale.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/travel-theme-yellow/
And here is what has gone before in this countdown:
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/wordless-wednesday-bright-eyes/
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/10-things-tuesday-hes-ready-to-leave-home-when/
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/on-writing-wishes-and-not-re-inventing-the-wheel/
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/six-word-saturday-who-said-boys-cant-wear-pink/
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/when-two-heads-are-so-much-better-than-one/
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/family-photo-friday-kids-no-more/
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/three-weeks-out-and-ive-organised-nothing/
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/on-the-importance-of-grandparents/
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/on-counting-and-gender-stereotypes/
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2014/02/02/getting-over-the-grumps/
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/weekly-photo-challenge-object/
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/six-word-saturday-on-being-allowed-a-weekend-sleep-in/
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/on-raising-children-and-not-getting-enough-sleep/
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/back-to-school-for-the-last-time/
Weekly Photo Challenge: hue of me
“I really just want to be warm yellow light that pours over everyone I love.” Conor Oberst
Yellow is a colour of contradictions; on one hand we associate it with wealth, sunshine, optimism and happiness – and on the other with cowardice, jealousy and caution.
Yeah, sounds like me – apart from the wealth bit.
I don’t wear yellow much any more, and the last time I decorated a room with it was when we did the boy-child’s nursery in blue and yellow with “raining cats and dogs” Ikea-print curtains.
It’s a colour I photograph a lot, and one I paint with, though mostly round the gold end of the yellow spectrum there.
“Fame stole my yellow. Yellow is the color you get when you’re real and brutally honest. “ Rosie O’Donnell, Celebrity Detox.
“As the yellow gold is tried in fire, so the faith of friendship must be seen in adversity.” Ovid.
“ “gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, gold”.’
‘Is there a chorus?’
‘ “Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold”.’ said Hwel.
‘You left out a “gold” there.” Terry Pratchett
This week’s Daily Post Photo Challenge theme is “the hue of you.“
Here are some posts I enjoyed:
Weekly Photo Challenge: The Hue of You
http://beccagivens.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/hue-of-you/
http://sixdegreesphotography.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/weekly-photo-challenge-the-hue-of-you/
http://maxim061156.wordpress.com/2013/10/19/weekly-photo-challenge-the-hue-of-you/
http://yournibblednews.wordpress.com/
http://suburbanferndaleark.wordpress.com/2013/10/19/weekly-photo-challenge-hue/
http://aboutgivingandreceiving.wordpress.com/2013/10/19/weekly-photo-challenge-the-hue-of-you/
