Saturday, November 29, 2014

Paint Chip Inspiration: "Volcanic Blast"

If this is your first visit and you've not seen my "Paint Chip Inspiration" feature, let me repeat what I wrote months ago:

This idea is not unique to me. It comes from Rachel Berger here: http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=11257

She selected a paint chip out of a bag, one a day for 100 days, and wrote a short response to that color/that color's name. BRILLIANT! So I thought, I like color. I can write. I can doodle. I have paint chips. And I can scan. So here I am with my first sixth ninth paint chip ...


VOLCANIC BLAST
 

I was lucky to have a mom with a sense of adventure. My dad was transferred from San Diego to Hawaii in 1959 (before it was a state). The following year, when Kilauea volcano was erupting on the island of Hawaii, Mom and I got on a plane, flew to the Big Island, and then looked for a cab to take us to the site. Mom was pretty and blonde. I was a kid. Cab drivers were falling all over themselves to take us up to the volcano. Undoubtedly because I was a cute kid ...

What I remember most is the sound, the constant roar of lava geysers shooting up into the night sky. And then the colors, the red, orange, yellow and white-hot lava fountains soaring up and then flowing downward into the caldera. It was amazing for the both of us to see. Native Hawaiians tossed bottles of booze over the edge, hoping to appease Pele the Fire Goddess so that no homes would be harmed in the lava flows.

I could be wrong, but I believe Mom and I flew back that same night, with the sounds and sights of the volcanic eruption seared into our minds. Mom had married young, married a handsome young Navy officer, hadn’t seen much of the world, really, but she was born to learn, born to travel, born to adapt, and, luckily, sometimes she took me along. A cute kid with a pretty blonde mother.

©Carol Leigh


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