Color is an important element of my life. The world I see is a vibrant one. I am very sensitive to the colors around me and often associate people and memories with color. As a child, I recall an early drawing that included trees with purple leaves. A teacher corrected me, advising that leaves of trees were green. Later in life, during a painting class in college, I received a different lesson. If you were to try to paint a foliage-filled landscape, only using the green paint, you would have a large, depthless blob of green. It is by finding and painting the other colors in the leaves – yellow, blue, red – that you can create a varying landscape. I knew it!!
The people who put together my weekly produce “grab bag” must also be fascinated by color because they love to include surprises. You may remember my instant love affair with the purple cauliflower, or the discovery of the orange-fleshed honeydew melon. This week, I was delighted by purple potatoes and yellow watermelon. Perhaps these fruit and vegetable color change-ups are just genetic gimmicks to intrigue us into buying them. Whatever it is, I love it. It reminds me that watermelon does not have to be red, that carrots are not always orange, that potatoes and cauliflower want to wear color sometimes too and that trees are NOT just green.