Confession

Brown. There I have said it. Brown is my favourite colour. But so is red. And green. And this season apricot—I bought a pair of Keds in apricot and a cute tuck it under your arm purse in the same colour—but brown is still one of my favourites.

A couple of years back, brown was the colour du jour—but brown in all its incarnations: chocolate, coffee, bronzed caramel, russet—because I guess just plain brown was not enough. Let’s face it—if you admit that brown is your favourite colour, people think you are boring. Just take a gander at Wikipedia’s definition:

“Brown is the color of dark wood or rich soil. It is a composite color made by combining red, black and yellow.  The color is seen widely in nature, in wood, soil, and human hair color, eye color and skin pigmentation. Culturally, it is most often associated with plainness, humility, the rustic, and poverty.”

I am here to stand in defence of brown. Brown is not boring or plain. It is comforting and warm and deep and rich. And it has stood the test of time. It is not flakey like chartreuse, or unpleasant like puce. It is not come hither like some shades of red, or shy like pink, nor is it as demanding as “look at me” black. Brown, in most of its shades (except mud and one my mother called shi_ brindle) is a beautiful  colour that complements many other shades cheering them on to shine in all their glory, while brown just sits back and lets them sparkle.

I have never been a fan of diamonds—sure I like them, but their sparkle can be copied – but my new fascination is with chocolate diamonds—they speak to me. As does chocolate in its own perfect way. So that is my ode to all things brown. Dare not call it boring again.

Do you like a colour that seems boring or unusual?

Comforts ~ Day 19 Or Last Day of Boring You ~

Electricity (Photo credit: elycefeliz)

Gratitude is a funny thing. We take so many things for granted and are not thankful for them because they are just there. But when they are not, we are stymied. Last night I noticed a piece of paper hanging out of my mailbox.  I was curious, as the mail comes in the morning and generally the mailbox sits bereft after the morning offering. The notice was from the electrical company, and we were going to be without electricity for 2 ½ hours on Thursday morning. Okay, I thought, that does not sound too bad—I can handle that, and did not think any more of it.

This morning I tried to use what needed to be used before the hydro went off. And I have been quite patient—but it has been off three hours now, and not the promised 2 ½ and I am starting to get ever so slightly irritated. Even agitated. Am I suffering from blog withdrawal? Because when the hydro is off, so is my Internet, and that is not something I bargained on.

Midway through the last sentence the electricity came back on. (Seriously, it did – I am not making this up for the sake of this post.) The fan is whirling, the CD player is doing something (I don’t know what but it is making noise), and my screen just brightened up—as I am no longer having to depend on the battery for my laptop.

Just a minute and I will be back—must go turn on the AC as it is getting a bit warm in here.

Okay, I am back.

So, guess what I am grateful for? You guessed it—

1. Electricity is number one on my list today. We take it so for granted, but without it we are lost. Sometimes I welcome the loss of electricity during a storm at night—it is kind of peaceful—but during the day, it is just irritating.

2. I am thankful for my microwave, my stove, my fridge, my computer, my printer, the lights, my television(s), radios, stereos, and all those other gadgets and thingamabobs that need electricity.

3. And last, but not least, I am glad this is the last day of my gratitude challenge—not because I have run out of things to be grateful for—I have just run out of ways to make it interesting!

So what should my next challenge be? Any suggestions?