Before my first trip to Spain in 2010, I bought a Spanish language CD to help my sons and I to learn a bit of the language. The CD consisted of minimal dialogue (similar to a recitative) and a series of songs incorporating Spanish words and phrases, often sang as a English/Spanish duet. The CD was ultimately not very useful for us, as it was mostly about meeting and hooking up with potential new romantic partners. Some of those songs are now stuck in my head forever, and once in awhile one shakes loose. This was one of those weeks, and the words and melody of “Estos son los colores de mi vida” (“Theeeeese are the colours of my liiiiiiiife“) have been on repeat since last Tuesday.

On that day I attended the BC Cancer Foundation lunch and was seated next to another guest who had just designed and landscaped a new garden. She described her garden design MO as: “three types of greens, you get to pick two”. Apparently there are three key shades of green – yellow green, red green and blue green – and you need to limit your plant choices to two of those shades in one area to achieve harmony.

HUH. (Long pause while I stopped to consider that).

I’ve been squinting at plants ever since and think she is right. I pulled out my dad’s color wheel (see above, front and back) which shows examples of yellow green, blue green and red green. Our front garden has lots of red green – the  Japanese maples, the cornus kousa and the cherry tree, while the back has mostly yellow green grasses and shrubs as well as blue green spruces and coniferous shrubs. I am seeing green in a whole new way.

But that is not all….

Maybe Tuesday, September 18, 2018 qualifies as a life changing day, in subtle ways. Later that same evening I attended my first level 1 Sommelier class. The wheel shown above was part of the course materials. Sweet Jesus! Why do they have to make the print so small? Risa and I were squinting hard to identify the appropriate descriptors for each of the wines we tasted. If that first class is any indication, my sommelier fantasies are in jeopardy. Not only was I unable to taste some of the wine flavours that others readily identified, but one of the wines actually tasted like NOTHING. NOOOOOO-THING. Yikes. And every time I have picked up the wheel this week to study (aka: drink more wine), that stupid “Estos son los colores de mi vida” song has popped into my head. ……

So, this is a pretty accurate summary of what self-employment can be like when things are quiet: social lunches, drinking wine, humming along to songs in my head, cooking lots, working in the garden and squinting at plants, color wheels and wine glasses. I am enjoying this September break because in another week and a half the fall projects all start.

Happy Fall everyone!