Newly living in the Pacific Northwest, I longed to see the sun when I woke up. I regretted that its appearance was more apt to be by eleven o'clock. Wanting a friendlier beginning to my day, one morning I called a cloudy sky "a milky morning," and the name stuck. Since then, it has softened the sunless days.
Image courtesy of Virginia Cramer
I love the mornings of sun that brighten and deepen the varying tones of green—of the leaves on the trees and bushes, the green skins of the apples hanging not far above my head as I walk through the neighborhoods near the boulevard. Between the lanes of traffic and the sidewalk, the border of grass is green almost year-round, with white clover heads and yellow hawkweed and the small flowers remembered as blue, or perhaps violet.
Having lived here for almost two years, one day the lyrics of a song came to mind. When had I last sung it? My parents were seven and eight years old when Irving Berlin wrote "Blue Skies" in 1926. Along the way, I had learned this catchy melody of love's power over sadness, when the heart once again becomes aware of the birds' songs and above—the big blue sky.
Blue Skies
Blue skies smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies do I see
Blue birds singing a song
Nothing but blue skies from now on
Never saw the sun shining so bright
Never saw things going so right
Noticing the days hurrying by
When you're in love, my how they fly
Blue days, all of them gone
Nothing but blue skies from now on
Blue skies smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies do I see
Bluebirds singing a song
Nothing but blue skies from now on*
The day arrived when I moved from my temporary stay at my daughter's home into my apartment. In two rooms, with wide windows that opened to the east and to the west and provided a relaxing view of distant hills, I arranged a few carefully-selected pieces of new but basic furniture that faced what next needed my attention— uninterrupted white walls.
Wanting hominess, I asked my sister-in-law to paint the sun and my older daughter to take photos of the birds in her backyard, perching on their feeders, as seen through the double sliding-glass doors of her office. Both had agreed. My son-in-law brought the tools he needed to hang the art. "Golden Sun in a Blue Sky" went to where it is visible from behind the kitchen counter. "Eastern Bluebird on the Metal Perch" went above my bed, where every morning on waking, I tilt back my head and gaze.
My realization is, "The art of creativity can harmonize two seemingly unrelated situations experienced during vastly different periods of time."
* Information about Irving Berlin can be found at https://www.irvingberlin.com/. In his early years, he collaborated with lyricists, but for most of his catalog of over one thousand songs, he was both composer and lyricist. He is considered to be one of the greatest composers and lyricists of the twentieth century.
* A short history of "Blue Skies" may be found at: https://www.jazziz.com/short-history-blue-skies-irving-berlin-1926.
Well-loved country music singers Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers sing "Blue Skies" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqjepfQZwzY
* Information about Virginia Cramer can be found at: https://virginiacramer.com/