Carrot orange and electric blue

Ever since my former seminary dean posted his reflection on Crayola crayons and the natural world (Feb. 28, '10), I've wanted to paw through a box of crayons. I had such an opportunity a few days ago, while waiting in my doctor's office. Gary was right. He'd read an article suggesting that the maker of these crayons no longer used color names that are drawn from the natural world.

Instead of burnt sienna and cornflower blue (my favorite), today's colors reveal that young people spend less and less time outdoors looking at trees, grass, birds, and sky. The new colors derive from images seen on television, on video games, and other electronic entertainment. Indeed, the colors I just saw had names like electric blue, green apples, and carrot orange. Probably there's one called big bird yellow, as well. (Sure, one might argue that apples and carrots are outdoor things, but I have doubts that many kids dig for carrots in the dirt, when they can reach into a plastic bag in the fridge for "baby" carrots.)

The natural world and I don't see a lot of each other in times of snow and ice, and it's been a long winter. But now, thanks to Gary's homily and the grass greening up right outside my back door (which opens out to an expanse of open field and its ceiling of sky blue), I'm determined to spend more time out in God's good creation. Right before my eyes, here's a colorful world that I'm lucky enough to be able to see, smell, hear, and touch. And most days, it's the ideal place to sit: on a bench with my dog, watching the turquoise water of the pond where ducks and geese dip their beaks and trees bat at the wind with their burnt sienna arms.