Lucretia & Caroline....Forest Lake

Lucky me to meet two beguiling women who seemed genuinely interested in my work. Later, I realized I'd not only captured a bit of their colourful personae in this photo, but also a snapshot of the purple spectrum.

Lucretia's bag is very near the shade of Tyrian purple, the original purple hue derived from from the mucus of marine snails (a tad disgusting but true--one wonders who discovers such things). Caroline's dress is more of a Han purple, the purple used by the ancient Chinese to decorate their terracotta army. And in between, there's Lucretia's leather jacket--royal purple, the shade worn by Europe's medieval kings.

Purple is a loaded colour....associated with pride, aristocracy, poison, the Thai solar calendar, and on more than one occasion, my prose. My favorite purple connection, however, is with the game of Snooker Plus, in which the purple ball carries a ten-point value.