Rainy Day Red

It's pouring with rain, too wet and blustery to take more than the briefest walk, so I'm in front of the desktop playing around with my latest photos.  I've only been to two photography workshops so far, but Jak's lectures have given me and my snaps a new perspective.  Writing group in 2014 has also helped to concentrate the mind and make me more observant; an exercise in choosing a colour to notice before setting out on a walk is a great way to focus the senses.  Blue is universally recognised as Bodrum's colour, but we're not short of reds either. 

Red dye called kermes was made in the Neolithic period from the dried crushed bodies of the female Kermes Vermilio, an insect living on the sap of certain trees, but especially the Kermes Oak in the Mediterranean.  The Turkish word for "red" is "kırmızı".  It doesn't take much of an etymological jump to see where this comes from.

Legend has it that the Turkish flag represents an image of a star and new moon in white reflected in the red of battlefield blood, signifying strength after war.

Remember at traffic lights: "red means stop" is a theory that is not reliably always put into practice.