The Colour of Nag Champa

For as long as my husband and I have been together, the incense Nag Champa has been his favorite.
It has a strong woodsy scent, and also smells soft and powdery; over time I have come to associate its fragrance with relaxation and a sense of peace and well being. This morning was no exception. My son had the day off, and I lit some of the incense before breakfast, lounging in my pajamas, happy to have a day without schedule or demands. As the incense's smoke curled up luxuriously in its burner, and its pleasant smell wafted through the house, it felt like it had a colour that gently dusted our home , a soft lavender that made me smile. It is always interesting when our senses mix metaphors and this sensation of the incense painting the emotional well being of our home a pleasing lavender certainly got my attention. Lavender is one of my favorite soft colours and the incense playing this pleasing twist with my senses this morning was intriguing. Of course, this trick was completely voluntary, I realized, and it was fun to think so. It was me experiencing a very personal scent to me in a very personal way. Over the years, the Nag Champa incense had become associated with pleasing experiences, so adding some colour to it seemed very appropriate. The thought made me anticipate what colour the incense might take the next pleasant morning comes along. Having an artistic sense of humour was proving to be a nice detour, one I hope to continue experiencing. Just another way that proves to me, one more time, that alert and sober is not the boring way to go when your senses are awake. The morning turned into a warm, sunny day, the mystery of its fog blending into bright light, and the smell of the incense too, faded to blend into my clothes and hair. As the afternoon, too faded, so did the sun, and bright white clouds sped across the turquoise sky. I imagined the clouds smelling like fresh thickly whipped cream, and the azure sky tasting of mint. Any young child would be delighted at my musings. I am hoping some adults will be as well.The musings brought back a favorite memory of a Kindergarten art project I remember doing as a child in the small parochial school in Beveren, Belgium. It was to be a cloudy sky, and for the clouds we got to glue cotton balls on a blue sheet of paper. It was such sticky fun. The birds in the sky were little pieces of black string made to look like the birds were flying way up in the sky. Real clouds are not made of cotton balls, and birds flying way up in the sky are not made of pieces of black string, but the possibility of the whole thing was fascinating as a 5 year old  as I painstakingly tried to get the glue to stick to the cotton balls and the string and not my small fingers. And maybe, just maybe, that is why adults get bored with what they think reality is all about. They look at clouds and no longer see cotton balls, they rarely see anything at all. Better to smell incense and see the colour lavender is my conclusion.