Palettes

Yesterday I folded towels. Holding them with my chin while arms brought the edges together, I felt their heat against my chest and I inhaled the scent of hot metal and Bounce. Running my fingers over their nubby texture, I rolled them into fat sausages, the better to stand them in their woven basket, and stood back to admire the interplay of their colors: taupe, burnt orange, and brick red.

I made spicy sausage spaghetti for dinner that night. I added oregano and basil and stirred as their flecks floated in the fragrant oil. I baked a cake which my younger son frosted with chocolate and sprinkled with gaily colored disks of sugar.

At breakfast the next morning, I added the bright yellow of bee pollen to fresh blackberries.