Lithodora diffusa
BORAGINACEAE, Borage family
Blue and Violet are the colors of the day, they have to be when you spend it walking by the sea with a woman in a violet top embroidered with flowers, when the wet sand reflects Haystack rock, when you scan the sky for tufted Puffins, when boys stroll by sailing striped pirate ship kites, when the shore is littered with By-the-wind-Sailors. Yes. And I figured out what could possibly be done with Lithodora, we stared at the sea all day. In a cozy pub a man offered to take our photo, he said the light was just right. He didn’t know we hadn’t seen each other in fourteen years. We walked some more, out jeans soaked with mist and sea spray. We ate blackberry ice cream. At Indian head we went out on a path along the bluff to watch the waves break, to spy the seal lions on the rocks around the far-off lighthouse, to see the sea birds roosting. Bridesmaids in turquoise satin gowns passed below parasailers. Timed just right, the tidal pools appeared, crowned with sodden strands of algae. Purple starfish clung to the rocks, above soft anemones, limpets, tiny hermit crabs. Only when the light started to fade did we leave off picking up bits of mollusk shells and sand dollar doves.
