First there is nothing, and then there is a deep nothing, and beyond that there’s a deep blue.

Lord Pudding in Yorkshire reports that he is blue at the prospect of turning 60 in the fall, and Carol in Cairns (which is in Far North Queensland, you know) is reflecting on turning 50 soon, saying, “I have raised my son on my own and he is finishing school this year, so what about me now?” (I can’t tell whether she is feeling blue too or merely being petulant.)

But where does that leave me, your ever-faithful correspondent, at 72 and 1/3, I ask you? Very blue? Over the hill, even?

Nah.

If I were going to be blue, I would want to go whole hog and be Yves Klein Blue (4:45). (Warning: There may be a bit of nudity in that clip.)

On the one hand, you can be very hot Yves Klein Blue as in this rock band of that name from Australia (4:09). (Warning: There may be a bad word or two in that clip, but the lyrics go by so fast it’s really difficult to tell.)

On the other hand, you can be very cool Blue Yves Klein as in this jazz offering (5:41). (Warning: There may be a bit of nudity in that clip too, but most of it is chiseled in stone.)

There really are no other choices. Just very hot Yves Klein Blue or very cool Blue Yves Klein.

Oh, wait, there is also Far North Queensland...

...where Cairns is several other shades of blue (click to enlarge):

(Image by Frances76, published in accordance with the GNU Free Documentation license, Version 1.2)

I have no idea what this post means.

But it doesn’t have to have meaning.

It just is.

[Editor’s note. In the void -- the deep, blue void -- created in our corner of Blogland by the sudden and unexpected hiatus that began on 5 May last of Katherine de Chevalle, our artist friend in New Zealand (her blog is called The Last Visible Dog), this post is presented in the fervent hope that she will soon return to these environs to instruct us more properly in the visual arts so that all of us, in turn, can extricate ourselves from our deep, blue malaise. --RWP]