50-something Moms Blog

Lessons Learned from Eight Belles

It's been 30 years since I saw "The Run for the Roses" for the first time in person. Affirmed was the winner and went on to win The Triple Crown, an honor no other horse has earned since then. A college friend (and fellow SV Mom blogger -- you know who your are...) hopped a ride with two random guys what had advertised for riders in the student center via one of those posters where you tear off the phone number at the bottom of the page. We'd met some boys from Louisville in Daytona Beach during spring break and went off on a road trip adventure to see them again. As it turns out I'd see one of them again a lot as I eventually married him.

Anyway, I digress. Marrying the boy from Louisville meant moving there and more than a decade of Derby Days. It's a great time. The playing of "My Old Kentucky Home" still makes me verklempt. I have many fond memories and saw dozens of thoroughbreds run for the roses, including two fillies -- Genuine Risk and Winning Colors.

Updating my Crayola Crayon Box

Have you heard? The Crayola Crayon 64 box is 50 years old. Yep, it made its debut on The Captain Kangaroo Show in 1958. Ah, those were the good ol' days when the red crayon was called "Red" and the bluish green crayon was called "Blue Green." We learned about exotic colors like "Magenta," "Burnt Sienna," and my personal fav -- "Periwinkle." We could transfer that color knowledge into real life. The sky really was the color of "Sky Blue" and lavender plants really have "Lavender" blooms. It was a life skill. It got us through until we had to pick out house paint colors and realized that there a myriad of whites and beiges.

Over the years, in order to keep things fresh and current colors have been added, "retired" and re-named. Just for giggles see if you can guess all 64 colors. Some colors were changed to be PC ("Flesh" became "Peach" back in 1962. "Indian Red" -- named afer a red/brown pigment from India used in oil paint --