Two Thursdays ago, in need of exercise, fresh air and dashes of excitement, I unglued my bony ass from the living room sofa and left the comfort of my suburban-Philadelphia home. Hopping into my car, I drove for three miles, arriving in the heart of Hatboro, an old-fashioned village which, after parking, I explored on foot for an hour. Actually, I exaggerate. I didn‘t hop into the car. Eased my way in carefully is more like it. But I might have hopped were I at least 25 years younger than I am.
The hike began a few minutes after the noon hour. I had one main goal in mind: to find joyful colors, on man-made objects, that would counteract the mild case of sluggishness that my region’s drab winter had induced in me that day. I ended up having a fair amount of success, thanks to encounters with the large, bright murals painted on the exteriors of two buildings. Other than them, though, Hatboro’s structures offered little in the eye–catching hues category. Basically, earth tones, greys, whites and blacks dominated. Fortunately, that’s not the end of this story.
Half a year ago, while on a walk that I wrote about for Yeah, Another Blogger, I came to the realization that, theretofore, I ordinarily failed to look at the sky when I was outdoors. Big mistake, as its vast canvas can present a sizeable variety of designs, all of them fascinating. There were exceptions to this, of course. For instance, I swooned over sunsets now and then. Overall, however, I was someone who, celestially-speaking, was missing the boat.
That walk changed my behavior. Since then, I’ve tried hard to remember to peruse the heavens a bit when I’m outside. I still fall short in this regard, but I’m pleased with my progress. And I think I’ll continue to improve. One thing for sure is that looking upward brought my Hatboro walk to a higher level than it otherwise would have been.
Yes, two man-made creations (the murals) impressed me. But, as it turned out, a Nature-made creation (the sky) wowed me way more, and gave me an additional bonus too. During the expedition I raised my gaze four or five times to the baby-blue expanse above me, allowing its gentle, soothing presence to penetrate my wrinkled skin and creaky bones. The cloud filaments strewn throughout the ethers aided the process lovingly. Ah, what relief! Those sky-gazing sessions, brief though they were, sent my inner tensions packing. Unfortunately, the tensions soon returned. Why? Well, I’m a pretty uptight f*cker. I wish that wasn’t true, but it is. Shit! Still, I was glad to get rid of them even for those short periods.
Blue, according to various research studies, is the favorite color among humans. But which shade of blue? A bold one, such as cobalt blue or navy blue? An extremely mild one, such as powder blue? I investigated that subject online and couldn’t find an answer. My hunch is that, for heavens-related reasons akin to mine, the blue hue that reached down to comfort me in Hatboro is the world’s favorite, or near the top anyway. Color experts seem to call it either baby blue or light-sky blue. I go with baby blue. I like the sound of that name.
When I was a kid, bright yellow was my favorite color. During my young adulthood, my preference changed to blue. I’m not sure, however, if I ever thought about which specific form of blue I prefer. Until recently, that is. These days, baby blue does it for me. I know it’s not flashy. It doesn’t make my jaw drop instantly. But I find it to be graceful and liberating. It makes me smile and makes me feel good. Clearly, I’ve become a big fan. Which wouldn’t be the case if I hadn’t started to look up regularly last year, losing myself in the baby-blue skies that often have been there to greet me.
Yeah, Another Blogger 
Blues and greens – but from what I understand, only nature’s blues and greens – are the restful, calming colours. I love looking at the sky; it’s always changing, always interesting, even when we think it’s not. Cheers, Neil.
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I looked at the sky an hour ago when I went out for a minute. Baby blue and cloudless. Beautiful!
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Baby blue’s the best—
Your choice of skies,
Paul Newman’s eyes,
Easter egg dyes.
And half my wardrobe!
Love this story…
Cindy
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Hi Cindy. Your thoughts about baby blue are good ones!
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Thank you, Neil, for starting my day with the thoughts of nature’s relaxing power! I follow the ancient advice to always look up rather than at the ground. And of course, the beauty of the clouds…
Joanna
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The sky is amazing. Always worth looking at.
Hi there, Joanna. Enjoy the day.
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Thank you, Neil, and you are more than welcome, as always!
Joanna
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I look up more often these days, partly because of your earlier post and partly because I was missing the majestic eagles perched at the top of tall trees. My favorite color has always been green.
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Eagles! It’s great that you get to see them.
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Beauty is all around us if we just look for it. I know I’ve been guiltyt of taking things for granted. I forget how magnificent and beautiful our redwoods are because I’ve been around them for more than 50 years. When people come from out of town, it’s a great reminder to appreciate them more.
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Hi. Redwoods are something else. My brother and his family used to live in Northern California. My wife and I visited a bunch of times and took in Redwoods during some of those visits.
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Hooray for looking up; that is a beautiful sky.
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An obvious but amazing thing about the sky is that it’s always there.
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The ubiquity of the sky causes us to ignore/neglect it. We usually pay close attention to it when storm clouds arrive or when someone draws it to our attention. Meanwhile, without the sky, we simply could not exist.
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Up until a few hundred years ago, people probably paid attention to the sky a whole lot, for a variety of practical purposes. In modern society, most of us don’t need to do that.
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Yes, for their very survival.
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Gorgeous pics – baby blue’s a lovely colour (though I wouldn’t wear it). Also a big fan of green, simply because there are so many shades of it.
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Paint stores can be mind-blowing. They have a million shades of every color. Too much choice!
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A classic!
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Your clarification on ‘hopping into the car’ made me laugh! I’m right there with you, mate.
Love the photos and the description of the walk. Seems like it was a good day to get out and get fresh air. Hope you get to do it again soon.
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Hi. I might go for a walk at my local Y today. It’s too cold for me outside — about 15 degrees F right now.
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This is such a wonderful blog post. Whether it is day or night, the sky is a constantly shifting canvas offering incredible, free, and often fleeting beauty. I find that pausing to look up breaks the habit of looking down at phones or the ground, allowing for a moment of presence. Thanks for sharing, and have a good day 🙂 Wishing you a new year filled with many new adventures 🙂 Aiva xx
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Hi Aiva. You make excellent points. There’s a song lyric that says “the best things in life are free.” There’s a whole lot of truth in that.
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That’s so true 🥰
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So your sky watching did improve your mood. I’m a big sky gazer myself and often awed by what I see. Walking always helps. (Loved your “hopping” — or not — into the car.)
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I’ll be running a few errands today. Maybe I’ll try to hop into the car!
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They call that blue sky shade “a blue bird day” here in Colorado and it’s a perfect description of the color of our native bluebirds. Glad you remember to look up when you’re out and about Neil 🙂
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Yeah, it’s a habit I’m glad I’m trying to form. VERY much worth the effort
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My favorite color is cobalt blue, and I always look up at the sky. When stormy weather is moving in, and the roiling clouds fill the sky, I think it is beautiful! I think my father was the instigator of that. When we were kids, and a storm was rolling in, Dad set up chairs for himself and all five kids, and we sat on the front porch and watched the storm clouds roll in. I still do it.
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Hi. Your father appreciated Nature’s power and beauty.
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I love reading your photo adventure stories. My favorite color as a child also was yellow, but as an adult, I added indigo to that list after observing a particularly beautiful Arizona sunset.
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Hi. Good sunsets are hard to beat. They can be absolutely breathtaking. I think they are among the greatest spectacles.
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Thank you for a rich blog: self-effacing humor; the gorgeous photos, including the murals, both of which are terrific; and the helpful reminder to always take in the sky. This post will stay with me.
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Thanks, Paula. Looking up is where it’s at!
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I just looked up Badfinger’s “Baby Blue,” that’s a great idea you’ve got, a reminder to take a sec and appreciate a blue sky. And that also suggests Allman Bros. and a great Irving Berlin song, too, that my kid sister is always singing. Keep on trucking Neil always glad to see your posts!
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Hi Robert, and thanks very much for being a loyal reader. I appreciate it!
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I am more into nature the older I get, too.
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Thumbs-up to that!
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Thank you for a most enjoyable post. I have always loved blue. I just looked around my home and suddenly realised that I have an tremendous lot of blue objects.
The skies are an artwork in itself. They are constantly changing. The Netherlands is, for the most part, flat. Sometimes (if no buildings get into the way) you can see for miles. The sky appears to meet the horizon and that is quite beautiful. Enjoy your walks, and hop with care.
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Believe me, I always hop with care!
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Most of my clothing is blue. I’m an uptight fucker, too, but getting out in Nature, especially when exercise is involved, seems to help me deal with…wait for it…”the blues.”
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Speaking of the blues, I listened to a great blues album recently. Albert King’s Born Under A Bad Sign.
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I definitely know the title track, a blues classic. (I have versions by Cream and Butterfield Blues Band.)
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That entire album is terrific.
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Blue is my favorite color as it is for so many. Perhaps we unconsciously associate the blue sky with any blue we see. In the winter, at least in Maine, the blue skies are especially beautiful. The lack of humidity, I guess. All three of your photos are splendid examples of blue.
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Hi Laurie. Blue is the world’s favorite color, according to studies. Yet, I bet that not all that many people have any blue-colored walls inside their homes.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a good week!
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We have blue bathrooms. 😉
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Blue is my favourite colour too, which is probably why I more or less live in jeans and blue and white striped tops! As you loved yellow, I loved red, but the older I get the more washed out it makes me look. The murals are great. A lot of areas in Glasgow now have those “Welcome to …” murals – not my area, sadly.
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Hatboro isn’t a village where you’d expect to see murals. It’s an old-fashioned place. But they definitely liven up Hatboro a bit.
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I enjoy sky-watching … the intensity of colors varies so vastly from season to season. I love the rich indigo blue of winter-night heavens (though I can do without the bone-deep chill). …And, by the by, I’m particularly fond of teal. 😉
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Hi. Teal is a great color. I’m a fan of teal too.
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I read somewhere that most animals don’t routinely look up. Because, I imagine, what they eat isn’t overhead. Exception: when a dog sees a squirrel climb a tree.
Maybe the reason we notice sunsets is that they are close to eye level.
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You might be right about sunsets.
I haven’t watched one in a good while. It’s so frigging cold outside today, I definitely won’t watch tonight’s sunset, though.
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No quarrel with your colour choice, nor with your propensity to look skyward! Have to admit, though, I like looking at the sky regardless of the weather.
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Me too. I guess I didn’t make that clear in my story. I might have to edit the story a bit.
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Neil, nice to see things are looking up in Hatboro…by looking up, of course! The baby blue skies here today are a lovely contrast to the Winter landscape of snow-glare white…I think that baby blue stands out even more. Spectacular skies.
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Hi. I guess you and I live within 40 or 50 miles of each other. The skies where I live have been beautiful today too.
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As urban dwellers, we often do forget to love upwards at the sky. We live near to LAX airport so that the contrail clouds are quite impressive during winter months. Baby blue does have a calming effect. I also love the glacial blue.
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I wonder if people in rural areas look at the sky more often than urbanites and suburbanites.
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In lots of rural areas, the sky dominates the landscape.
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always enjoy your photos. Keep it up!
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Thanks, Joyce. I appreciate that.
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I think baby blue is a calming colour, maybe that’s the attraction for you? Every suburb has a story and it’s interesting delving into the unknown even locally.
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Hi Suzanne. Baby blue definitely has a calming effect on me. It’s a beautiful, serene color. I like to be around it.
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I also think it’s a lovely colour. Represents many things and strangely for me a carefree nostalgic feeling.
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robin egg blue is my favourite colour; it’s the colour of the tub I was baptized in as an adult; I see it in the sky sometimes when I think to look up in it 🙂
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It’s a beautiful color.
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Baby blue skies are such a welcome sight after a stretch of winter gray skies.
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Absolutely.
Hi. Is this Jan? I think so, but I’m not sure. You’re listed as Anonymous.
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I like that first mural with the tavern and tacos art, but of course, the sky is the best piece of art. The baby blues with fluffy clouds. It’s always changing and bringing us into its charm and loving calm.
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That mural is on the wall of what used to be a furniture store. Gamburg’s. The owners retired in 2023. Gamburg’s had been there since 1930. .
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I love the ever-changing canvas of cloud formations and what a great post, Neil.
Blues are for caring peope, reds are for passionate people, and I can’t remember the rest! 😉 My favourite changes with my mood, I think.
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It’s great that there are so many colors, and shades of colors —- it makes things interesting!
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Another good reason to look up is the simple act of doing so helps with mood uplift. I don’t understand the why of it, but the changing of physical state when out walking from looking down to up is known to improve the mood. Therapists suggest going out to count chimneys or clouds or tiled roofs as a surreptitious method of getting their clients to achieve this simple uplift and only explain it later when the benefit has been seen.
And in colour psychology, blue is related to being trustworthy. That said, many of those who’ve chosen it for the colour of their logo may not be worthy of trust, but that’s what their branding is evoking.
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When I look up at a baby-blue sky, I can, in a sense, feel it wrapping itself around me. A big expanse of baby blue is, to me, very comforting and welcoming.
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Neil, you have me laughing as you describe your efforts to actually heading out of the walk! 😀 Yeah, I’m glad the blue sky gave you such a lift – I always look up when out on walks and love the drama of the sky! I used to wear a lot of blue until my Aunt made a comment about this – it didn’t sound positive so now trying to vary my colours a bit. But the blue keeps pulling me back …
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I’ve been outside several times today, and remembered to look up each time. Gorgeous skies, just like the one I photographed for this story.
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The sky did a lot more for me than the murals….
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Me too, though I was glad to cross paths with the murals.
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I’m a sucker for mural art, but this post went in another direction I didn’t expect. Glad things are “looking up” for you! Deep blue Colorado sky this morning out my way, not a cloud but awful cold.
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Hi Ruth. I live near Philadelphia, as you know. There are an unbelievable number of murals there, and not just in the downtown/central sections. Most of the murals were created via a quasi-public organization. I’ve never done a story centered around those murals, partly because my phone’s camera doesn’t seem to be good enough to produce real good images of them. But maybe I’ll do the story anyway one day.
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You don’t need hi-res images to post online. They are needed if you want to have a good quality print. I’d love to see your selection of Philly murals!
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Many of the Philly murals are enormous. I think you need a wide-angle lens, or something or other, to photograph them properly. My phone’s camera is limited
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I get it
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Wait, where’s your snow?!
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Howdy. We got snow this past weekend. And the current prediction for this coming Sunday is a foot or more of snow. Ugh!
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The blue sky is beautiful. Our family has always looked at the clouds to find shapes of animals. Another thing I love looking at is the trees. Sometime go to a park and look at the older trees branches, so fun!
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Nature truly is something else.
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Loved your goal to find as much colour as you could in the city. And to appreciate nature too of course, which never fails to impress. The murals are quite lovely as is the beautiful blue sky. I’m part of the team blue camp in terms of favourite colours.
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Hi. Humans have created beautiful and amazing things. Still, Nature is the most impressive artist and designer. See ya!
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I might have missed it, but I couldn’t find a reference in your comments to the song that came to mind when I read your title: Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.” Of course, I’d bet many of your readers weren’t alive yet when Dylan was singing that at the Newport Festival in 1965.
Generally speaking, blue is my least favorite color: particularly the softer shades. On the other hand, the “bluebird skies” we have after a strong norther has rolled through are glorious. Once the humidity is scoured out of the air, they really shine. I like an assortment of ‘water blues’ as well: azure, turquoise, aqua, cerulean. What we share is love of the skies, and their infinite variability. Since I work outdoors between water and sky, I suppose it’s natural (!) that the shades of both should appeal to me most.
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Hi. The song you mention is the final song on side two of Bringing It All Back Home. Side one is electric, side two is acoustic. This album was the first time Dylan performed with electric instruments. The album came out in early 1965. I love BIABH. Great songs whose lyrics aren’t necessarily easy to pin down.
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I definitely prefer a cold crisp winter’s day to a milder cloud covered one – all because of the bright blue skies.
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We won’t be seeing blue skies for a while — a major storm is on its way. The prediction for Sunday is for more than a foot of snow in my area.
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I agree that blue is a delightful color, whether in the sky or anywhere else! Days with weather like on the day of your walk are wonderful, especially this time of year. Years ago I took flying lessons, and my flight instructor described such weather as “severe clear”. It is an expression I took to using.
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“Severe clear” is a great expression.
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Neil, it’s such a good reminder- look up! The sky is a beautiful ever changing canvas. I love blue, too!
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Hi. It’s easy to forget the sky is there. I used to be guilty of that.
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I’m sure I have, too!
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LOL! Good for you for treating yourself, Neil! Love the murals. I like blue too, especially turquoise.☀️
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Hi. Turquoise is a great shade of blue. I like it a lot too.
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I loved the sky photo best, too, Neil. It suggests a universe of beautiful possibilities, and who doesn’t need that now? I’ve always found the sky to be wondrous, especially the night sky, when the moon is bright and the stars shimmer across the darkness. Never stop looking for beautiful things. Never stop looking for hope.
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You’ve got the right approach to life!
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A baby blue sky is beautiful, and I have to start looking up more. Thanks for the reminder!
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Through a window, I’m looking at a pale grey sky. It’s snowing like crazy right now here in southeast Pennsylvania.
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Sometimes, it is best to look through the window at the sky and the snow. Stay warm and safe!
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Blue has always been my favourite colour, and I love a blue sky. Cloud formations can be interesting, too. However, I’m not a fan of featureless bleak grey sky, which seems to be the default here in Wales – usually accompanied by drizzle.
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Hi. Grey skies and drizzle aren’t my cup of tea either.
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Love following your photo adventures! these are gorgeous Arizona sunset introduced me to indigo, and it’s been a favorite ever since.”
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Hello there. Indigo is a powerful color. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen it in a sunset. Thanks for adding your thoughts. Take care.
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An enjoyable read Neil! Yes there are many shades of blue … and almost as many names for them too. My last post happens to be related to this post … in a way!
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The variety of colors in the world is pretty astonishing. We are lucky to have this bounty.
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