Sort of red. Definitely bright.

Natural spectrum
London, ON, August 2011

About this photo: This picture wraps up our week-long exploration "seeing red". Still have something to share? Go here. Otherwise, we'll be launching our new theme, "one thing", tonight at 7:00 Eastern.

I doubt there's a shred of red in this picture, so by all accounts I'm probably cheating on my own theme. But I've got two excuses:

1. I'm not color blind, but I often have difficulty identifying or differentiating subtle shades. I couldn't tell you if it's green or aqua, for example, or red or orange. I know what you're thinking: What a great trait for someone who, um, takes pictures.
2. Sometimes, mixtures of colors remind me of a particular shade, even if that shade isn't overtly included in the picture at all. Let's call it suggestive color, shall we?

So given my inability to differentiate colors and my love of the optical spectrum, this one said "red" to me even though I can't find one red petal in it. It's in the same general region of the spectrum, so that ought to be good enough. That and it's Monday morning, I've got two sick kids in the house and we all need a reason to see something lovely.

Your turn: How can you explain a flower's ability to make us feel just a little brighter?