Bienvenue À Skittleville!

For all of you who own white houses, or all of us that own drably weathered shingled houses, consider this image and how it makes you feel. I'm not sure how you feel when you see brightly painted houses, but I know that I love them!

There are 13 000 inhabitants in les Iles de la Madeleine and I'd estimate that half of them live in non-white houses. Of that half, I'd say half of them live in creatively painted abodes. The overall feel is happiness, or joie de vivre.

Have you ever looked around a parking lot in Fredericton and noticed that almost every car/truck is either white, grey or black? It's true, and it's boring as hell. I commend Joan for her red Echo because it's uplifting. Ditto for David's green Morgan or Kersey's Volvo (gorgeous!). Wendy and I once went to buy another Ford Focus wagon but we didn't buy the one we were looking at because it was grey. It was simply too depressing a shade of grey. There was nothing wrong with the car and the price was right.

Colour matters. We see in colour, so we might as well celebrate our gift. Why eat white bread when we can have Skittles? Ladies and gentlemen, grab your paint rollers and get at it, or at the very least put some vivid racing stripes on your white, grey or black car!