Blue

After the Tuscan countryside, with its pale earth , dark cypresses and silvery green olive trees, we went to the seaside. 
I grew up near the Irish Sea, which is mostly grey, but the Ligurian Sea is genuinely blue.

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As most of you know, I don't approve of using lots of adjectives, but you're all going back to school and you're going to need some interesting words, so I thought I'd help you out with some alternative words for 'blue'.
A good one to start with is 'azure'. For historic reasons we only use this word for beautiful blues. You tend not to get an azure bruise - or wear azure sports kit( except in Italy where 'azurro' just means' blue'). Originally it came from the Persian word for  a gorgeous blue stone called lapis lazuli, which looks like this:

I think the sea in the picture above is about that colour. Or, if I really wanted to impress, I could write 'the sea was the colour of lapis lazuli'.
What about the sky in that picture? To me it's forget-me-not blue - but to you it might be the blue of a flag, or a football shirt - or a street sign.
​Here are some other blues:

Look at the bottom of the sky. Perhaps it's the colour of pale blue writing paper? and there's a foamy toothpaste -like streak in the middle, while the sea itself is a dark blue you could describe as 'ultramarine'. 
Ultramarine means 'beyond the sea' . you know why? Because it was a pigment made from grinding up lapis lazuli, which came from beyond the sea.

Think about other precious stones. Here you could describe the sky as 'sapphire blue', while the sea in the foreground is nearer to the grey of agate. (Look up stones and minerals - you'll get lots of good ideas for unusual adjectives).

The word 'glaucous' comes from the Greek word for 'grey', but we often use it for a kind of bluish green.

Finally I had to include this picture, where the water in the background is a beautiful clear turquoise. (Another precious stone). In the foreground , where it's paler, it really is 'aquamarine', a delightful word which simply means 'seawater'.
Best wishes to you all for the new term
​Rachel