“The greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time.” – Bill Bryson
Some days I look out from my bedroom window and see a Cooper’s hawk or a great horned owl sitting on a branch in a nearby tree. Or I look down and see a black cat peering up at me from an apartment across the way. Each viewing in a first for the moment.
Seeing Things in a Different Light When I travel, I look at things differently. I think it’s because I expect to see something new that I’ve never seen before. The world always seems more interesting when I’m on the road.
Sunlight streams into my apartment on only a few winter days. But each day it flows in, the patterns are slightly different in the view I have from my kitchen. — Photo by Pat Bean
I’m coming to realize, however, that travel is not a requirement for this to happen. Do the Catalina Mountains, which currently provide the backdrop to my days, look different to a traveler seeing them for the first time? Would the crisp white blossoms of a saguaro cactus spell-mind the eyes of a traveler more impressively than they do my own eyes that have now been among them for two seasons? While travelers may only see the mountain range on a sunny day, or a misty day, or a rainy day, the joy of first sight can’t help but pump the adrenalin through the veins of any nature enthusiast. I envy those who are seeing these mountains for the first time, as I recall my first view of the Catalinas. . But now I’ve now been blessed to see this mountain range in its many moods. I’ve watched the rocky mammoths as the morning sun crowned its peaks in a golden light, I’ve seen it as the evening sun has turned its rocky cliffs a glimmering rose hue, and I’ve seen it frosted with the sugary granules of snow. I’ve watched as globules of bright green atop a saguaro plant have opened into a disk of white petals with a pale ochre center. A traveler passing through the saguaro’s Arizona home in March might only see an awesome, statuesque cactus with arms stretching skyward, and might not know that such a beauty is likely to be 100 years old, or that it wears a headdress of white blooms in late May and early June. There are as many advantages to watching the passing landscape while rooted as there are in catching glimpses of Mother Nature’s wonders on the fly. One only has to retain that sense of awe so easily achieved at first sight. I suspect that in this late-blooming season of my life, there are still roads out there I will travel. But in the meantime, I plan to follow Bill Bryson’s advice and try to look at the world around me be as if for the first time. I don’t think I will be disappointed.
Blog pick of the day.
Bean Pat: Monica Devine http://tinyurl.com/ot8bqdb This blogger has an eye for seeing things in a new and exciting
Pat Bean's blog 
Lovely post, Pat, and that advice works… 🙂
Thanks Sue. Everybody should check out Sue’s blog.
Thank you, Pat 🙂
love your setup so bright and so you// noy ugly plaid i do read all ahahahahahahah
Thanks Cindi. It’s fun to share my world with you.
In New Orleans, where I’m originally from, there’s a greeting that I’ve yet to encounter anywhere other than south Louisiana. When meeting a friend in the street instead of asking ‘how are you’ or ‘how’s it going’, the question asked is ‘where ya at’. Clearly, since the person is standing right there, the question isn’t meant in the geographical sense, it’s more of ‘where ya at’ mentally. And the correct response is, ‘I’m right here’. The implication is that it isn’t about where you’re at, and it’s ALL about where you’re at. I bet you know the difference! 🙂
Lovely apartment, by the way!
Common phrases are one of the things I’ve noticed when traveling. For example, Texans usually comment “sure thing” when agreeing to something and Utahns say “you bet.” Y’all come back now, you heah!
Pat, you always have something worth reading. I enjoyed this one. Rings so true.
Thanks for the kind words Martina. And I do so love your photography that provides my eyes with such delightful landscape vistas.