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Archive for the ‘Art’ Category

Mona’s Eyes

Posted in aging, Art, Books, Journeys, Writing, tagged grandparents, Mona's Eyes, Thomas Schlesser on June 3, 2026| 3 Comments »

I just discovered Gustav Klimt (1862 – 1918). I love his explosion of color in this painting. If I hadn’t used a gift card from a grandson to purchase the book, *Mona’s Eyes*, which is dedicated to all the world’s grandparents, I might never have discovered this awesome artist.

Aging My Way

Some books I read in a day, staying up until the wee hours of the morning to finish them. Other books may take me weeks, which is the case for one of my current reads, Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schalesser.

It’s a charming story about a grandfather and his 10-year-old granddaughter, Mona, who might be losing her eyesight. But the book is also filled with a layered depth of other events and characters.

Each chapter is short and has the grandfather taking the girl to the Louve (the book was originally written in French) or other places to view a classic piece of art by artists like Seurat, Boticelli, Da Vinci, Rembrandt and Van Gogh.

Along with a notebook and pen, which usually accompanies any reading I do, I’ve been taking the time to look up each piece of art, and with the help of the grandfather’s explanations and sometimes a bit more research, educate myself as well.

I read Chapter 32 yesterday, and discovered a new artist, one that even rivals my love of Van Gogh, whose starry nights and sunflowers have long enriched my life. The artist is Gustav Klimt, and Mona described his paintings as “explosions.” I agree.

I can’t imagine how I hadn’t come across Klimt earlier in my life. And if I weren’t such an avid reader I might not ever had. Meanwhile, here’s a few tasty tidbits from Mona’s Eyes:

“…life mustn’t only be lived. It must be danced.”

“The image of a woman smiling, with such a disarming smile, is an invitation to smile, too,” in reference, of course, to Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

“Always believe miracles are possible.”

“Sometimes, you really do see only what you want to see!”

“And so, he became aware that he was still learning plenty of things at his age, and after eighty summers, that was wonderful.”

Yes! It is!

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion Scamp. She is an avid reader whose mind is always asking questions (many of which are unanswerable), an enthusiastic birder, staff writer for Story Circle Network’s Journal, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

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Stepping Into a Korean World

Posted in aging, Art, Birds, Books, Journeys, Writing, tagged Hwang Bo-Reum, I Read Every Day, Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop on May 27, 2026| 1 Comment »

Bushtit: A tiny grayish songbird that is not easy to find, because they like thick vegetation and move quickly through it. I saw my first one in North Bend, Oregon, in 2005 and haven’t identified another once since. — Art by Pat Bean

Aging My Way

I just finished reading two library books by Korean author Hwang Bo-Reum, one a compilation of essays about reading titled Every Day I Read, first published in 2021, and the other a novel, Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Library, published in 2022.

The first inspired me to read more, and the second gave me new insights about today’s work world, which seems to have taken a 180-degree turn from the work world of this old broad. That turn is something I was seeing everyday by living next door to my granddaughter Shanna and her wife Dawn.

I had already realized I needed to stop trying to compare the two eras or alienate a younger generation, which does not think like an 87-year-old. Hwang’s books just emphasized this.

Meanwhile, I would classify Hwang’s novel as sweet, with a cast of kind, if at times befuddled, characters who care about each other. Reading it was a break from the chaos of today’s world, and I found both books well-worth the time I spent devouring them.

Here are a few nuggets I saved:

On reading essays: “How could our thoughts be so similar despite living completely different lives, and so different when in the same circumstances.”

“It was part of the balance of life – a person’s dream coming true could mean the collapse of someone else’s life.”

“People just see me as me, which is better than being seen as everybody else.”

“What a happy thing it was to meet a person on the same wavelength.”

This final thought reminded me how elated I become when I realize another person and I, despite many differences, are on the same wavelength. More often than not, this makes itself known by discovering we’ve read the same books.

Happy reading all.

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The Wanderlust in My Soul

Posted in aging, Art, Birds, Books, Journeys, Writing on May 26, 2026| 2 Comments »

I spent one summer, during my RV travels from 2004 to 1013 in the Everglades, where I indulged in lots of birdwatching. One my favorite species were the Anhingas, a waterbird that swims with only its head and long neck above water. Thes trait has caused some people to call them the snake bird. I most often saw them on a low branch or stump with their wings stretched out wide to dry. Anyway, I drew this one during my Everglade summer.

Aging My Way

Steinbeck named his mode of travel, a camper created from a pickup truck, Rocinante, after Don Quixote’s horse, and I named my small RV Gypsy Lee for the wanderlust in my genes and a grandfather who loved to travel, or so I was told as he died when I was only two years old.

On most best travel book lists that I come across, I’ve read at least half of them – and I copy down the names of the ones I haven’t and check them out. Age has slowed down my physical road trips, but reading books about travel continues to warm my wanderlust soul.

I was pretty young when I started reading books by John Steinbeck, (1902-1968). Grapes of Wrath, Cannery Row, East of Eden, I loved; Of Mice and Men, not so much. But my favorite Steinbeck book is Travels with Charley, so much so that I gave Steinbeck credit for being one of the inspirations for my own travels, and titled my travel book, Travels with Maggie. Charley was a large French poodle, and Maggie was a bratty cocker spaniel.

Steinbeck and I looked at this country from different viewpoints, and I learned much from him. I would like to think that if he could have read my book, he would have learned from me, too. As I’ve noted before, one of the best things about reading is seeing the world from another’s perspective.

Meanwhile, here is one of my favorite travel quotes from another one of my favorite authors: Edward Abbey. “May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.”

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A Historical, Fantastical Journey

Posted in aging, Art, Birds, Books, Journeys, Uncategorized, Writing, tagged A Short Walk Through a Wide World, Douglas Westerbeke, Woody Woodpecker on May 25, 2026| 4 Comments »

Memories are always flashing through my old-broad mind, perhaps because my brain is so crammed full of them. Anyway, as I painted this quick capture of a male downy woodpecker, I recalled the old, animated character Woody Woodpecker. Anyone else remember Woody? — Art by Pat Bean

Aging My Way

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters.” — Ursula K. Le Guin.

This quote means so much to me that it has a permanent place on my blog page. It was the inspiration for how I traveled after retirement, when I took the backroads and zigzagged across America in a small RV for nine amazing years.

It was a similar, but yet totally different journey, that the protagonist takes in Douglas Westerbeke’s intriguing book A Short Walk Through a Wide World. Classified as historical fantasy, a New York Times reviewer said it rolled The Life of Pi, The Alchemist, and The Midnight Library into one fantastical fable.

I recommended the novel to my book-loving neighbor who enjoyed it as much as I did. We read it last year shortly after it was published. And by the way, I do know how lucky and blessed I am to have a neighbor who loves reading as much as I do.

Westerbeke, a former librarian, credits all the reading he had done as inspiration for his novel. I would think that his neighbors, if they know him, would be fortunate, too.

Meanwhile, a Bean Pat for our local libraries. “A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never-failing spring in the desert.” – Andrew Carnegie“

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All About Us – And Happiness

Posted in African Safari, aging, Art, Birds, Books, Journeys, Writing, tagged Sapiens, tanzania, Yuval Noah Harari on May 22, 2026| Leave a Comment »

***A memory of an afternoon safari in Tanzania. — Art by Pat Bean***

My Way

Book: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, one of the top 100 books of the 21^st Century according to the New York Times Readers’ Pick.

Wow! That was my first reaction when I started reading this book. It’s 2.5 million years of history squeezed into 599 pages – and it’s all about us. There’s the good, the bad, the ugly and questions about what’s next.

I read it a while back, but unlike some books that quickly fade from my memory, this one has stuck with me. I’m thinking about reading it again. What would be really fun is to find a used copy in which someone has underlined passages and/or made margin notes. Someone else’s thoughts is one of the reasons I like purchasing used books.

Art: It’s supposed to be a Marabou Stork. I saw lots of them in Tanzania in 2007. From the back, if you have a decent imagination, these birds look like they are wearing a long black coat, which has prompted some people to call it the undertaker bird. Anyway, this quick sketch was fun to do, but the best part about it was that it reminded me of my two-week African safari, during which I identified 182 different bird species. While that’s not an impressive number for what I could have seen, it pleased me.

Quote: And that brings me to a favorite quote, which I will paraphrase because I can’t find it or who said it. Simply put: “Happiness is not always getting what you want but loving what you have.” Anyone know who said it?

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Strong Women

Posted in aging, Art, Books, Journeys, Writing, tagged Being Wrong, Kathryn Schulz, The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line. on May 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Yellow makes me happy. — Art by Pat Bean

Aging My Way

“My grandmother turned toward a guard – she was in line to be shot into a pit – and said, ‘What happens if I step out of line?’ And he said, ‘I don’t have the heart to shoot you, but somebody will.’ And she stepped out of line. And for that I am here.” – Alex Borstein.

This quote opens the book The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line, which I was given as a recent birthday present after I requested stories about strong women. It’s about “girls” who stepped out of line and helped win World War II. I’m loving this book.

Quote: “Being right might be gratifying, but in the end it is static … being wrong is hard and humbling, and sometimes even dangerous, but in the end it is a journey and a story … to fuck up is to find adventure.” – Kathryn Schultz, Being Wrong,

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Art, Books and Quotes

Posted in aging, Art, Books, Journeys, Quote for the Day, Writing on May 20, 2026| 1 Comment »

Aging My Way

Having just turned 87, and struggling a bit with the rigors of aging, I’ve started focusing on doing more things that bring me joy. And while this blog is one of the things that give me joy, it’s been pretty sporadic lately.

Perhaps after 1,658 posts, not that I’m counting, I might have run out of words. I think I’ll take my cue from Albert Einstein, who said insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results, and come up with a new tactic.

And since I still want to blog, I’ve decided, at least for a while, just to share a piece of daily art, a book recommendation and a quote. I think I can manage this. So, let’s give it a try. Comments, and book suggestions, appreciated.

Art: It’s supposed to be a Least Bittern, I say supposed because I didn’t get in much identifiable details. I tend to paint more birds than anything else. They fascinate me. Also, I should note, painting is something I long ago decided is not something I have to be good at. I reserve that inner critic for my writing.

Good Read: Welcome to the Hyunam Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum.

“To read is to see things from someone else’s perspective,” the author writes. And boy do we need that today – at least from my perspective. Originally written in Korean, it’s a heart-warming story in which a bookstore brings lonely people together.

Quote: “…my soul is gladdened by his smile, a broad human smile, as warm as the applause of a large crowd.” Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet. This is not so much a quote as just a good sentence that brings a smile to my face.

Comments, quotes, art and book suggestions, appreciated.

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Posted in aging, Art, Books, Journeys, Writing, tagged Dorothy Gilman, The Marginalian on April 27, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The Joy of Being Able to Read

*A somewhat likeness of Chigger, the cat that owned me for 18 years. —* Art by Pat Bean

Aging My Way

Polish poet Wisława Szymborska, who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature, wrote a poem called Possibilities in which she noted her preferences. I love it.

Among her preferences were cats, Dickens to Dostoyevsky, the absurdity of writing poems to the absurdity of not writing poems, Grimms’ fairy tales to the newspapers’ front pages, and the hell of chaos to the hell of order.

It’s a long poem, and by the end of it I felt as if I had come to know Wislawa, and if she had been a friend I would have grieved her death in 2012. Now I just feel a sense of loss because I didn’t know her.

The poem, meanwhile, inspired me to think about my own preferences. I prefer dogs to cats, although I do not dislike the latter, and was owned by one named Chigger for 18 years.

Fantasy, mystery and memoir are my favorite reading matter, although I also read just about anything except true crime and horror. I get enough of those genres from today’s newspapers. I could add TV news but I don’t listen to it. I read my realities.

As for writing, to not do so for me would be about the same as not breathing.

Finally, as much as I try to order my days, which Dorothy Gilman (author of the Mrs. Pollifax series which I adore) says can’t be done like a table setting, I quickly become bored without surprises. I love spur of the moment activities – and disorder seems to follow me around.

It seems Wislawa and I have a lot in common, which of course I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t come across her poem in The Marginalian, Maria Popova’s newsletter. (newsletter@themarginalian.org). The joy I get from reading, especially these days when I’m nesting more than adventuring, is a magnificent treasure.

So, what are you reading?

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A Two-Pronged History

Posted in aging, Art, Journeys, tagged Equality, personal history on February 25, 2026| 3 Comments »

Time and histories merge, just as dripping paint does. — Art by Pat Bean

Aging My Way

Behind every person is a history, or so Shakespeare said. That was a thought I wrote in my journal six years ago, and which I came across again this morning when I was searching for something to write about. Of course it got me wondering about my own history.

My past, however, has to be seen through the years I’ve lived through, a time in history that has seen changes so fantastic that it just about blows my mind. When I began my life in 1939, neighborhood home phone lines were shared with neighbors and long-distance phone calls cost a mint.

I know because after they left home in the 1970s and 80s, my children, who by the way were raised without seat belts, had permission to call home collect at any time. I knew they were finally grown up and independent when they called and paid the charges themselves. Meanwhile, I’m glad such long-distance phone fees went the way of the dinosaurs because my family is now wide-spread across the country, and I love getting phone calls from them.

Then there is the particular memory I have of a geometry teacher – I remember him well because he told the class on day one that he didn’t believe girls belonged in his class because they would never need such higher math. On another day, he declared humans could never reach the moon because it was simply too far away.

I recalled those words with glee when, 14 years later, a man walked on the moon, an event I watched around a black and white television with my five kids. It was only much later that I learned it was female computer experts who helped make that historic event possible.

And here I should note that Loretta Lynn’s We’ve Come a Long Way Baby and Helen Reddy’s I Am Woman Here Me Roar are part of my history, as is Gloria Steinem’s Ms Magazine.

I find it interesting where my thoughts have led me this morning. Although my personal history has to be multifaceted, as is the world’s, my first thoughts were of being a mother and my battle as a woman for equality.

I’m okay with that.

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Perhaps Thinking is Overrated

Posted in aging, Art, Journeys on February 20, 2026| 3 Comments »

***So cat, what are you thinking? — Art by Pat Bean***

Aging My Way

I didn’t have time to think, to mull things over and come to conclusions about what was going on in my life, until I was almost 40. It startled me at that point to realize I really didn’t know who the entity occupying my body was.

I had five kids by the time I was 25, at 27, I became a working mom, and at some point after that, a single mom with the sole responsibility of keeping the wolf from blowing down the door.

I’m not complaining as I loved both my kids and my job, and had – and still have – a happy heart that was able to enjoy life’s special moments as they happened. I just didn’t have time to contemplate how it all fit into my life.

And so it continued even after I retired. I sold my home, bought a RV, and drove around the country for nine years. I spent that time simply enjoying the beauty and specialness of all that I was seeing – and even wrote a book about it.

But now, at 86, with a body slowed after years of doing, my brain has plenty of time to think, to connect the dots my life has created. It’s something that often keeps me lying awake until the early hours of the morning. What with all the changes that have happened, and which continue happening daily, it’s not an easy task.

I think about how the world I grew up in is crumbling about me. I think about my grandchildren and great-grandchildren and hope they are making more sense of the world than I’m currently doing – and whether they will grow up to be independent adults who will be kind and care for the people around them as well as the planet we live on. Afterall, that’s all I really wanted for my own children.

I think about what I am going to cook for dinner. I think about the cost of veterinarian care because of how much I love my dog. I worry that I might lose the cottonwood tree in my yard because its roots are doing a number on my fence and the sidewalk on the other side of the fence. I love that cottonwood.

And so, the night passes until finally around 2 a.m. even my brain must shut down.

I’m beginning to come to the conclusion that this thinking stuff is overrated. Maybe I was lucky to have so much going on in my life that I didn’t have time to do too much of it. I certainly slept better.

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