Posted in African Safari, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged color, pansies, pat bean, patriotism, photo challege on April 7, 2013| 3 Comments »
A field of pansies. — Photo by Pat Bean
“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” — Alice Walker
Pleasing colors — Photo by Pat Bean
Our flag is red, white and blue, but our nation is a rainbow. – red, yellow, brown, black and white.
The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.
Bean’s Pat: Sometimes We Fly http://tinyurl.com/bts2nus This applies to humans as well. I loved the spirit behind this post.
Posted in Travel, tagged pansies, postaday2011, Robert William Buchanan, Weekly Photo Challenge: Color on July 22, 2011| 3 Comments »
Purple Passion: St. Louis Botanical Gardens -- Photo by Pat Bean
Pansies
“…You praise the ones that grow today
Here in the garden; had you seen the place
When Sutherland was living!
Here they grew,
From blue to deeper blue, in midst of each
A golden dazzle like a glimmering star,
Each broader, bigger than a silver crown;
While here the weaver sat, his labor done,
Watching his azure pets and rearing them,
Until they seem’d to know his step and touch,
And stir beneath his smile like living things:
The very sunshine loved them, and would lie
Here happy, coming early, lingering late,
Because they were so fair.”
– Robert Williams Buchanan
Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged Charles Kuralt, Jack Kerouac, John Steinbeck, on the road, pansies, postaday, Tim Cahill, travel books, yellowed-beaded blackbird on June 10, 2011| 2 Comments »
A yellow-headed blackbird seen on my morning walk with Maggie makes me go "Awww!" -- Photo by Pat Bean
“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the muddle you see the blue center light pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!’” – Jack Kerouac
Travels With Maggie
Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” is listed in almost every version of the 100 Best Travel Books. And on all of the various lists I’ve come across in recent years, I’ve read well over 50 percent of the selections.
But I haven’t read “On the Road.” That is I’ve never finished it. I’ve started the book several times but have never gotten beyond a few pages before laying it down and forgetting about it.
While there are quite a few of Kerouac’s quotes in my journal, such as the one above that I absolutely love, I can’t connect with this author like I do with say Tim Cahill, who has me rolling on the floor with laughter, or Charles Kuralt, whom I consider my travel soul mate, or John Steinbeck, whose down to earth writing draws me into his circle, especially since he writes about traveling with his poodle, Charley, and I write about traveling with my cocker spaniel, Maggie.
But I don’t, except for an occasional quote, get Jack. I keep thinking I will if I just read more than a few pages of “On the Road.”
Perhaps one day I will. Perhaps I’ll even find that copy of his book I bought a few years back to give it a fifth or sixth try. It was at least the third copy of “On the Road” that I’ve bought over the years, and I honestly have no idea where it is now.
And a patch of colorful pansies lights up my eyes as well as a fireworks display. -- Photo by Pat Bean
I recently read a book in which needful books kept turning up magically for one of the characters. I wonder what it means when books disappear. Or how come I can’t get into a book that so many other people think is a great classic.
Perplexing questions to which I have no answer. But I do love Kerouac’s above quote. It’s a whole book in itself.
Posted in Nature, Travel, tagged Cody Cafe, journeys, Kangas, Morton, Mount Ranier, murals, pansies, Travels With Maggie, Ursula K. LeGuin, Washington on August 2, 2010| 4 Comments »
Baskets of pink pansies add color to a small town's Main Street ... Photo by Pat Bean
“It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end.” — Ursula K. LeGuin
Travels With Maggie
I was too early for the annual Loggers Jubilee that will be held for the 68th time later this month in the small town of Morton Washington. Between Aug. 12th and the 15th, the town’s expected to be booming with parades, logging shows, flea markets, lawn mower races and of course crowning of the Jubilee Queen.
This southwestern logging town once claimed itself the “Railroad Mill Tie Capitol of the World.” Ties are those things railroad tracks sit on. Each mile of railroad track requires about 3,000 ties. More and more of the ties these days, however, are being made of concrete instead of wood. Morton’s claim to fame was the huge tie dock – Wikipedia says the “world’s largest” — that was located along the railroad tracks east of the town.
One of two murals on a fire rescue station in Morton, Washington, that captured my attention. ... Photo by Pat Bean
After an excellent butterhorn, warm and drenched in butter as it should me, but served by a gray-haired waitress who never smiled – I suspected her feet hurt – I took a quick walk down the city’s downtown. It was a short walk whose main attractions were sidewalk pots of blooming pink pansies and a couple of murals that colored the walls of the town’s fire rescue station.
While not exactly what one could call great art, the murals were interesting and brightened up an otherwise dull building. They were painted by a man named Kangas, according to a signature at the bottom of one of the murals. I later Binged the name on the Internet and came up with the artist Larry Kangas, who according to his Web site has painted thousands of murals over the past 35 plus years.
I suspected these weren’t the first piece of Kangas art I had seen in my travels. They looked too familiar. I also hoped they
Artist signature ... Photo by Pat Bean
wouldn’t be by last. There was a feel about Kangas’ murals that said the artist enjoyed painting them. That suspicion heightened my enjoyment in viewing them.
My travels take me to well-know and spectacular places , but its the unexpected sights and experiences, such as pink pansies, a melt-in-the-mouth butterhorn, surpising railroad trivia and art along the way that give the journey meaning.
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters.” — Ursula K. Le Guin
Pat Bean is a writer, avid birder, hiker and passionate nature observer with wanderlust in her soul. She spent nine years living and traveling in a small RV. She now lives in Tucson with Scamp, a rescue who was supposed to be a Schnauzer mix but turned out to be a Siberian Husky-Shih Tzu mix who is as stubborn as his owner, her granddaughter says. She was also a journalist for 37 years, and can be reached at patbean@msn.com
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