perfection | Pat Bean's blog

Posts Tagged ‘perfection’

Weedy Thoughts

Posted in Journeys, Nature, Quote for the Day, tagged dandelions, gardening, pat bean, perfection, weeds on September 12, 2014| 5 Comments »

“You cannot forget, if you would, those golden kisses all over the cheeks of the meadow, queerly called dandelions.” – Henry Ward Beecher

I think a dandelion blooming on a manicured lawn is perfect. — Photo by Pat Bean

For Weedy Brains

There’s something in me that loves dandelions. Perhaps it is their cheery yellow petals that glimmer in the sun. Or maybe it’s their fragile, snow-like seeds that scatter after those petals have vanished. I’ve long tried to capture that fanciful seed-blown storm in a sketches –- but always without success.

And I marvel at the miracle of rebirth that occurs wen the golden orb has turned to snowy seeds. -- Photo by Pat Bean

And I marvel at the miracle of rebirth that occurs when the golden orb has turned to snowy seeds. — Photo by Pat Bean

I enjoy seeing a meadow of dandelions lightning up the side of a hill. But even more I enjoy seeing a single dandelion poking on a manicured lawn. Such imperfection speaks to my heart because it makes the imperfect perfect.

I think I must have weeds growing in my brain. But that’s OK. I’ll water them anyway.

A Few More Weedy Thoughts

“A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows.” – Doug Lawson

“Roses are red, violets are blue; But they don’t get around, like the dandelions do.” — Slim Acres

“Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.” — A.A. Milne

“What would the world be, once bereft of wet and wildness? Let them be left … Long live the weeds and the wildness yet.” – Gerard Manley Hopkins

Blog pick of the day.

Bean Pat: The Iris and the Lily http://tinyurl.com/qd9kqby Step outside and take a walk through your garden . Or check out the Ghost Bear Photography, http://tinyurl.com/k8a88d7 if you’re more ambitious. Nearby or far away, Mother Nature awes us.

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Slap to the Mind

Posted in Birds, Journeys, Nature, tagged pat bean, perfection on June 26, 2013| 4 Comments »

“When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.” — Buddha

I’m not sure I agree that every day is perfect just the way it happens, but I do know this is a “perfect” view of Colorado mountains. — Photo by Pat Bean

Goofing Off

One of my favorite TV programs is NCIS, which I watch it on my computer as I have no TV. In the show, Gibbs, the boss, is always slapping Tony, the smart goof-off, on the back of the head.

And it would b impossible to say that this reflective view of an Alabama lake doesn’t earn a “perfect” 10. — Photo by Pat Bean

Well, I felt I got a slap on the mind the other day, one in which I was beating myself up for goofing off the day before.

It was one of those occasional (I’d like to say rare, but occasional is more accurate) days when I didn’t write, I didn’t sketch, and I certainly didn’t learn something new while playing my time-wasting computer games. Even Pepper was short-changed by getting only very short walks. . I was mentally beating myself up for my slothfulness when I read my first blog of the day. It consisted of only a simple quote: “Stop keeping track of the mistakes you made – It’s time to forgive yourself”

OK, I thought. Maybe I should take this message to heart.

A little while later, when I was studying my T’ai Chi manual, a new activity on my daily to-do list, I read that life is perfect even if it helps us learn there are better ways to do things, and that we should drop the self-judgment. It also said the only wrong thing you can do in learning T’ai Chi is tell yourself you were wrong.

That certainly took a load off my mind. At my age, learning new ways to exercise isn’t going to be easy.

But then if that wasn’t enough to keep me from beating up on myself, I read another blogger whose No. 1 goal had become “getting off his own back.”

You would think the world was trying to tell me something.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Eye Beauty http://tinyurl.com/p6sn68g I couldn’t resist this newly hatched egret.

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Between the Lines

Posted in Journeys, Wildflowers, tagged between the lines, full moon, pat bean, perfection, postaday on January 29, 2013| 6 Comments »

“The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world.” – Charles Farmer

Yesterday’s view from my balcony window. — Photo by Pat Bean

A Full Moon to Start my Day

I stood out on my balcony in my pajamas before dawn yesterday, where I was fully awakened by the morning’s crisp chill air, and wallowed in the beauty of a full moon.

Stepping back inside and grabbing my camera, I came out to capture its glow for future enjoyment. The picture, I decided, was flawed by the utility lines that marred the landscape.

Looking at this picture on my computer again this morning, I still didn’t like the lines that broke up the image. But then a thought struck me about how the photo was a symbol of how so many of us try to live our lives between the lines.

For the first half of my life that meant being perfect, an impossible goal. Thankfully, I’ve learned that not only was I never going to be perfect, deep down I knew I never wanted to be perfect. .

If I thought about it, and I did, the moon was just as awesome with the lines as it would be without them. And with that, one of my favorite quotes popped into my mind.

“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” – Leonard Cohen.

Suddenly, I didn’t mind those dookie utility lines as much.

Bean’s Pat: Back on the Possumhaw Trail http://tinyurl.com/bjuznlh You don’t have to be a flower to have beauty. I love Steven’s Blog because I learn the names of plants, and not always just flowers. His photos make even weeds look awesome, although in this case it’s a winter tree.

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Seeking Teethly Perfection

Posted in Birds, Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Travels With Maggie, tagged cowgirl hall of fame, herb cahn, pat bean, perfection, postaday2011, st. louis botanical gardens, teeth, youth on December 28, 2011| 6 Comments »

A man begins cutting his wisdom teeth the first time be bites off more than he can chew.” – Herb Caen

While I may never know who has perfect teeth, since imperfect is in, I can tell you that this is a perfectly awesome bed of purple pansies that I saw at the St. Louis Botanical Gardens. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Travels With Maggie

Imperfect Teeth: What the Heck?

That was my thought when I caught a news headline this morning announcing that crooked teeth were a growing fad in Japan.

The story went on to note that Japanese women were even paying dentists to give them more pronounced cuspids. I was dumbfounded until I read the explanation. “A crowded mouth implies youth.”

Imperfection is suddenly seen as perfection. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

We humans are a funny race.

But I guess everything has its quirks.

And in my book, these yellow pansies I saw at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas, are just as perfectly beautiful as can be. -- Photo by Pat Bean

A female blue-footed booby wants a mate with the brightest blue feet – and the male booby shows of his webbed ones by dancing in front of her.

My dog, Maggie, prefers human companions over her own kind. I truly think she believes she’s human.

Female black widow spiders are known to eat their mates after the sex is over.

Some people believe mosquitoes have teeth, 47 to be exact. Well they do, but not teeth as we know them, and perhaps not 47. I wonder if mosquitoes think imperfect teeth are perfect, too.

This wandering/wondering old broad is just glad she still has her own teeth. What do you think?

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