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Posts Tagged ‘the color yellow’

The Desert in Bloom

Posted in Art, Journeys, Nature, Wildflowers, tagged , on May 1, 2015| 3 Comments »

“The sound of colors is so definite that it would be hard to find anyone who would express bright yellow with base notes, or dark lake with the treble.” – Wassily Kandinsky

Vincent van Gogh liked the color yellow, too.

Vincent van Gogh liked the color yellow, too.

The Hue of Sunshine

I’ve watched this past month as cacti and palo verde trees have burst forth with yellow blossoms. I’ve come to think of this buttery splash on the landscape as a likely subject for a Van Gogh painting – well, if he had lived in Tucson.

Palo verdes, the state tree of Arizona, heavily dot the Catalina Foothills where I live. I love the color.

Palo verdes, the state tree of Arizona, heavily dot the Catalina Foothills where I live. I love the color.

Sometimes, as I observe the miracle of the desert coming to life, I find myself singing John Denver’s “Sunshine on my Shoulder Makes Me Happy” – Because it does.

It’s just one more reason I start each day thankful for my life – and extra thankful that I live in a country where a woman is free to enjoy the bounties of Mother Nature anytime she wants. I wish it were true for all men and women alive in the world today. And I grieve because it isn’t, especially for the women who make up the majority of the oppressed in many countries.  Don’t you?*

Blog pick of the day. Check it out.

Blog pick of the day. Check it out.

Bean Pat: Portrait of Wildflowers http://tinyurl.com/ojb29cy I’m not the only one who enjoys the color of sunshine.

*This topic crept its way into my blog, not at all where I intended the end of my writing to go. It is, however, a topic that is much on my mind. I often feel guilty because of my simple luck of not being born in a country where an outspoken woman has to fear for her life. I seriously doubt I would have survived to become the old broad I am today if not for my birth-place luck.   

           

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The Desert Turned Golden While I Was Away

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Dogs, Journeys, Nature, tagged , , , , on April 24, 2014| 2 Comments »

The view of the Catalina Mountains from my bedroom balcony. -- Photo by Pat Bean

The view of the Catalina Mountains from my bedroom balcony. — Photo by Pat Bean

   “Those fields of daisies we landed on, and dusty fields and desert stretches. Memories of many skies and earths beneath us – many days, many nights of stars.” – Anne Morrow Lindberg

How Amazing

            If you think of the desert as a dry, sterile patch of inhospitable landscape, think again. In the 16 months I’ve lived in it, I’ve found more beauty than I thought possible in a desert.

Admittedly, it’s the Sonoran Desert, which has also been called the lush desert because it has a monsoon season. But still I didn’t expect to come to love it as much as I have.

Patches of yellow on the landscape. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Patches of yellow on the landscape. — Photo by Pat Bean

I came to Tucson to spend Christmas 2012 with my daughter, and stayed, mainly because I found a dog-friendly apartment in the shadow of the Catalina Mountains that was exactly what I had been looking for when I ended my full-time living and traveling in  small RV.  Its location sang to me, and just as important it was a nice apartment I could afford.

My canine companion Pepper and I left it recently for almost three weeks – at heart I still love being on the road. And when I returned, as if by magic, summer had sneaked, or is that snuck, in. Tucson’s desert landscape does that while more northern states are just beginning to enjoy spring, or if truly northern still struggling with the remains of winter.

What I noticed first, when Pepper and I drove west on Highway 10 and turned north on Alvernon Road was that the landscape, patches of which still remain in the city, was decked out with yellow trimmings. I found it both beautiful and enchanting.

What a fantastic homecoming. Don’t you agree?

The Wondering-Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering-Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Live to Write – Write to Live http://tinyurl.com/ny8487f  The Hero’s Journey: This blog taught me something about writing, and made me laugh, too. But don’t read it if you don’t want the plot and ending of the movie “Gravity” spoiled for you

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Yellow: The Color of Joy and Sunshine

Posted in Travel, Wildflowers, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 31, 2011| 5 Comments »

“She was wearing a canary-yellow two-piece bathing suit, one piece of which she would not actually be needing for another nine or ten years.” – J.D. Salinger

Joy with yellow petals -- Photo by Pat Bean

Travels With Maggie

I think Mother Nature must love the color yellow as much as I do.

From the dandelions that she sprinkles on lawns to the consternation of gardeners, to the unbridled joy of enthusiastic sunflowers that linger long after the bloom of other wildflowers have faded away, these exclamations of color delight my soul.

I’m not alone in my joy.

Wrote Johan Wolfange Goethe about the yellow “It is the color closest to light. In its utmost purity it always implies the nature of brightness and has a cheerful, serene, gently stimulating character.

yellow cactus bloom at Pancho Villa State Park in New Mexico -- Photo by Pat Bean “How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the sun,” said Vincent Van Gogh, one of my favorite artists.

Pablo Picasso also had an opinion about yellow and the sun: “There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.”

“I made a circle with a smile for a mouth on yellow paper, because it was sunshiny and bright,” said Harvey Ball, who is credited with being creator of the Smiley face. .

Don't forget to smile today.

“I really just want to be warm yellow light that pours over everyone I love.” said musician Conor Oberst.

Curious George followed the man with the yellow hat home from Africa, Dorothy followed the yellow brick road, the Beatles fancied a yellow submarine, we ride in yellow taxis, and look up information in the yellow pages.

And yellow always stops my camera in its tracks.

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