Passing the Buck

A Word from the Cat in the Hat

I’m in the middle of  a lifestyle transition, have four books to read by January for a contest I’m judging, blogging three times a week for American Profile magazine,  getting ready for Christmas, enjoying my youngest daughter and her family, preparing to move into an apartment for which I need furniture, and am trying to cope with a dog that has decided a grandson’s room is a nice place to poop.

Pepper’s done the dirty deed twice, but  I think it’s been because I haven’t been up to our normal long walks. The physical therapist I visited Monday said it was a hip impingement.

I’m getting physical therapy and doing exercises for the leg so hopefully things will be back to normal soon. In the meantime, Pepper and I have been taking a lot of short walks to solve the problem.  I sure hope so because my new apartment is a third-story walk-up.

So, for the remainder of the year, I’m going to rely on some of my favorite people to help me out. Today it’s Dr. Seuss, whose advice I’ve enjoyed for a long, long time. Here are three of my favorite Seuss quotes.

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.”

“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the readers who reads.”

“Today you are you, that’s truer than true.  There’s no one alive who is youer than you.”

Book Report: We’re not going to say any more about this until Jan. 1, 2013.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Transplanted Tatar http://tinyurl.com/ayyyn4r A Glimpse of Paradise, or more specifically, the landscape that has claimed a piece of my soul.

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Good-Bye to Route 66

 “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss

Flagstaff, Not as I remembered

This cheerful seating area at the Flagstaff KOA reinforced my inclination to simply sit quiet for a while. — Photo by Pat Bean

Flagstaff still remembers Route 66 in all its glory. No crumbling, run-down remains in this elevated city, whose 6,920-foot elevation lets it nestle comfortably among 12,000-foot peaks. Flagstaff – which incidentally got its name from a flagpole made by a scouting party from Boston on July 4, 1876, to celebrate this country’s centennial – even holds an annual festival in September to celebrate the Mother Road.

I observed many signs and buildings as I made my way down the old highway through the town that loudly announced to travelers that Route 66 had passed this way.

Of course I never stop birdwatching. And this raven obligingly posed for a photograph. — Photo by Pat Bean

I had meant to explore some of them, to walk among Route 66 landmarks, hearing Nat King Cole in my head singing Bobby Troup’s “Get Your Kicks on Route 66.”

But I didn’t.

 Flagstaff wasn’t the quiet town I remembered from past visits. Today it seemed like people and traffic were everywhere. After my drive through the town, my canine traveling companion, Pepper, and I took Highway 89 heading north out of town and checked into the Flagstaff KOA.

And there Pepper and I stayed for the rest of the day and the next day, our sightseeing limited to what we could see in the large rustic park and on a short nature trail that we hiked several times a day.

It simply felt like the right thing to do at the time.

Bean’s Pat: http://inaroomofmyown.wordpress.com/  Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – writing! This one’s for the writers among us. 

*This recognition is merely this wandering/wondering old broad’s way of bringing attention to a blog I enjoyed – and thought perhaps my readers might, too. The Pat on the back is presented with no strings attached. June 2, patbean.wordpress.com

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Who’s Youer Than You? No One

“I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it’s true I’m here, and I’m just as strange as you.” Frida Kahol

Roots, a strange painting by Frida Kahlo

Frida’s quote explains everything perfectly — at least to all of us who grew up thinking we were strange.

And if  the women I know best are examples, Frida’s feeling about being strange is pretty much a universal thing. It’s too bad that too  many of us let decades go by before we appreciate our own special strangeness.

 

Dr. Seuss' world at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. -- Photo by Pat Bean

We’re too caught up in what others expect, or what other people will think if we do something strange, like hugging a tree or riding roller coasters when we’re 70. Yes, I do both.

I also think men have problems accepting their strangeness. After all “only sissies cry” and “real men don’t eat quiche.”

Why in the dookie have we allowed others to have so much power over us?

Frida used her strangeness to produce mind-bending art. .

Dr. Seuss, whose characters you must admit are a bit strange, embraced it with his unconventional stories and verse. He also understood how difficult it was for the rest of us to accept being different. Why else would he have wrote:

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind … Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”

I say we follow Dr. Seuss’ advice.

Bean’s Pat: http://morezennow.wordpress.com This is the blog on which I found Frida’s quote. It’s a blog that makes me think, and I love it when someone does that to me.

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The Marriage of Plants and Art

Chihuly's orange herons among the plants -- Photo by Pat Bean

 What marriage of art and nature has amazed you?

                 ________________________________

“Great art picks up where nature ends.” Marc Chagall

Travels With Maggie

I love plants and I love art. And when I visited St. Louis a few years ago, I came across the perfect marriage of the pair. Famed glass artist Dale Chihuly and the internationally acclaimed Missouri Botanical Gardens had temporarily married for a wondrous exhibit. .

The joining had taken place in the garden’s geodesic dome greenhouse. As I wandered through the dome, I found myself constantly snapping pictures of man and Mother Nature’s amazing teamwork. When I later looked at the photos I had taken, I sometimes found it difficult to distinguish between glass and plants.

Blooming glass -- Photo by Pat Bean

I was reminded again of this memorable summer afternoon when I read a comment made on yesterday’s blog. The reader had noted that the mushrooms illustrating my blog looked like pieces of Chihuly art. I looked at the picture posted on my blog again, and agreed with the observation.

I remember lying awake that night after visiting the gardens, asking myself how a genius like Chihuly had been created. Dedication to his calling? Love of his work? A willingness to make mistakes to learn new methods? Hard work? Patience? A natural talent? Probably all these and more I decided before falling asleep that night.

Dr. Seuss words: “Oh the places you’ll go, and the things you’ll see,” have accompanied me on my journeys in my RV, Gypsy Lee, with my dog, Maggie, now for seven years. Seuss forgot, however, to add “And oh the things you’ll remember.” That’s OK. I did it for him.

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