Brown bear, brown bear,
what do you see?
Reindeer herds or
Santa in Rovaniemi?
May to August,
the midnight sun lights Lapland.
Under that luminous sky,
the Sámi teach that all
beings and objects have souls.
Paintings, pottery,
dolls and blankets have stories.
A Sámi kota is a circular tent,
a place for visions and healing.
Brown bear, brown bear,
what do you see?
A Lake Saimaa seal,
cut off from the sea?
Long winer nights are
lit by aurora borealis,
heaven’s fireworks,
the celestial dragon.
If we listen,
what will we hear?
Notes: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is a classic children’s book written by Bill Martin, Jr. and illustrated by Eric Carle. I pay homage here to a book my kids love, and I reread so many times it feels part of my DNA.
I’ve seen a rise in visitors from Finland, and I wanted to learn more about it. Finland’s cities of light are dwarfed by its vast wilderness near the arctic circle. In between Sweden and Russia, Finland flies its cross-of-blue flag over lakes, mountains, forests, rocky inlets, migrating birds and northern lights. It’s a place of magic, with trees frozen like trolls, glass igloos and brown bear roaming free.
The painting is a watercolor of mine from twenty years ago, tweaked by iPhoto.
You have your own brown bear art to go with the poem – very good indeed! I’ve never seen a bear in real life, and I’m not sure I’d want to up close. I have heard the brown…or is black bears are quite shy of people, but I don’t think I’d take my chances if I saw one! I’ve not heard of the little story book either. Bears are a bit of mysterious creature to the British! 🙂
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I avoid bear, and they avoid me. Although I have seen them in the wild in Yosemite (big park in California). And in New Hampshire, too, now that I think back. Moose are apparently more of a threat. I can’t say this bear posed for me. I painted it from a photograph, years ago.
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Moose….moooose, that was the name I was struggling to remember!!!! I was thinking ‘like lumpy looking dear’ but couldn’t remember what they were called. Yes, someone else told me they have a problem with them in their area too. Someone shouts “there’s a moose!” everyone gets a bit scared. I used to be terrified of cows on country walks when I was little, I believed they would follow us home and get behind the sofa in the living room. My older brother pointed out they would have had to let themselves in with a key first – but I wasn’t interested in how they would do that – I just knew they could! The thought of meeting a moose at that age – aaahh, no, that would have been too monstrous for me! 😀
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Which is why we need picture books to tame the monsters and make the wild tame. 🙂
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Very nice….can’t wait to read your tales of the north💕
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Thanks! Perhaps I’ll revisit Scotland in my armchair travels. 🙂
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Love it:)
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Amazing to find here something telling about my country. Best regards. Matti.
My blog contains so much information about Finland that You never can imagine. 🙂
Sartenada’s blog
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I long to travel, and I’m trying to write more about the world and not just about New England. Of course, I only have local photos. If you like, I could feature one or two of your reindeer race pictures, and I could put in a poem, too. I always credit and link when I collaborate with another artist.
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Accepted with pleasure. Thank You.
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Great, I’ll try to do it in the next week. XOXO
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beautiful ——
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Thanks, Beth!
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I so love this. I had a dear friend from Sweden who spoke often of the Sami and closeness to the spirit world. This has reminded me of him…this has touched me deeply. It is very very beautiful. 🙂
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Thank you, Krysia! I’m glad I got it right. 🙂
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…you got it beautifully right my dear! 🙂
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Yeah! Someone in a writing site said you don’t have to live in France to write a book set there with the internet. And I thought, that’s true! I research places in the USA the same way. Why not visit other countries, too? 🙂 Such fun!
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Great idea…the whole world is there to explore! Finland tho’ …particularly magical and mysterious being so far north! And the research is fun too… 🙂
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So many amazing pictures. I would love to visit in the lighter months to see it all abloom and green, but I would also love to visit in the darker months to see the Northern Lights. A dream of mine. Have you seen them?
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Yes… We went looking for them on a bright clear night and this night there was a lot of solar activity and they stretched as far south as here in Lanark, southern Scotland! Normally you see them further up in the Highlands, Orkney and Shetland. Recently they were even seen in northern England…Cumbria and Northumberland and a little further down. Sadly we were too cloudy that night. What I saw blew me away… Pinky greeny shimmering floaty cosmic curtain…just magical Brenda. We may get another showing soon…? 🙂
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Oh, that sounds amazing. I am so jealous!
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Lovely. Really.
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Thank you!
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Yay! Love it! 💖💖
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Yeah! I thought I might try to write something about Norway next. But you’ve already written so many beautiful things…
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No, please do!! I would looooove to read! 😊😊😊😊
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😀 I love your faith in me. XOXO
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Always! 💖😊
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