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The Magic of Starlings

February 10, 2026 by Pat Bean

European Starling — Wikimedia Photo

Aging My Way

The European starling is one of the birds I quickly learned to identify after I became addicted to bird watching back in 1999 – when I was a mere 60-year-old. It’s a black bird with a distinctive yellow bill and fairly common.

I saw starlings often when I lived in Northern Utah, and when I drove around the country for nine years in a small RV, and currently here in Tucson where I settled down in 2013.

The birds first arrived in this country in the late 19th century when a flock of them were released in New York’s Central Park. Many died, but the ones that lived thrived and can now be seen in every U.S. state including Alaska and Hawaii.

The birds are both loved and hated, the latter because they are an invasive creature and they often flock in huge numbers. But count me as a lover

There was nothing really special about these birds, or so I thought until I had a close encounter with them during a field trip to Great Salt Lake’s Antelope Island. They aren’t just black. When the sun shines on them they glisten with a rainbow of color, so much so that when I saw them in this light, I was amazed.

And their voices can mimic just about anything, from a squeaky bike to a melodious tune, one that once had me looking around a grocery store parking lot to find the singer. I was shocked when I realized it was just what most of us consider an ordinary starling.

So, next time you see one – and you might only have to step out your front door to do that – you might want to take a closer look.

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion Scamp. She is an avid reader whose mind is always asking questions (many of which are unanswerable), an enthusiastic birder, staff writer for Story Circle Network’s Journal, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

Bean Pat: The Life Affirming Magic of Birds by Charlie Bingham. It was while reading this book this morning that got me thinking about my starling sightings.

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The Rightness of Wrongness

February 4, 2026 by Pat Bean

Hey! Am I in the wrong place? — Art by Pat Bean

“It infuriates me to be wrong when I know I’m right.” – Moliere

Aging My Way

I’m reading Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz, who after talking about the benefits of being right, extolled the positive aspects of being wrong, which at some point in our lives we all are whether we want to admit it or not.

As I read, I thought about my friend Jean who just this morning pointed out, gleefully I might note, that I was wrong about how I interpreted some email instructions I had received. She heard otherwise.

Because we are friends, it was good-natured banter that in one form or another has continued ever since we became friends over 12 years ago. We both always want to be right.    

But while I was thinking about this quite recent episode, I thought back to a time nearly 60 years ago when being wrong was one of the best things happening in my life.

I had squeezed through a back door into working for a small Texas daily newspaper because I wanted to be a reporter. And what I knew about becoming that was absolutely nothing.

Thankfully for me, the newsroom was always short-staffed, and so I got an opportunity to do a bit of everything. The problem was that while I was told what to do, no one had the time, or patience, to tell me how to do it – that is until I did it wrong.

Then, everyone had time to tell me. And that was how I gained enough journalism experience to have a successful career that I loved for 37 years.

I agree with Kathryn. Being wrong isn’t always wrong.

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion Scamp. She is an avid reader whose mind is always asking questions (many of which are unanswerable), an enthusiastic birder, staff writer for Story Circle Network’s Journal, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

Posted in aging, Art, Books, Journeys | Tagged , | 2 Comments »

Black-Eyed Peas for Luck

January 2, 2026 by Pat Bean

A Dish of Hoppin’ John could bring you good luck in 2026 if you believe in luck

“I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

Southerners, especially old broads like me, eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day. It’s a tradition I picked up from my grandmother way back in the 1940s. But this year I didn’t feel like cooking this pale, kidney-shaped bean with its black eye.

And, since life is short, I forgave myself for not making Hoppin’ John, a dish I usually make with black-eyed peas, onion, ham hock and rice.  

But it was with delight that I accepted a late invitation to join my granddaughter’s wife Dawn to go down to Shooters for a drink and some black-eyed peas. The drink was my usual Jack and Coke and the free black-eyed peas I ate was an annual tradition at the local bar.

Eating black-eyed peas to begin a new year is believed to bring one good luck, and it’s been part of Southern tradition now for over three centuries after being brought to America by West African slaves.

While I didn’t count the peas I ate, I’m sure they weren’t the required 365 that some say are needed to bring good luck for every day of a new year. Even so, I’m optimistic that luck will favor me in 2026.

And with that thought in mind, I slept very well last night. Of course, the J&C might have helped.

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion Scamp. She is an avid reader whose mind is always asking questions (many of which are unanswerable), an enthusiastic birder, staff writer for Story Circle Network’s Journal, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

Posted in aging, Journeys | Tagged , | 6 Comments »

Making and Breaking New Year’s Resolutions

January 1, 2026 by Pat Bean

Happy New Year to All. — Art by Pat Bean

          “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul – and sings without the words – and never stops at all.” – Emily Dickinson

It’s the day of resolutions. I make them and I break them. The problem is that I always think I can carefully set my days the same way I carefully set a dinner table when guests are expected

          There are rules for how one places the silverware, which side of the plate the glass goes and so forth. And it always seems to me my day should go in a similar rhythm: Make the bed, make coffee, write for an hour, walk the dog, clean the kitchen, play with my art, and so on, with free time allotted at the end of the assigned tasks.

          But by the third, or even the second day, I don’t want to make the bed, or I don’t feel like doing my art, and I definitely don’t want to write. And so, the pattern is broken and all my resolutions have flown out the window,

          After a lifetime, well 86 years of it, you would think I would learn. But no, each New Year, I again have a list of resolutions, sometimes as long as my arm.

          Looking back on my life, I thankfully realize that my work, my passions and even my hobby took my tendency to bore so quickly in stride. As a newspaper reporter, no two days were ever alike, rafting down a river was never the same, and as for my hobby of birding, each day is still always a surprise.

          But here it is again. A New Year. And once again I find myself making resolutions. But this year I’ll be happy if I can just keep them for four days. That will be record breaking.

          Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion Scamp. She is an avid reader whose mind is always asking questions (many of which are unanswerable), an enthusiastic birder, staff writer for Story Circle Network’s Journal, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

Posted in aging, Art, Birds, Journeys, Writing | Tagged , | 1 Comment »

One Sentence Says Much

December 8, 2025 by Pat Bean

“In this trembling moment … is it still possible to face the gathering darkness, and say to the physical earth, and to all its creatures, including ourselves, fiercely and without embarrassment, I love you, and to embrace the burning world.”  — Barry Lopez

I love these words by Barry Lopez, a writer whose essays and books are in tune with my wonder and love of nature. I came across them while doing a writing exercise designed to interrupt my recent bout of writer’s block.

The exercise was to simply open any book, to any page, and write down a sentence found there, then to reflect on it. I chose the book The Best American Essays 2021, which was sitting on the top of a stack of books to be read.

Finding Lopez’s sentence, which was much longer than shared above, during my first attempt at doing the exercise feels like fate is playing a game with me. It feels too perfect a sentence for someone like me at this time in my life.

I badly want to believe that better days, for America, for the whole world in fact, still lie ahead for my great-grandchildren and their children. I want to believe that while I’ve been forced to accept that the world isn’t fair, that what goes around still comes around.

And I need to believe that there is still a purpose in life for this old abroad who can no longer climb a mountain or paddle a boat down a river. Yes Barry, I can still tell the earth, and its multitude of creatures – well except maybe a couple – that I do love you. Meanwhile, such a sentence as yours heightens my faith that the written word can help bring change about.

It means that as long as I can stream words together that foster love and acceptance of those who are different, my life still does have purpose.

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion Scamp. She is an avid reader whose mind is always asking questions (many of which are unanswerable), an enthusiastic birder, staff writer for Story Circle Network’s Journal, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), and is always searching for life’s silver lining

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Merely a 100 Things I’m Thankful For

November 26, 2025 by Pat Bean

And a Happy Thanksgiving to all. — Art by Pat Bean

          As I sit here on the day before Thanksgiving, with a newly applied 24-hour heart monitor placed on my chest this morning, I am extremely thankful for my life. At 86, I’m still moving and enjoying my days. And so, I give you a mere 100 things I’m thankful for.

  1. Simply surviving the past year, after a major heart attack in 2024, tops the list.  
  2. Next are all the family members and friends who have supported and loved me this past year.
  3. I’m also thankful for my writing comrades, the Eastside Tucson Writers here in town, and the members of Story Circle Network whose daily online presence inspires me to keep writing.
  4. I’m thankful for my canine companion Scamp, who is never far from my side and whose antics often provide laughter, and whose presence makes me happy. Taking care of him also fulfills a need I have to be useful.
  5.  I’m thankful for heating and air conditioning that keep me comfortable despite the weather outside. I think back to the years I lived on the Texas Gulf Coast without air conditioning and wonder how I survived.  I think back over the years a lot. The changes amaze me – and sometimes confuse me as well.                
  6. And that brings me to the next thing I am thankful for: the ability and willingness to change with the times. As writer and philosopher Alan Watts once said. “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”
  7. I’m thankful for the spark of joy and happiness deep within me that has nothing to do with what’s going on in my life. It’s something I have come to realize I was born with and that not all people have. It’s what keeps me looking for that silver lining when all is chaos around me.
  8. I’m thankful that I’m a writer, and for the good life it has given me.
  9. I’m thankful for the view of the Catalina Mountains that greet me outside my patio door most mornings, even before I get out of bed.
  10.  I’m thankful for neighbors who pop in for a visit, or who stop to smile and chat a few minutes when they see me out walking Scamp, or in the case of my next-door neighbor Hiroko, who walks Scamp most evenings, a holdover from my heart attack last year when others had to give him his daily walks for a while.
  11.   I’m thankful for Dusty, a rescue mutt and Scamp’s best friend, who I have babysat for 12 years now. I’m also thankful for Dusty’s mom, Jean, who makes sure I’m still breathing each morning when she drops her dog off before going on to work. Scamp sometimes lets me sleep in until almost 8 a.m.  My granddaughter Shanna and my oldest son, D.C. also check in with me daily.  I’m blessed with love, for which I am very thankful.
  12.  As I am for my memories, especially since it’s the good times and not the bad times that most often find their way to the surface. Like most of us, I’ve had my share of both.
  13.  I’m thankful for rainbows. And for:
  14.  My doctors and modern medicine.
  15.  A hot bath.
  16.  A comfortable bed.
  17.  Good chocolate.
  18.  Books and their authors.
  19.  The New York Times, my morning newspaper these days. I read it online.
  20.  And thinking of that, I’m thankful for my computer, which connects me to the world.
  21.  The television series Survivor, Amazing Race, Challenge and British mysteries, my all-time favorite shows.  
  22.  A rainy day and a good book.
  23.  Birds.
  24.  My Roomba.
  25.  My new recliner, which is big enough for me to share with my dog.
  26.  A road trip this past September with my best friend Kim.
  27.  National parks and bird and animal sanctuaries.
  28.  My small patio yard, which the birds love.
  29.  Competitive card and board games.
  30.  Funky earrings.
  31.  Comfortable shoes;
  32.  Warm fuzzy socks on a cold day.
  33.  Tye-Dye T-shirts.
  34.  Plants, especially my rubber tree plant which is over 30 years old.
  35.  Jigsaw puzzles.
  36.  My rollator, which lets me walk at my former fast pace.
  37.  The oldest thing I own, which is a drawing of a cardinal owned by my grandmother, who was my favorite person until she died when I was 11.
  38.  My piddling with watercolors.
  39.  America.
  40.  Being a woman.
  41.  My leaf blower, because raking hurts my back.
  42.  Smiles from a stranger, and anybody else, too.
  43.  Deep belly laughs.
  44.  My car, and that I can still drive.
  45.  My morning two cups of coffee with cream.
  46.  Strong women.
  47.  Our family football pool, which helps keep scattered loved ones connected.
  48.  A visit this past year by my youngest daughter, T.C., who I hadn’t seen in quite a while, as well as a visit from my oldest daughter, Deborah and her husband Neal.
  49.  Bookstores, especially Back of Beyond in Moab, Utah, which I got to visit during my road trip with Kim.
  50.  Snail-mail letters.
  51.  Maps.
  52.  Photo memories that drop into my email daily.
  53.  Flowers.
  54.  Hot dogs, with chili, onions and cheese.
  55.  My binoculars, so I can look at birds close up.
  56.  Good, honest and truthful journalism – and yes, it’s still out there.
  57.  Libraries.
  58.  Dad jokes, because my oldest son tells them.
  59.  Bird and other field guides.
  60.  My Dick Tracy watch, at least that’s what I call it because I can get and make phone calls on it. It’s my medical alert plan.
  61.  That after trial and error, I can finally make pumpkin soup that tastes as good as what I had on my African safari.
  62.  Boxes full of surprises that my daughter-in-law sends me
  63.  A blank page waiting to be filled with my words and thoughts.
  64.  Reading glasses.
  65.  The time I now have alone to reflect and connect the dots of my life.
  66.  That if I die tomorrow, I’m ready – but not eager.
  67.  Grandkids and great grandkids.
  68.  Kind and caring people.
  69.  Learning something new, hopefully for every day for the rest of my life.
  70.  Olay moisturizing body wash, a new find this past year.
  71.  Ice in my Jack and Coke.
  72. A clean refrigerator, which mine seldom is.
  73.  Microwave for cooking leftovers.
  74.  Sun, moon and stars.
  75.  The drive up to the top of Mount Lemmon on the Scenic Island Skyway with a grandson and his family.
  76.  Shortbread cookies.
  77.  Email, despite the junk.
  78.  My pill organizer. Never thought I would say that, but then I’ve never been 86 before.
  79.  Home delivery.
  80.  Bright colors.
  81.  Trees, like aspens whose coin-like leaves turn golden in fall, or oaks trees whose twisting branches turn into art.
  82.  Smucker’s sweet orange marmalade on my morning – or midnight – toast.
  83.  My curiosity.
  84.  Monday mornings. I like the feel of a fresh start, and Mondays remind me of this.
  85.  Living alone but never being lonely.
  86.  A good pen.
  87.  Hugs.
  88.  The image in my mind of the peaceful place where I dumped my mother’s ashes.
  89.  My monthly Social Security check.
  90.  Yellow and gold sunrises and purple and orange sunsets.
  91.  Helen Reddy singing “I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar.” – and when I am brave enough to sing this song at a karaoke gathering despite the fact I am tone deaf. A couple of Jack and Cokes beforehand helps.
  92.  A good haircut.
  93.  Clean water to drink, and friendly reminders to drink more of it.
  94.  Scamp’s wonderful groomer, who not only comes to my place, but tells me Scamp is a “good, sweet boy,” despite the fact he got expelled from PetSmart. Have I mentioned that he is a Siberian husky/shih tzu rescue mutt.
  95.  Stimulating conversations, especially where differing people can share their views and nobody gets upset or ugly – and might even learn something.
  96.   Glass containers with lids that can go from the refrigerator to the icebox, or even the oven.
  97.  For the saguaro cacti that can be seen all around Tucson.
  98.  For 50 years of journals.
  99.  That I’ve lived long enough to have wrinkles. I’m proud of every one.

100 And finally for all the readers of my blogs. This, by the way, is the 1,648th one I’ve posted over the years.   

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion Scamp. She is an avid reader whose mind is always asking questions (many of which are unanswerable), an enthusiastic birder, staff writer for Story Circle Network’s Journal, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

Posted in aging, Art, Journeys, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment »

Where Are Your Men?

November 19, 2025 by Pat Bean

Me and my ever-faithful rafting partner, Kim, and the daughter of another female rafting partner as we retire my first, and most fun, raft.

Aging My Way

The year was 1983. I was 44 and recently divorced when I bought a five-person raft. I considered it a man-toy, and was quite proud of myself.

From then until 2004, every late spring, summer and early fall would find me with friends floating one river or another, including the Snake, Salmon and the Colorado’s 225-mile stretch through the Grand Canyon twice. Running white-water rapids became my passion – and when I was in my boat, I was the caption.

With that background in mind, you can understand why I am so happily engrossed reading Where Are Your Men? It’s an anthology written by a group of women who continue in their 60s and beyond to paddle down rivers without any men. I bought the book in Moab, Utah, at a place called Back of Beyond, my favorite bookstore in the world.

The women aren’t man-haters and even dedicated their book to the men in their lives, but they understand the special dynamics that happen when women alone rely on their own strengths and talents. These, admittedly, are different from their opposite gender.

And when it comes to river-running, as the river pretty quickly taught me and which the women in the book confirmed, one can fight the current or flow with the river. As a woman, I depended on the river’s strength to put my raft in the right spot to avoid crashing into rocks, while most of the men I went down the river with depended on their own strength to keep their rafts or kayaks out of trouble.

I saw this time and time again.

Meanwhile, this is a lesson that is standing me in good stead as an 86-year-old who no longer has the strength of her younger self. More and more I’m finding different ways to accomplish daily tasks, from becoming more left-handed since my right shoulder doesn’t work properly these days, to doing harder tasks in several installments.

Thankfully, I can still read for as long as I want. And reading Where Are Your Men? lets me imagine myself sitting around a campfire with these women sharing river tales – which always get bigger with each telling.

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion Scamp. She is an avid reader whose mind is always asking questions (many of which are unanswerable), an enthusiastic birder, staff writer for Story Circle Network’s Journal, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

Posted in aging, Books, Journeys | 1 Comment »

Quotes From My Journal

November 12, 2025 by Pat Bean

“This morning do something different: When you wake up in the morning, wake your forgotten and forsaken dreams up as well, wake them up like an insisting rooster!” – Mehmet Murat ildan

Aging My Way

I’m a collector of quotes, and I thought it would be fun to share a few that have particular meaning to me.

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” Bertram Russell, British philosopher. Something to remember when I’m enjoying wasting time.

“I might not always have a clue what I’m doing, but I’ll get there eventually.” – Ioana Seritan, a birder like me. This made me think about the nine years I traveled around the country without GPS. I got lost often but always ended up where I was going. Getting lost was part of the fun – still is.

 “It is the part of us that is not like the others that makes us special.” – Actress Sharon Stone. I wish I had known that when I was a young girl because I never felt like the others.

“We shall never have equal rights until we take them, nor equal respect until we command it.” – Belva Lockwood, who ran for president in 1884 and was the first woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court. I fought for equal pay for equal work my whole working career.  And the fight for equality by women is more important today than ever.  

“Wishy Washy can be dull,” Dinty W. Moore, American Essayist. I need to take this good advice from Dinty. I certainly don’t want to bore my readers.

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion Scamp. She is an avid reader whose mind is always asking questions (many of which are unanswerable), an enthusiastic birder, staff writer for Story Circle Network’s Journal, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

Posted in aging, Art, Journeys, Writing | 1 Comment »

Conversation with Myself

November 4, 2025 by Pat Bean

“I like nonsense. It wakes up the brain cells.” — Dr Seuss

Aging My Way

It’s been a month since you’ve posted a blog.

I’ve had company and then I was sick with the crud. Not covid because I took the test.

You found time to watch TV, listen to audible and spend endless hours scrolling on the computer.

Well, I have to admit that the scrolling was mostly a big waste of time … although I did figure out that those bumps on my right foot are what’s called ganglion cysts, and most importantly that they are harmless.

So why didn’t you stop scrolling?

I kept telling myself I should, but I just couldn’t seem to do so — maybe because scrolling doesn’t require brain power and my brain seemed to be turned off.

And exactly what is wrong with your brain?

It needed a vacation.

Is the vacation over?

Maybe … Hey! Want to see the latest photo of my canine companion Scamp. My friend Jean took it while he was sitting on my lap.

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion Scamp. She is an avid reader whose mind is always asking questions (many of which are unanswerable), an enthusiastic birder, staff writer for Story Circle Network’s Journal, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

Posted in aging, Dogs | 2 Comments »

The Ace of Toilets

October 5, 2025 by Pat Bean

Star Gazer Cabin 1

Road Trip: Day 1 Continued

Finally, back on track, heading east on U.S. 60, the designated scenic section that runs along the eastern border of the Tonto National Forest and through Fort Apache Indian Reservation between Globe and Show Low, Kim and I relaxed and enjoyed the scenery.

As one who wants to know where places get their names, I had looked up Show Low while planning our itinerary. What I discovered was that according to legend, the city’s unusual name resulted from a marathon poker game between Corydon E. Cooley and Marion Clark.

The two men were equal partners in a 100,000-acre ranch; however, the partners determined that there was not enough room for both of them, and they agreed to settle the issue over a game of Seven Up, with the winner taking the ranch and the loser leaving.

After the game seemed to have no winner in sight, Clark said, “If you can show low, you win.” In response, Cooley turned up the deuce of clubs (the lowest possible card) and replied, “Show low it is.” As a tribute to the legend, Show Low’s main street is named Deuce of Clubs.

From Show Low, we took Arizona State Route 77 to Holbrook, and then headed way off the beaten path, including a couple of miles of unpaved road to our night’s lodging, a small cabin with a glass front wall and glass roof called Star Gazer Cabin 1.

Kim, after my own fiasco I thankfully note, was the one who had made these reservations. It was a delightful outdoor treasure that both of us would have been happy with in our younger days.

The problem was that the small cabin sat atop a deck whose steps had no guard rail – and this old broad almost took a tumble just getting to the top of the deck. In addition, the place had only an outdoor toilet and both of us are at an age when using the john in the middle of the night is a repetitive thing.

I should also note that there was a sign that read: No peeing off the deck!

Now, Kim made me promise to write about what I did next; and that is after noting that the cabin was clean and the beds looked comfortable, I spotted a small waste basket and took it out to the deck to serve as my chamber pot for the night.

Thankfully, my traveling partner decided that maybe we should go back into town and find a more conventional place to spend the night. And a Best Western, with a nice clean indoor toilet, it was.

To be continued …

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion Scamp. She is an avid reader whose mind is always asking questions (many of which are unanswerable), an enthusiastic birder, staff writer for Story Circle Network’s Journal, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

Posted in aging, Journeys, Travel | Tagged , , | 3 Comments »

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