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The Wanderlust in My Soul

May 26, 2026 by Pat Bean

I spent one summer, during my RV travels from 2004 to 1013 in the Everglades, where I indulged in lots of birdwatching. One my favorite species were the Anhingas, a waterbird that swims with only its head and long neck above water. Thes trait has caused some people to call them the snake bird. I most often saw them on a low branch or stump with their wings stretched out wide to dry. Anyway, I drew this one during my Everglade summer.

Aging My Way

Steinbeck named his mode of travel, a camper created from a pickup truck, Rocinante, after Don Quixote’s horse, and I named my small RV Gypsy Lee for the wanderlust in my genes and a grandfather who loved to travel, or so I was told as he died when I was only two years old.

On most best travel book lists that I come across, I’ve read at least half of them – and I copy down the names of the ones I haven’t and check them out. Age has slowed down my physical road trips, but reading books about travel continues to warm my wanderlust soul.

I was pretty young when I started reading books by John Steinbeck, (1902-1968). Grapes of Wrath, Cannery Row, East of Eden, I loved; Of Mice and Men, not so much. But my favorite Steinbeck book is Travels with Charley, so much so that I gave Steinbeck credit for being one of the inspirations for my own travels, and titled my travel book, Travels with Maggie. Charley was a large French poodle, and Maggie was a bratty cocker spaniel.

Steinbeck and I looked at this country from different viewpoints, and I learned much from him. I would like to think that if he could have read my book, he would have learned from me, too. As I’ve noted before, one of the best things about reading is seeing the world from another’s perspective.

Meanwhile, here is one of my favorite travel quotes from another one of my favorite authors: Edward Abbey. “May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.”

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, Books, Journeys, Writing | 1 Comment »

A Historical, Fantastical Journey

May 25, 2026 by Pat Bean

Memories are always flashing through my old-broad mind, perhaps because my brain is so crammed full of them. Anyway, as I painted this quick capture of a male downy woodpecker, I recalled the old, animated character Woody Woodpecker. Anyone else remember Woody? — Art by Pat Bean

Aging My Way

 “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters.” — Ursula K. Le Guin.

This quote means so much to me that it has a permanent place on my blog page. It was the inspiration for how I traveled after retirement, when I took the backroads and zigzagged across America in a small RV for nine amazing years.

It was a similar, but yet totally different journey, that the protagonist takes in Douglas Westerbeke’s intriguing book A Short Walk Through a Wide World. Classified as historical fantasy, a New York Times reviewer said it rolled The Life of Pi, The Alchemist, and The Midnight Library into one fantastical fable.

I recommended the novel to my book-loving neighbor who enjoyed it as much as I did. We read it last year shortly after it was published. And by the way, I do know how lucky and blessed I am to have a neighbor who loves reading as much as I do.

Westerbeke, a former librarian, credits all the reading he had done as inspiration for his novel. I would think that his neighbors, if they know him, would be fortunate, too.

Meanwhile, a Bean Pat for our local libraries. “A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never-failing spring in the desert.” – Andrew Carnegie“

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, Books, Journeys, Uncategorized, Writing | Tagged , , | 4 Comments »

Remembering Albert Payson Terhune

May 24, 2026 by Pat Bean

Scamp in 2019, just a few days after I got him from a shelter. He was terribly matted and here he is showing off his first haircut. He weighed 17 pounds and I thought he was almost full-grown. He weighs 45 pounds today. Photo by Jean Gowen

Aging My Way

Since I decided to blog more about books, and do it five days a week, I quickly realized I couldn’t just mention titles I was currently reading. Even I don’t read that much.

 The solution, which requires me to go back into my past, has been quite enjoyable, like the memory that popped into my head of my favorite childhood author: Albert Payson Terhune (1872-1942). Among a dazzling array of other books, he wrote over 30 dog-related titles – most of which I’ve probably read. His books were the first ones I looked for during my weekly library visits when I was growing up.

With a bit of current research, I learned that some of Terhune’s books are available for 99 cents on Kindle, and I downloaded Lad, A Dog and Chips, two that I do recall reading. Terhune’s books may have started my lifelong adoration of dogs, a love that became even greater when I became the sole occupant of my abode almost 50 years ago.

There have been four dogs in my life since then, each a cherished companion. The latest is Scamp, a Siberian Husky-Shih Tzu mix who became my soul mate seven years ago. Albert said: “Any man with money to make the purchase can become a dog owner. But no man — spend he ever so much coin and food and tact in the effort – may become a dog’s master without the consent of the dog.”

However, when it comes to Scamp, it’s debatable about which of us is the master. 

Meanwhile, on perusing the two books I downloaded, I discovered that dogs back in the author’s days, and mine, weren’t the pampered pets they are today. Their masters weren’t always kindly and they mostly didn’t live indoor lives and sleep on beds. Of course, all dogs today still don’t have as coddled a life as Scamp

What’s a childhood book you remember?

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, Dogs, Journeys, Writing | Leave a Comment »

All About Us – And Happiness

May 22, 2026 by Pat Bean

A memory of an afternoon safari in Tanzania. — Art by Pat Bean

My Way

Book: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, one of the top 100 books of the 21st Century according to the New York Times Readers’ Pick.

Wow! That was my first reaction when I started reading this book. It’s 2.5 million years of history squeezed into 599 pages – and it’s all about us. There’s the good, the bad, the ugly and questions about what’s next.

I read it a while back, but unlike some books that quickly fade from my memory, this one has stuck with me. I’m thinking about reading it again. What would be really fun is to find a used copy in which someone has underlined passages and/or made margin notes. Someone else’s thoughts is one of the reasons I like purchasing used books.

Art: It’s supposed to be a Marabou Stork. I saw lots of them in Tanzania in 2007. From the back, if you have a decent imagination, these birds look like they are wearing a long black coat, which has prompted some people to call it the undertaker bird. Anyway, this quick sketch was fun to do, but the best part about it was that it reminded me of my two-week African safari, during which I identified 182 different bird species. While that’s not an impressive number for what I could have seen, it pleased me.

Quote: And that brings me to a favorite quote, which I will paraphrase because I can’t find it or who said it. Simply put: “Happiness is not always getting what you want but loving what you have.” Anyone know who said it?

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 African Safari, aging, Art, Birds, Books, Journeys, Writing | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

Strong Women

May 21, 2026 by Pat Bean

Yellow makes me happy. — Art by Pat Bean

Aging My Way   

“My grandmother turned toward a guard – she was in line to be shot into a pit – and said, ‘What happens if I step out of line?’ And he said, ‘I don’t have the heart to shoot you, but somebody will.’ And she stepped out of line. And for that I am here.” – Alex Borstein.

This quote opens the book The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line, which I was given as a recent birthday present after I requested stories about strong women. It’s about “girls” who stepped out of line and helped win World War II. I’m loving this book.  

Quote: “Being right might be gratifying, but in the end it is static … being wrong is hard and humbling, and sometimes even dangerous, but in the end it is a journey and a story … to fuck up is to find adventure.” – Kathryn Schultz, Being 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, Writing | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

Art, Books and Quotes

May 20, 2026 by Pat Bean

Art by Pat Bean

Aging My Way

Having just turned 87, and struggling a bit with the rigors of aging, I’ve started focusing on doing more things that bring me joy. And while this blog is one of the things that give me joy, it’s been pretty sporadic lately.

Perhaps after 1,658 posts, not that I’m counting, I might have run out of words. I think I’ll take my cue from Albert Einstein, who said insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results, and come up with a new tactic.

And since I still want to blog, I’ve decided, at least for a while, just to share a piece of daily art, a book recommendation and a quote. I think I can manage this. So, let’s give it a try. Comments, and book suggestions, appreciated.

Art: It’s supposed to be a Least Bittern, I say supposed because I didn’t get in much identifiable details. I tend to paint more birds than anything else. They fascinate me. Also, I should note, painting is something I long ago decided is not something I have to be good at. I reserve that inner critic for my writing.  

Good Read: Welcome to the Hyunam Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum.

“To read is to see things from someone else’s perspective,” the author writes. And boy do we need that today – at least from my perspective. Originally written in Korean, it’s a heart-warming story in which a bookstore brings lonely people together.

Quote: “…my soul is gladdened by his smile, a broad human smile, as warm as the applause of a large crowd.” Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet. This is not so much a quote as just a good sentence that brings a smile to my face.

Comments, quotes, art and book suggestions, appreciated.   

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, Quote for the Day, Writing | 1 Comment »

April 27, 2026 by Pat Bean

The Joy of Being Able to Read

A somewhat likeness of Chigger, the cat that owned me for 18 years. — Art by Pat Bean

 Aging My Way

Polish poet Wisława Szymborska, who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature, wrote a poem called Possibilities in which she noted her preferences. I love it.

Among her preferences were cats, Dickens to Dostoyevsky, the absurdity of writing poems to the absurdity of not writing poems, Grimms’ fairy tales to the newspapers’ front pages, and the hell of chaos to the hell of order.

It’s a long poem, and by the end of it I felt as if I had come to know Wislawa, and if she had been a friend I would have grieved her death in 2012. Now I just feel a sense of loss because I didn’t know her.

The poem, meanwhile, inspired me to think about my own preferences. I prefer dogs to cats, although I do not dislike the latter, and was owned by one named Chigger for 18 years.

Fantasy, mystery and memoir are my favorite reading matter, although I also read just about anything except true crime and horror. I get enough of those genres from today’s newspapers. I could add TV news but I don’t listen to it. I read my realities.

As for writing, to not do so for me would be about the same as not breathing.

Finally, as much as I try to order my days, which Dorothy Gilman (author of the Mrs. Pollifax series which I adore) says can’t be done like a table setting, I quickly become bored without surprises. I love spur of the moment activities – and disorder seems to follow me around.

It seems Wislawa and I have a lot in common, which of course I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t come across her poem in The Marginalian, Maria Popova’s newsletter. (newsletter@themarginalian.org). The joy I get from reading, especially these days when I’m nesting more than adventuring, is a magnificent treasure.

So, what are you reading?

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, Writing | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

Road Trips: Two Ways

April 12, 2026 by Pat Bean

Blythe Roberson and I both pondered the petroglyphs at Capitol Reef National Park in Southern Utah. It’s comforting knowing someone else and I shared America’s beauty and wonders.

Aging My Way

Most days I am content. I have a comfortable place to live, friends and loved ones who care about me, I have a great dog, and I’m rich enough to buy a book I want when I want it – and that’s rich enough for me.

But there are other days when I want more, like reasons why at nearly 87 I’m still here on this planet. It’s a nagging concern that is probably shared by others who have left behind a life of chaotic activity for one of having the luxury of unscheduled time.

I thought about these things this morning when I was reading Blythe’s Roberson’s book, America the Beautiful. A comedian, humor writer and author, Blythe says she snapped the day Mary Oliver died, suddenly realizing she needed to do the “great American road trip.” And so it was that two months later, at just 28, Blythe quit her job and was on the road in her dad’s old Prius. –

I immediately identified with Blythe, although in my case, while I knew when I was 10 years old that I had to take that great American road trip, it took me 55 years instead of just two months to accomplish the dream. In my defense, Blythe’s adventures only lasted a few months while mine lasted nine years – and I did it comfortably in a gutsy, new 21-foot RV.

But a high priority on both Blythe and my agendas for the road trip was visiting National Parks, where we thought we would see the best of America – and we did. To give structure to her trip, Blythe decided to earn junior ranger badges from each park she visited. I chose the task of seeing as many new bird species as I possible could.

The need for structure to my days continues to be a nagging concern, which I answer with birdwatching, reading books like Blythe’s that stimulate my little gray cells, and writing, such as this blog, personal journaling and an occasional paid writing assignment. I also have a few other creative activities along with social interactions with friends and loved ones who continue to enrich my life.

Such things are necessary to keep me from obsessing too much about the daily news, and other disturbing minutia like saggy boobs, wrinkled skin and thinning hair. Thankfully, the years have repaid the insults with the wisdom to take the days, and enjoy and survive them, as they come – and be grateful for them.

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, Favorite Places, Journeys, road trip, Writing | Tagged | 1 Comment »

Days Past Live on in My Memories

March 17, 2026 by Pat Bean

One of the last photos taken of my Mom. We bundled her up so she could sit around a campfire with us at Zion. — Photo by Pat Bean

Aging My Way

“Memory… is the diary that we all carry about with us.” – Oscar Wilde

Twenty-eight years ago, on a Friday the 13th, I held my mother’s hand as she took her last breath. Four days later, on a St. Patrick’s Day – like today – a small memorial for family and friends was held for her. Only her ashes, contained in a decorative urn and taking a prominent place in the room, were there with us.

Reliving that day in my mind, I see all of us present, at one time or another, throwing a kiss toward that urn. The symbolic action was started by the first speaker, one of her grandsons, who threw the kiss toward her contained ashes after ending his remarks.

My mother had green eyes and green was her favorite color, and in her honor, I wore a bright green blazer with a green skirt for the memorial. The memory of that day remains fresh in my mind, perhaps more colorful and fresher than it appeared to me when it was happening because back then my emotions were in charge of my brain.

Such, in the same way it seems to me, are so many other moments collected during my eight plus decades of life on this planet.

I’ll see a photo of an osprey, and suddenly I’m back beside the Snake River below Jackson Hole once again watching an osprey snatch a fish out of the water and fly up to a tall tree. It’s almost as if I can see details that I missed when it was happening.

Thankfully, most of the vivid memories that pop into my head are good ones. But even remembering my mother’s death and memorial isn’t so bad. I still miss her, but seeing her again, even if it’s only in my mind, gives me a sense of comfort. It’s like she has stopped in for a short visit.

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, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

A Two-Pronged History

February 25, 2026 by Pat Bean

Time and histories merge, just as dripping paint does. — Art by Pat Bean

Aging My Way

          Behind every person is a history, or so Shakespeare said. That was a thought I wrote in my journal six years ago, and which I came across again this morning when I was searching for something to write about. Of course it got me wondering about my own history.

          My past, however, has to be seen through the years I’ve lived through, a time in history that has seen changes so fantastic that it just about blows my mind. When I began my life in 1939, neighborhood home phone lines were shared with neighbors and long-distance phone calls cost a mint.

          I know because after they left home in the 1970s and 80s, my children, who by the way were raised without seat belts, had permission to call home collect at any time. I knew they were finally grown up and independent when they called and paid the charges themselves. Meanwhile, I’m glad such long-distance phone fees went the way of the dinosaurs because my family is now wide-spread across the country, and I love getting phone calls from them.

Then there is the particular memory I have of a geometry teacher – I remember him well because he told the class on day one that he didn’t believe girls belonged in his class because they would never need such higher math. On another day, he declared humans could never reach the moon because it was simply too far away.

I recalled those words with glee when, 14 years later, a man walked on the moon, an event I watched around a black and white television with my five kids. It was only much later that I learned it was female computer experts who helped make that historic event possible.

And here I should note that Loretta Lynn’s We’ve Come a Long Way Baby and Helen Reddy’s I Am Woman Here Me Roar are part of my history, as is Gloria Steinem’s Ms Magazine.

I find it interesting where my thoughts have led me this morning. Although my personal history has to be multifaceted, as is the world’s, my first thoughts were of being a mother and my battle as a woman for equality.

I’m okay with that.  

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 | Tagged , | 3 Comments »

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