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Archive for December, 2020

It Is What It Is

Posted in Art, Journeys, tagged , , , on December 30, 2020| 5 Comments »

I’m going to take more time to smell the flowers in 2021. How about you? — Art by Pat Bean

          “Sometimes when you’re in a dark place, you think you have been buried, but you’ve actually been planted.” – Christine Caine

          The New Year is almost upon us. Most people I know are loudly exclaiming Thank Gawd!  And who wouldn’t be glad to leave Covid and malicious, undemocratic politics in the rear-view mirror. That’s not to say we will be free of both in upcoming months, but at least we’ve gotten down the road a bit.

          While I haven’t been affected as badly by Covid as most because I’m retired, and didn’t lose my job and income, I am in that vulnerable 80 plus age group that dies from the disease more often than others. So, fear and common sense has curtailed loving hugs, daily drop-ins from friends stopping by for a chat and perhaps a cup of coffee or a night cap, and my annual excursions to visit my scattered family or travel for pleasure.  

          I’ve mostly stayed home, ordering everything I need from Walmart or Amazon, which has left my wandering feet a bit claustrophobic – and foaming at the mouth over the daily political shenanigans that come with the morning news. It’s distressing enough to curdle my cream-laced coffee.

          Being a stay-at-home, however, has changed my life a bit. I’m reading more, have organized all my drawers and closet, and have spent at least 30 minutes a day journaling my thoughts, and finally restarted work on my memoir. I’ve also streamed a few more movies on my Kindle (I don’t own a TV) and I ‘ve communicated more via text, email, zoom or letters with family and friends.

          Patricia Summitt, women’s basketball coach who died in 2016, summed up an attitude that I now claim as my own. “It is what it is. But it will be what you make it.”

          And since research has shown that people who look at life with a positive respective live longer than pessimists, I’m going to continue believing that silver linings do exist.

That said, I’m looking forward to the New Year as a glass half full and not half empty.

          In 2019, my word for the new year was Kindness. To that in 2020, I added the word, Respect. I’m taking both of those words as mottos to live by with me into 2021, plus adding the exclamation: Dammit, Just Do It. Whether it be answering the writing muse immediately when it calls, making my bed when I first get up, or calling a friend when I think about her, there’s no reason for me to add it to an already too-long to-do list, I’m just going to do it.

          So, what’s your New Year’s Resolution?

  Pat Bean is a retired journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is a wondering-wanderer, avid reader, enthusiastic birder, Lonely Planet Community Pathfinder, Story Circle Network board member, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon, and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

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One-of-a-Kind Hook Up

Posted in Birds, Journeys, Travel on December 22, 2020| 2 Comments »

Elegant Trogon — Wikimedia Photo

Pages from my Journal

          “To wake alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest things in the world.” – Freya Stark (I felt like that many times during my RV-ing years.)

          I had planned a road trip from Ogden, Utah, to Texas that included a side trip to Sierra Vista, Arizona, where I had engaged a birding guide to help me find an Elegant Trogon, a bird which I had failed to see on my own on three earlier trips.

The carefully-timed, two-week holiday had been planned so I could attend school graduation ceremonies for some of my grandkids as well as hunt for birds.

Three days before the trip, after three years of serious looking, I suddenly found and bought the RV of my dreams, one I would live and travel in full time after my rapidly approaching retirement. The 21-foot, Class C, RV had a Winnebago home perched on a Volkswagen chassis with a spunky 6-cylinder engine.

The purchase necessitated rapid changes to my traveling plans that includedcanceling motel reservations and researching and making reservations at RV parks along the way.  

I didn’t take possession of the RV until the evening before my trip, Friends came over to help me christen it with a few drinks. I named her Gypsy Lee, the first name for the wanderer in my soul, and the second for my grandfather’s last name and my middle name. My mother had told me I inherited her father’s traveling itch.

What with packing and stocking the RV the next day, I got a late travel start, and made it only to Lake Powell before I needed to camp for the night.

I was going to spend it at Wahweap Marina Campground, but when I said I wasn’t going to hook up because I needed an early start (and because I was somewhat intimidated about my first hookup), the kindly campground attendant suggested I go six miles back up the road and camp on the beach at Lone Rock Beach as it would be cheaper.

The overnight fee at Lone Rock was just $6, but I paid only $3 because of my senior citizen’s pass. “Don’t get stuck in the sand,” the gate attendant said, after I paid him.

I didn’t – but I almost did, which taught me my first lesson about driving an RV: Make sure everything is secured before operating vehicle. When I had gunned Gypsy Lee to get her past a sandy stretch that had been created during the night, my cupboards flew open and a bunch of items fell out.

Once I got everything back in order, I drove on to Sierra Vista, and checked into an RV campground, where I had to make my first motorhome hookup to electricity, water and sewer. The first two took only a minute, the last left me perplexed. My sewer hose connection didn’t fit the park’s sewer connection.

I went to the office, pleading ignorance, admitting it was my first hook up, and asking for help. They had just the thing: A gadget that filled the gap between the two differing connections. If I remember right it cost about $10.

With that in hand, I made my first hook up – and was quite proud of myself. I woke early the next morning and was picked up by the birding guide for our day’s outing. It went better than planned, I not only got the elegant trogon for my life list, I added another dozen as well.  

As for that gadget, I had bought, I never had to use it again. For nine years, every one of the campgrounds I stayed at had hookups compatible with my RV.  

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X Marks the Spot

Posted in Art, tagged on December 17, 2020| 8 Comments »

X Marks the Spot — By Richard Sheppard

          “If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.” – Katherine Hepburn

          “Never ever underestimate the importance of having fun.” – Randy Pausch

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

          Half a lifetime ago, an artist friend gave me a large abstract painting after I fell in love with it. I call it “X Marks the Spot,” and today it sits above my dining room table where it frequently catches my eye.

          It means many things to me. First it reminds me of a special friend who is no longer alive. His name was Richard Sheppard , and he was a unique individual who always colored outside the lines. He was there for me during a heartbreak period when I was feeling quite sorry for myself.

Richard took about 15 minutes of me wallowing in pity before he started rolling around on the floor chanting “pitty-Pat, pitty-Pat, pitty-Pat!  I stopped whining and started laughing, and then with his urging, I began to reflect on all the positive things I then had going in my life.

It began a pattern that has followed me ever since. Whenever I get down in the dumps, I ask myself how many women in the world would exchange places with me. And when the answer is millions, I stop feeling sorry for myself and get on with my quite good, if not perfect, life.

And just looking at that painting each day reminds me to be thankful for life itself.

The painting, with its colorful hues of olives, persimmon, ocher and raspberry reds, also reminds me of my two rafting journeys through the Grand Canyon, where I not only observed similar colors but cliff walls scarred with marks similar to the Xes in the painting.

 Since those outdoor adventures are at the top of my list of amazing days, reliving them in my mind gives me a boost more powerful than any energy drink.

Finally, as I look at this painting, I ask myself which X represents me this day. Sometimes it’s one of the larger reds and some days it’s one of the smaller, less brilliant colored Xes. Fanciful, I know. But fun.

 And who in the heck doesn’t need a bit of fun in their lives these days?

Bean Pat: To blogger Julie whose art blog is always fun. https://journalartz.wordpress.com/  

Pat Bean is a retired journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is a wondering-wanderer, avid reader, enthusiastic birder, Lonely Planet Community Pathfinder, Story Circle Network board member, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon, and is always searching for life’s silver lining   

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Tales Get Taller with Each Telling

Posted in Journeys, tagged on December 14, 2020| 4 Comments »

        

Snake River, Wyoming, 2007

The difference between a fairy tale and a river trip: The fairy tale begins “once upon a time,” while the river trip tale begins” “No shit! There I was …”

         I came across the above words in one of my journals this morning.

          I wrote it in the late 1980s, shortly after spending a week paddling down the Salmon River through The River of No Return Wilderness Area. It was an exciting white-water adventure in which each day ended with our group sitting around a campfire discussing present and past float trips.

          I knew all the stories would get bigger with each telling, including my own.

          My first rafting trip took place in 1983, a pleasant outing in a friend’s raft on a stretch of the Snake River between Hagerman and Bliss in Southern Idaho.

Within a month, I had my own five-person raft and could be found on the water with friends many summer weekends. I didn’t miss a summer of rafting for nearly 25 years.

Thinking about those rafting adventures this morning, facing another week of isolation from people I love, brought me immense pleasure. Meanwhile, it’s a good thing I’m a journal keeper. Since our memories are so inclined to tall tales with each passing year, my journal entries, written immediately following an event, are more truthful than my scattered brain..

While the taller tales make for more interesting conversations, it’s best I think to stick to reality and truth. I just wish our political leaders understood this.

Pat Bean is a retired journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is a wondering-wanderer, avid reader, enthusiastic birder, Lonely Planet Community Pathfinder, Story Circle Network board member, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon, and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

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The Covid Tree

Posted in Journeys, tagged , on December 1, 2020| 8 Comments »

My friends, Robert and Karla’s Christmas Tree made me smile.

          “A sense of humor is needed armor. Joy in one’s heart and some laughter on one’s lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life.” – Hugh Sidey

The Ornaments Say It All

          If ever we needed a bit of laughter in our lives, it’s certainly these days.  And my good friends Robert and Karla understand this quite well.

          I had barely walked into their St. George, Utah, home last week, when I suddenly burst out laughing. They had already put up their Christmas tree, and it screamed Covid.

          But it was still beautiful, even with its toilet paper, masks and hand sanitizer ornaments. The icing was the toilet paper garland that had been carefully wrapped around the tree.

          The next three days at their home was full of love with enough laughter to make my whole outlook on life brighter — and a much needed, break for me from the chaos of today’s world.

          Bean Pat: To my friends Robert and Karla and their dog Bentley from me and my dog Scamp for a wonderful Thanksgiving.

          Pat Bean is a retired journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is a wondering-wanderer, avid reader, enthusiastic birder, Lonely Planet Community Pathfinder, Story Circle Network board member, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon, and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

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