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Archive for the ‘Journeys’ Category

Birding Africa

Posted in African Safari, aging, Birds, Journeys, Writing, tagged birding, Birds, nature, Travel, wildlife on September 9, 2024| 1 Comment »

***Joseph (center) stands with Kim (far right) and me (between the two) and another couple as we wait for a plane to pick us on a small grass runway serving Little Governor’s Camp in Kenya in 2007.***

Aging my Way

As I continue to read Arjan Dwarshuis’ book, The (Big) Year That Flew By, I come across places where he is birding that are places I’ve also birded, notably Tanzania and Kenya, where I spent two weeks in 2007 birding their national parks. In Tanzania, we had an awesome native guide named Bilal who was really into the big cats, as was my travel companion Kim. I feel sure, especially since Kim has told me, that I was a nuisance at times because I kept hollering stop every time I saw a bird.

But in Kenya, one of our native safari guides was Joseph, who seemed to be in as much of an awe of birds as I was. I never even had to tell him to stop because he did so whenever a bird came in sight. I remember one instance where he chased down a pelican so we could get close enough to identify its exact species.

It turned out to be a pink-backed pelican, which was a life bird for me. Joseph had been hoping it would have been a great white pelican, which would have been a life bird for him.

I mention my awesome African adventure because in Kenya, one of Arjan’s native guides was named Joseph. I can’t help but wonder if he might have been the same Joseph I birded with. While it’s a big wide world out there, when you narrow it down to avid bird enthusiasts, you’ve made it a whole lot smaller.

So, what do you think?

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is an avid reader, an enthusiastic birder, staff writer for the Story Circle Network Journal, the author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), is always searching for life’s silver lining, and these days aging her way – and that’s usually not gracefully.

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Morning Bird Sounds

Posted in African Safari, aging, Birds, Journeys, Travel, Uncategorized, Writing, tagged Arjan Dwarshuis, mornings, The (Big) Year That Flew By on September 2, 2024| Leave a Comment »

While it was far from Arjan’s record-breaking number, I did see 182 bird species during my two-week safari in Kenya and Tanzania, including this Hamerkop sharing a water hole with zebra. The fantastic trip with my best friend, Kim, was also balm to my wanderlust soul. — Photo by Pat Bean

Aging My Way

“Just before sunrise, I am woken up by the deep, foghorn-like song of an Emu. What a great sound to wake up to,” writes Arjan Dwarshuis in The Big (Year) That Flew By. The book is about his quest to break the record for seeing the most bird species in a single year. He did, in 2016, counting 6,852 species. And the record still stands.

It was a journey across six continents through 40 continents. I chose to read the account of his incredible adventure because at heart I have wanderlust in my soul. I’ve also been an avid birder since 1999, the year I turned 60 and realized I needed a hobby that wasn’t quite as strenuous as white-water rafting or tennis.

Suddenly, where I had seldom seen birds, I couldn’t not see birds, which I found fascinating.

But one of my first discoveries as a birder was that it wasn’t always something done sedately. Some bird species can only be found at the tops of high mountains and some only in places where no roads exist. Thankfully I saw a few of those before my hardy adventuring days were over.

These days, I mostly bird in my own small, patio yard or on a gentle path, not necessarily paved, that can accommodate my rollator — a four-wheeled contraption that I can hold onto for balance and which also has a seat — I note this for those unfamiliar with such things.

Some days I simply sit in it and listen to all the bird songs around me while an app called Merlin identifies the birds by sound for me. Knowing what birds are around often helps me find them with my eyes.

I also often awake to the coos of Mourning Doves, the screeches of a pair of Gila Woodpeckers that like to steal the nectar from my hummingbird feeders, and the chirp, chirp, chirping of House Sparrows – birds that visit my yard daily.

While not as exotic as waking up to the foghorn-ish song of an Emu, listening to the sound of any bird is still a great way to wake up to. And reading about Arjan’s wondrous adventures chasing birds invigorates my wanderlust soul anytime of the day.

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Spilled Coffee

Posted in aging, Art, Journeys on August 26, 2024| 4 Comments »

I once was in the season for raising chicks. It was wonderful and it was terrible. Just like being in the season for slowing down. — Art by Pat Bean.

Aging My Way

I spilled a whole cup of hot, cream-laced coffee the other morning, and I may have awoken my neighbors when I shouted Sh-ie-tt! I spell it that way because my grandmother, of whom I have fond memories, once told me that you can say such a word and remain a lady if you use more than one syllable.

And that’s exactly how I say it, as anyone who has seen me upset to that point can testify. Meanwhile, I had the unenvious task of cleaning up my small kitchen. Coffee had splashed on and under the microwave, into the tiny crevices of my stove, onto my freshly washed dishes on the drying rack, into an opened drawer, and onto my pajamas and the walls.

While I’ve always been a klutz, spilling things is something I seem to do more of lately. It could be because I’m 85 and not as steady as I once was. The coffee incident probably happened because I had two other things, my glasses and a pen in the same hand as I used to pick up the coffee. The other hand held my journal as I was going to settle down with the drink and write.

Anyway, the incident got me to thinking what else I can’t do these days. Putting on pants without holding onto something or sitting was the first thing that came to mind. Next came lifting anything that weighs over five pounds or bending over repeatedly, on the advice of my cardiologist.

On the other hand, I’m supposed to carry my phone with me everywhere – just in case.

I’m amazed that I’m still enjoying life. And I am. It’s just that I’m in the season for slowing down. And what’s wrong with that, I ask? So, no way am I going to cry over spilled coffee.

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Instruction Manuals: Read Any Good Ones?

Posted in aging, Art, Birds, Journeys, tagged Instruction manuals on August 21, 2024| 1 Comment »

***Read any good instruction manuals lately? Art by Pat Bean.***

Aging My Way

OK. I admit it. I’ve always been a person who turns to an instruction manual only when everything else fails. I’m always sure I can figure out whatever contraption needs to be figured out without any help.

ometimes I do, and sometimes I don’t, which is probably a good thing because it keeps my ego in check

But the world is changing too fast, and my stubbornness and impatience isn’t helping me stay caught up with its rapidly changing technology. I still, after years, don’t know how to use all the potential possibilities of my phone, and my new Fitbit has me even more befuddled.

What I would really like are good instruction manuals. Ones I can hold in my hands, and slowly peruse. Ones that explain things in logical order, instead of making me go from page two to page seven for complete instructions.

Finding such a manual these days, however, isn’t easy, particularly for technical gadgets like computers, phones or Fitbits. You have to go online, and you have to know the exact model of your gadget, and hopefully you have the latest update of it, to find instructions you may, or may not understand.

As for how-to videos, they usually leave me more confused than before, probably because they expect me to already have more tech knowledge than I do. Such videos put me back in the 1980s, when I bought my first computer and quickly discovered my six-year-old granddaughter knew more about how to operate it than I did.

Thank goodness I have another granddaughter living nearly. And she has a tech-savvy wife, too. Between the two of them, they keep my gadgets up and running. And they don’t bother me with all that tech gibberish of how such gadgets work because they’ve come to understand that my only real interest is which button to push to make it do what I want it to do.

So, who needs instruction manuals anyway? But it would be nice.

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is an avid reader, an enthusiastic birder, staff writer for the Story Circle Network Journal, the author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), is always searching for life’s silver lining, wand these days aging her way – and that’s usually not gracefully.

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In My Own Backyard

Posted in aging, Birds, Journeys, Uncategorized, tagged Arjan Dwarshuis, Hooded orioles on August 11, 2024| 1 Comment »

“Nature is never boring. If you pay attention, you will always see, hear, smell or feel something surprising, whether you are walking around in a tropical rainforest or in your own backyard.” – Arjan Dwarshuis, from his book, The (Big) Year That Flew By.

Aging My Way

As I’m reading Arjan’s book – which takes readers on a year-long journey around the world in which the author saw a record-breaking 6,852 birds in a single year — I’m watching the rain pour over the gutters outside my patio door. It’s monsoon season in Tucson and it’s been a wet and windy one.

I treasure Arjan’s words because the only place I’ve been bird and nature watching recently has been my own small patio yard. It’s a shady place with two oleander trees, a tall cottonwood, and a potted rubber tree plant that I’ve owned for over 30 years. Birds, enticed even more by seed and nectar feeders, love it.

The most recent and spectacular avian visitors have been a pair of hooded orioles, the male a bright gold and the female a bright yellow. They hang around, and feed from the nectar feeder.

Hey Arjan! I’m paying attention.

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Foot-in-Mouth Problem

Posted in aging, Art, Birds, Journeys, Writing, tagged communication, Foot-in-Mouth Disease, George Bernard Shaw on August 7, 2024| 3 Comments »

**I wonder what this little feller is trying to say**. — Art by Pat Bean

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw

Aging My Way

As a writer, one would think I would be a good communicator. After all, that’s the primary purpose of writing. And, if I might be a bit immodest, after 60 years of doing it, I think I do it quite well.

But when it comes to the spoken word, I fail quite miserably. I’m always using the wrong word, the wrong tone, or simply the wrong connotation. And it often gets me in trouble.

My brain seems to work better with my fingers on a keyboard than they do with my vocal cords. Simply put, I have foot-in-mouth-disease. My newspaper reporter colleagues used to even joke: “It’s a good thing Pat Bean doesn’t write the way she talks.”

While they might have been talking about my Texas accent, I think it went farther than that. In my defense, I always spell people’s name correctly – well after the first time I was embarrassed in print by calling someone Mary, when she actually spelled her name Mari.

After that, asking someone to spell their name was always the first question out of my mouth. And it’s a good think I did, because I discovered there were several other variations of the simple name Mary, not to mention what parents did with other supposedly common names.

I was thinking about this after coming across a bit of trivia this morning that noted there were over 7,000 languages spoken around the world. How did this come about? It’s no wonder people in this world can’t get along. They can’t understand each other.

Meanwhile, after my latest spoken communication gaff that unintentionally left some hurt feelings, I’ve decided perhaps I should spend more time writing than talking.

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The Hare and the Tortoise

Posted in aging, Art, Dogs, Journeys, Writing, tagged aesop, animals, anne lamott, poetry, The Tortoise and the Hare, writing on July 24, 2024| 3 Comments »

“Some of my much older friends have 10 doctors or more, like an overeducated friend community. I have only six so far. But time lurches on, and the reality is that, before too long, I will have 10 as well. Until then, the point of life is gratitude, modest miseries aside. And gratitude is joy. – Anne Lamott, from a recent Washington Post essay/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/07/01/joy-age-life-lamott/

Aging My Way

I became a big fan of Lamott after reading her book, Bird by Bird – many years ago. I guess you could say she and I are of an age, even though my doctor collection so far is only four: primary, cardiologist, pain and orthopedic. But I do have a new knee and three heart stents, which has my friends referring to me as the Bionic Woman.

It’s just too bad I don’t have the implied powers that go with the title. This hare, who for most of her life raced through life, always afraid of missing out on something, has turned into a tortoise.

It’s actually not a bad pace. I’ve come to appreciate the benefits of having more time for reflection of this beautiful, albeit crazy and at time sordid, world. I have more time to read, piddle with my art, write and connect with the meaningful people in my life. And I still wake each morning with zest for what a new day will bring, and thankful for my canine companion Scamp, whose morning walks grease my achy joints for the day ahead.

I’m glad I was a hare, but now I’m just as happy being the tortoise.

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Out of Whack

Posted in aging, Art, Journeys, Writing, tagged Dr. Seuss, laughter, out of whack, roller coasters on July 16, 2024| 3 Comments »

“Nonsense wakes up the brain cells. And it helps develop a sense of humor, which is awfully important in this day and age. Humor has a tremendous place in this sordid world. It’s more than just a matter of laughing. If you can see things out of whack, then you can see how things can be in whack.” – Dr. Seuss

While sunflowers do not make me laugh, they do make me smile. — Art by Pat Bean

Aging My Way

I took almost all of my grandkids, and I have 15, on their first roller coaster rides. I felt that was a good thing because I once read that riding roller coasters gives the brain a boost.

My first roller coaster ride was on the Texas State Fair’s Comet. It was made of wood and I can still hear the clack-clack-clack sound it made as it twisted and dived on its journey, which I always felt was way too short. So, of course I got in the line for another ride, and then another, and another.

My last roller coaster ride was on one called the Dueling Dragons at Disney World in Florida with a young grandson, and I remember it well.

That’s a good thing because roller coaster-riding is over for this 85-year-old broad. I’ll simply have to find other ways to give my little gray cells a boost.

Thankfully I can still find many things to laugh about. It’s kind of easy when you live in a world out of whack. Even so, I hope Dr. Seuss is right — in that seeing things out of whack we can find a way to put them in whack.

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Friday Morning Reflections

Posted in aging, journalism, Journeys, Writing on July 12, 2024| 1 Comment »

Aging My Way

After 60 years and almost as many books, the novelist and travel writer, Paul Theroux, who is 83, says he will stop writing when he falls out of his chair. He says ordering his thoughts on paper is not a job but a process of my life. And he dismisses writers’ complaints about the hellish difficulty of being a writer as a dishonest complaint.

As I came across these words from one of my favorite authors this morning, I thought about my own life. I began writing when I was 25, which means I have also been writing for 60 years. And if I added up my 37 years of daily newspaper stories, my one published book, and over 1,500 blogs on this site, I suspect I’ve written as many words as Paul – and like him, I’m still writing — and still love doing it.

And today’s Bean Pat goes to all out there who still love what they are doing in life. It means there were at least a few good choices made as we struggled through the years.

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I’m Taking Einstein’s Advice

Posted in aging, Art, Birds, Journeys, Writing on July 10, 2024| 3 Comments »

“Someone just honked to get me out of my parking space faster, so now I have to sit here until both of us are dead.” – Facebook post that had be belly laughing.

Aging My Way

OK. I give up. I’ve been trying to write a blog for over two weeks now. I get a good start on one, say about 200 words, which is about half the number of words in an average blog, and then I get stuck. What I’ve written goes into the trash, or sometimes in a file to be relooked at another day.

Well, if I’m to believe Albert Einstein, who says “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it,” I need to try a different approach.

So, at least for a little while, my blog is simply going to be a sharing of my art and a quote that is meaningful to me. I also want to restart my Bean Pat feature, which is a pat on the back to something I, personally, like.

And today’s BEAN PAT is for writers and goes to Dawn Downey’s One Damn Fine Sentence blog.

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is an avid reader, an enthusiastic birder, the author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), is always searching for life’s silver lining, and these days aging her way – and that’s usually not gracefully.

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