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Archive for the ‘Journeys’ Category

A Giant Leap for Mankind

Posted in Journeys, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , on August 27, 2012| 9 Comments »

 “I think we’re going to the moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul … we’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.” – Neil Armstrong

Taking a Step Back to the Past

This sunset is my favorite shot of the moon. It just seemed appropriate to run it as part of my tribute to Neil Armstrong. — Photo by Pat Bean

I doubt if there are many Americans my age out there who weren’t glued in front of the television on July 21, 1969, when Neil Armstrong put the first human footprint on the moon.

I watched it with my five children, who then ranged in age from four to 13. In my opinion, that was the most significant event that’s happened in my life time.

Flowers for Neil — Photo by Pat Bean

The moon landing was especially sweet to me because of a geometry teacher I had in junior high school who said man would never get to the moon.  He was the same macho piece of manure who didn’t want girls taking his class, and said so in class, because they would never need to use geometry.

My granddaughters don’t know what they missed.

The words Armstrong spoke when he bounded on the surface of the moon – I can still see that grainy black and white image — are probably familiar even to those who aren’t my age:

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” If ever someone said the perfect thing at the perfect time, those were the words.

But he also said these words as well: “I think we’re going to the moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul … we’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.”

I hope these are words we will not just never forget, but will also take to heart and act upon.

We’ll miss you Neil Armstrong. May there still be challenges ahead for you in the afterlife.

Book Report: Travels with Maggie is now at 39,592 words. Things are going so much slower than I expected, but it’s going good. Part of the slowness is because of some extra research I’ve been doing to add a bit more depth to the book, and because I’ve been double checking facts.

The wondering wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat Uprooted Magnolia http://tinyurl.com/9tc5pcd Photos of a monarch butterfly to brighten your day. These beauties go through several stages before turning into butterflies. I wonder how many stages we humans get to improve ourselves.

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Ride of the Valkyries Aha Moment

Posted in Journeys, Writing, tagged , , , , , on August 23, 2012| 2 Comments »

“Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.” – Joseph Addison

I Always Knew I was Doing Something Wrong           

Arthur Rackham’s illustration for Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.” –Courtesy of Wikipedia

I came across a blog yesterday that listed five things to do. On that list was “Listen to Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries.” Thanks to You Tube I was able to do just that.            It’s a stirring piece of music that got my heart beating faster, and made the rest of my day more energetic. I hadn’t heard this piece in years. I listened to the six-minute recording twice, because once wasn’t enough. I gave the music 100 percent of my attention.

Then suddenly – as visions of Odin’s legendary female attendants, the Valkyries, riding to battle to bring dead warriors to Valhalla danced in my head – I had one of those rare aha moments.

I had always thought of myself as not interested in music because I seldom listened to it. Days can go by without a musical sound pinging in my ear.

But as I listened to Wagner’s rousing notes, I realized I actually did enjoy music, and also knew why I didn’t listen to it daily. It was a distraction, and I wasn’t a multi-tasker.

The aha was that I thought I was a multi-tasker.

That assumption probably began when I had four children under the age of five to take care of, and continued when I became a working mother with five children at home. In those days I had to be a multi-tasker whether it suited me or not.

But this false assumption continued into my writing life, encouraged by the fact that my head was always full of writing projects battling for dominance: Write a mystery, no wait write that travel article for a magazine and earn some money; No you know how you enjoy fantasy. Wouldn’t it be fun to create your own world; You should enter that short-story contest. No, it’s the travel book I should be working on.

My downfall is that I tried to do them all at once, and nothing was ever finished — because, I wasn’t a multi-tasker.

Book Report: Travels with Maggie is now up to 38,002 words. It might progress a little faster from here on out, since I’m shoving all the other writing projects on my agenda into the clouds for now.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: 5thingstodotoday http://tinyurl.com/8juyt6c A blog for all who want to take a step out of their ruts. And perhaps find their own aha moment. I just subscribed to this blog and suspect it’s going to e one of my favorites. No telling what other aha moments are out there waiting for me to do something different to shake up my brain.

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Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Dogs, Journeys, Travel, Travels With Maggie, Writing, tagged , , , , , , on August 17, 2012| 13 Comments »

Hello World – Again

“Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.” – Ray Bradbury.

Discovering My Voice as a Wondering/Wandering Old Broad 

This is an illustration that Laura Hulka helped me come up with for my Bean’s Pat, my way of paying back all the reader awards my blog has received. What do you think? Is it a go?

This is my 645th blog since I started my WordPress blogging journey with a blog called “Hello World” in November of 2009. I was taking that Gotham travel writing class I mentioned in my last two blogs, and the instructor said I needed to have a blog.

That first year, I blogged about 10 times a month, mostly about the places I had visited as a full-time RV-er.  Then in 2011, WordPress began its post-a-day challenge and I accepted. I’m so glad I did. .

Writing daily has given me the voice that the first draft of my travel book needed, improved both my writing and thinking skills, and garnered me worldwide friends.

At first I tried to disguise that I was an old broad when writing my blog, which was the same thing I did in the first draft of my book, “Travels with Maggie.” Maggie, as many of my readers know, was my canine traveling companion for eight years. She died earlier this year, and now I travel with an energetic, fun-loving Scottie mix named Pepper.

Don’t forget to smell all the flowers and be amazed at all the butterflies you come across. — Photo by Pat Bean

Recently, as I continued blogging and struggling with the rewrite of my travel book, I realized that being an old broad was one of the best things I had going for me. It set me apart from all those young travel writers out there in search of love. It’s not that I have anything against such a search. I certainly did my share of that. But that’s not me today. The person I am today, and which is my voice, is that of a wondering/wandering old broad.  It’s exactly what I do and who I am.

I wonder a lot about things but seldom have answers to the questions. The only advice you’ll ever get from me is to live in the moment and take time to smell as many of life’s flowers as you can.

I wonder if I would have ever recognized my true self without my daily blogging?

Book Report: Good rewriting morning. Travels with Maggie is now up to 35,726 words

Bean’s Pat:  Baroness Trumpington http://tinyurl.com/br6r7p2 Not a blog but a newspaper story about a great old broad I admire. I think society underrates us old pussies, as Agatha Christie called Miss Marple and others of such an age.

 

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Arkansas: Where “Travels With Maggie” Begins”

Posted in Books, Favorite Places, Journeys, Lakes, Nature, Travels With Maggie, Writing, tagged , , , , , on July 30, 2012| 13 Comments »

A short visit to White Oak Lake was included in activities on the first day of my “Travels With Maggie.” — Photo by Pat Bean

 “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” – J R R Tolkien

The Gurdon Lights

On the first day of my six-month, 7,000-mile, 23-state plus Canada journey, which is what the travel book I’m hoping to complete rewriting by the end of August is about, I passed through Gurdon, Arkansas.

The small town’s claim to fame is the Gurdon Light, which supposedly haunts the railroad tracks a few miles out of town. The mysterious light, which many have claimed to have seen, was featured on the TV show “Unsolved Mysteries” in 1994, and is described in the “Encyclopedia of Arkansas.”

As was a hike with Maggie on a nature trail at Poison Springs State Park. Sorry, I didn’t manage to snag a photo of the Gurdon Lights. — Photo by Pat Bean

Some believers claim the light is the lantern of a railroad worker who stumbled in front of a train and was killed. Others believe it is the lantern of William McClain, a railroad worker who was murdered in 1931 at about the same time the floating light was first seen. Skeptics look for a more natural phenomenon, such as quartz crystal in the area exuding electricity.

All I saw when I crossed the railroad track as it passed through Gurdon were rock pigeons perched on overhead utility wires. I suspected the small town’s pigeon population was larger than its human one. I wondered if these city dwelling birds had ever seen the lights, and asked my canine traveling companion, Maggie, what she thought.

She didn’t answer. She was asleep – and snoring.

Book Report: This is a tidbit from the first day of my travels. The book, in its third and final rewrite, is now 23, 511 words on its way to completion.

Bean’s Pat: Write to Done http://tinyurl.com/d73y49c 50 quotes to inspire writers. The wondering wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

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Blue Water Highway: From Surfside to Galveston

Posted in Birds, Books, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , , , on July 27, 2012| 2 Comments »

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber

Travels With Maggie: Voice

As you travel the Blue Water Highway from Surfside to Galveston, you can enjoy two different landscapes, the beach and restless waves of the Gulf of Mexico to the east of the road, and a lush marshland where birds, such as this tri-colored heron can be seen in abundance. — Photo by Pat Bean

This past November, I blogged about my NANO (National Novel Writing Month) experience in which I wrote a 50,000 lousy first draft of a mystery. It was a way for me to keep up my six-day-a-week blog and still have time for the serious business of writing that NANO demanded.

So as to keep my blog’s travel theme, I also posted pictures of some of the many places I’ve visited since I became a full-time RV-er eight years ago.

About midway during those eight years, I wrote a travel book: “Travels With Maggie: The Journeys of a Wondering Wanderer and Her Canine Companion.”

It’s a six-month travelogue that begins in May and will take readers 7,000 miles, through 23 states and Canada.. It begins in a small town in Arkansas, wiggles north to Acadia National Park in Maine, and climaxes in Texas in time for Thanksgiving with family.

After it was finished, it was accepted as a book worthy of critique for the Mayborn Nonfiction Writer’s Workshop, and received high praise in all but one area. The nine writers who critiqued it, to a person, all said it lacked voice.

A restless Gulf provides a background for these laughing gulls. — Photo by Pat Bean

I’ve played around with rewriting the book for the past two years, but finally got serious, and re-excited, about doing it just two weeks ago. That’s mostly because I finally found my voice.

While writing the first draft, I had this image in my head that readers would get turned off if they knew how old the author was. That, along with my journalist background of keeping my own voice out of stories, was a serious flaw which I am now correcting.

I love that I’m an old broad with perspective, and I’m now trusting that readers will appreciate it, too.

This old broad stops for butterflies wherever she sees them. — Photo by Pat Bean

So so as to simplify my blogging so I can spend more time on my travel book, I’ve decided to repeat what I did during NANO, which is to post pictures of some of this country’s many beautiful places, while at the same time keeping you updated on the progress of my travel book. Perhaps you’ll even have your own perspective to add to my thoughts.

In the meantime, I’m also trying to convince an agent that my book will fit perfectly on a bookshelf between Charles Kuralt’s “On the Road,” Tim Cahill’s “Road Fever,” and John Steinbeck’s “Travels With Charley” – but with a birdwatchers’ old-broad slant.

Bean’s Pat: Durango to Silverton http://tinyurl.com/bm73owe A train ride you shouldn’t miss. Brian and Shannon are two of my favorite bloggers, perhaps because they and I travels frequently cross paths. Blog pick of the day from the wondering wanderer.

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Life’s Journey

Posted in Journeys, Travel, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on July 20, 2012| 15 Comments »

 “Does the road wind uphill all the way?

Yes, to the very end.

Will the journey take the whole day?

From morn to night, my friend.” – Christina Rossetti, 1830-1894

Discovering the Wondering Wanderer

 

You’re on a journey, whether you travel or not, from sunrise… — Photo by Pat Bean

I was a late bloomer, a wisp of a girl who grew up too fast, going from taking care of three younger brothers to a too-young marriage and taking care of five kids of my own.

It wasn’t until I was nearly 40 that it dawned on me that I had no idea who the woman I had become was. Trying to answer that question began a new, and very surprising, journey for me. It’s one that has been full of both heartache and joy, and one that continues to this day.

The truth is, I’m many persons in one: Writer, mother, grandmother, traveler, birder, friend, adventuress, tree-hugger, nature enthusiast, reader, peace advocate, feminist,, animal lover and currently campground host. I’m sure there’s a few more tags somewhere around that I could add.

… to sunset. Make it a memorable trip. — Photo by Pat Bean

But lately I’ve been calling myself the wondering wanderer. It’s a descriptive phrase that I’ve decided fits me as well as a clingy leotard, not that I would put one of those on my over-ripe body these days.

In my own way, I’ve always been a wondering wanderer. And now I wonder why I didn’t understand it sooner.

So how would you describe yourself? This wondering old broad would love to know.

Bean’s Pat: 20 Minutes a Day http://tinyurl.com/77t2488 The Consequences of Being Nice. This blog certainly gave me something to think about. Blog pick of the day from the wondering wanderer.

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Lake Walcott: What Happened?

Posted in Birds, Favorite Places, Journeys, Lakes, Nature, Travel, Wildflowers, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 18, 2012| 8 Comments »

 “The man who never alters his opinion Is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.” William Blake.

These flowers bloomed while I was gone. There were big bunches of them all along a short section of the bank in the upper tent campground. — Photo by Pat Bean.

Life Goes On

And the milkweed plants, which the butterflies love, here at the park went from this … — Photo by Pat Bean

I’m Back now at Lake Walcott, after leaving for four days to fly to Texas for a granddaughter’s wedding. I had a marvelous time. I got to see a new great-grandson, now almost seven months old, for the first time. And I’m still feeling the love from all the family hugs I received.

Homecoming, when it involves loved ones, is always sweet after an absence. It’s a benefit that helps make up for the distance my chosen on-the-road life and the scattered residences – from Texas to Florida, Illinois to Arizona, with Argentina thrown in for good measure – of my children and grandchildren.

But while I was gone, this southern Idaho state park where I’m volunteering for the summer continued its ever-changing life cycle, welcoming me back with new wonders.

My hummingbird feeder was empty and the bird seed feeder, which I had filled to the brim before taking off, had only a few sunflower seeds remaining in it. I had left both full, not wanting to disrupt the continuity of the birds that visit my RV site.

A black-headed grosbeak and an American goldfinch – a study in orange and yellow – were at the feeder when I pulled in. It was the first grosbeak that had visited and I was delighted to see it. I suspected that the Bullock’s orioles had emptied the hummingbird feeder as I’ve only had a few hummers visit this year.

Black-headed grosbeak — Wikipedia photo

My first walk around the park after being back was full of changes too. Along with coming across branches that had blown down from the weekend storm I missed, I noticed that the milkweed had matured, and that some bank plants had come into bloom while I was gone.

It was fun to see the changes, which so often are missed on a day-to-day basis. Life goes on where ever one goes.

Bean’s Pat: Katmai National Park http://tinyurl.com/765d97z Fishing bears. I couldn’t resist sharing this. Blog pick of the day from the wondering wanderer.

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Southern Utah National Parks

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 18, 2012| 7 Comments »

“Earth Laughs in Flowers.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Just one of the many spectacular skylines at Zion National Park. — Photo by Pat Bean

 

Take Time to Stop and Smell the Flowers

Indian paintbrush growing out of a rock wall. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Indian paintbrush growing out of a rock wall. — Photo by Pat Bean

Having spent many hours in each, although Zion hogged the majority of those hours, I dare to say you won’t find anywhere else in the world that has such a concentrated landscape of awesomeness.

It’s mostly redrock country, with rugged mountain peaks, natural bridges, hoodoos, rivers that roar in early spring and hum softly in late summer and sights that simply take your breath away.

While I’ve found beauty in every state, this is truly a landscape you should not miss. And don’t forget to smell the flowers while you’re at it.

Bean’s Pat: http://tinyurl.com/cfbvevs 30 Ways to Improve Yourself. I’m a sucker for these kind of tips, and these are all practical and doable.  

 

 

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The Grand Canyon: Mother Nature’s Canvas

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Art, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , on June 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

 “Man’s heart away from nature becomes hard.” – Standing Bear

One Last Vista for the Road

The Grand Canyon vista from Desert View — Photo by Pat Bean

The distance between the Grand Canyon’s south entrance, where I entered the park, and its east entrance, where I exited, is only about 30 miles. It took me about five hours to make the journey.

It’s so easy to drink in the Grand Canyon’s vista that sometimes we forget to look at the smaller parts that make up the whole. I try not to forget. — Photo by Pat Bean

Five hours of magic when I left all the worries of the world behind and simply let myself enjoy the wonders of nature’s artistic hand. What a grand canvas she has created.

I don’t know how people exist in today’s chaotic world without visiting Mother Nature’s museums often.

It seems, however, that I’m merely echoing the thoughts of another writer who felt the same way during an era that to me seems far less hectic than today’s world.

Wrote Hamlin Garland in 1899: “I remember a hundred lovely lakes, and recall the fragrant breath of pine and fir and cedar and poplar trees. The trail has strung upon it, as upon a thread of silk, opalescent dawns and saffron sunsets. It has given me blessed release from care and worry and the troubled thinking of our modern day. It has been a return to the primitive and the peaceful. Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and benumbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me – I am happy.”

Bean’s Pat: Kristen Lamb’s Blog http://tinyurl.com/cvto554 How to become a stronger writer. Good advice for serious writers. 

*This pat-on-the-back recognition is merely this wandering/wondering old broad’s way of bringing attention to a blog I enjoyed – and thought perhaps my readers might, too. June 11, patbean.wordpress.com

 

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Grand Canyon: Desert View Watchtower

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on June 9, 2012| 7 Comments »

 “The lack of power to take joy in outdoor nature is as real a misfortune as the lack of power to take joy in books.” Theodore Roosevelt

Desert View Watchtower — Photo by Pat Bean

360 Degrees of Awesome

Mary Coulter’s Desert View Watchtower that overlooks the Grand Canyon near the east entrance to the national park looks older than it is.

It was built in 1932 to resemble an ancient Pueblo Indians’ watchtower, but on a larger scale.

I think it fits into the landscape well, as do Coulter’s other Grand Canyon buildings that include the Phantom Ranch buildings on the canyon floor and Hermit’s Rest, a rustic lookout structure at the western edge of the Rim Trail.

Born in 1869, Coulter was a rare female architect for her time. The four buildings she designed for the Grand Canyon now all have National Historic Landmark designations.

A climb up the 85 stair steps is worth the effort just for the view. — Photo by Pat Bean

I braved the jam of people in the tower’s ground-floor gift shop to climb the 85 steps that narrowly wind to the stop of the tower. My reward was a 360-degree, panoramic view of the canyon, and the surrounding high desert.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

Bean’s Pat: Comfort Me With Ice Cream http://tinyurl.com/7plaftb Although circumstances may be different, I can relate, although for me it’s Ben and Jerry’s (Anywhere), Farr’s (Utah), or Blue Bell (Texas) that provides the comfort. 

*This pat-on-the-back recognition is merely this wandering/wondering old broad’s way of bringing attention to a blog I enjoyed – and thought perhaps my readers might, too. June 9, patbean.wordpress.com

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